Meal and By-products in Dog Food

Another interesting read:

http://www.askavetquestion.com/nutrition/chicken-byproducts/

http://www.hilarywatson.com/chicken.pdf

So it comes down to the quality of the meal or by-product used that makes it bad and not that meal or by-product was used.

Shisa wrote:
So it comes down to the quality of the meal or by-product used that makes it bad and not that meal or by-product was used.

That is something I've long believed. I'll have a proper read later.

I would say that a lot depends, also, on what else is added both during and after the rendering.

The quality of a dog food isn't just measured in what type of meat goes into it - the percentage of meat/meal, the addition of cereals, the colouring & flavouring additives all affect the quality of the finished product.

For years I've heard and read what basically amounts to: meal or by-product on a label = very bad food. It's nice to know that, that is not actually true. Yes there are a lot of other factors that make food good or bad but meal and by-product don't necessarily mean that.

Interesting!

I think, though, that most people, rightly or wrongly, would prefer not to have by products. It would probably help if people were made more aware of the dog food manufacturing process - it would make it a little easier to choose which dog foods are actually good/bad.

Most people don't care about what food they feed their dogs. They just buy whatever is cheapest, on sale, looks good or suits their budget at that moment. No regard for upsetting their dogs tummy by swopping around.

The few of us that do care will debate the semantics forever and just pray we're doing good by our dogs.

What would you recommend be done with the by-products if dog food was made with meat only? Bones, organs etc..?