About Fromm

A kcal is a kilocalorie. Just like the general term “calorie”, it is a unit of energy used to quantify the amount of energy provided by food and beverages.

In physics and nutrition, there are two technical uses for the term calorie:

1. One, using a lowercase “c”, is the amount of energy required to heat a gram of water by 1°C.

2. The other, which using an uppercase “C”, is the amount of energy required to raise a kilogram of water by 1°C. This version, “Calorie”, is most commonly used in human nutrition.

In the United States, food labels traditionally express energy as Calories (with a capital "C"), which are equivalent to kilocalories (kcal). As a result, a food label listing 100 Calories contains 100 kcal of metabolizable energy.

In pet nutrition, energy is typically expressed as kcals in accordance with AAFCO labeling conventions and requirements. This differs from the common practice in human nutrition, where energy is generally listed as Calories. The units represent the same amount of energy.

Despite the difference in terminology, they represent the same unit of energy: 1 Calories= 1 kcal= 1,000 small calories. Therefore, when you see 250 Calories listed on a human food label, it is equivalent to 250 kcal on a pet food label. The difference is simply a matter of labeling convention, not a difference in energy measurement.