Dog Food Ingredients

[mthunter]

In the ingredients list on dog food what is the difference between "Meat" (such as beef, chicken, venison) and "Meat Meal"

[ESmith]

Generally the word "meal" means the food is made out of a certain amount of animal by products or trimmings which aren't considered high-quality cuts of meat. Not necessarily bad, but just a cheaper source of nutrition, depending how its done.

If you google Meat Meal you'll find some good results which explain if further.

Basically you aren't getting T-bone steaks when it says meat meal. They sort of render, or boil down meat from animals which would never be taken for human consumption, pulverise it and mix it inthe dog food as far as I'm aware.

[lenny7]

ESmith gives a good description. Here is AAFCO's definitions for "Meal" and "By-Products":

Meat Meal - the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

Meat By-Products - the non rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.