Ever wonder
what some items in a dog food ingredient list really means?
Pet food ingredients
are not legally regulated like human food ingredients. Instead,
a voluntary industry group known as the AAFCO (American
Association of Feed Control Officials) publishes standard definitions
for the ingredients that most companies use.
The Association of American
Feed Control Officials, established in 1909, is an organization
in which officials of state, provincial, dominion and federal agencies,
engaged in the regulation of production, analysis, labeling, distribution
and sale of animal feeds and livestock remedies, may exchange ideas
and share experience for mutual benefit and development of uniformity.
The purposes of the Association are:
1. To explore and solve
problems encountered in administering feed laws.
2. To develop just and
equitable standards, definitions and policies to be followed in
enforcing such laws.
3. To promote uniformity
in laws, regulations and enforcement policies.
4. To cooperate with
producers and purchasers of animal feed and livestock remedies.
5. To encourage and assist
in improving the performance of the professional, technical and
administrative personnel representing the various agencies involved.
Comment: Most
pet food companies are owned by companies engaged in the production
of human foods. This is because most common pet food ingredients
are waste byproducts of human food processing. This allows the
companies to inexpensively make additional money from what would
otherwise be waste products.
Suggested reading for additional information and an introduction
to BARF feeding , Go
to this web site and click on the
BARF button .
Following are some
definitions of common dog food ingredients:
Note that many
pet food ingredients can contain a number of different components.
Not all pet food manufacturers include all the permissible components
of an ingredient. But you can assume any or all components can be
present unless the manufacturer make claims otherwise.
Also note that
the terms meat or animal that does not specify the type of animal
can consist of any kind of mammal from any source. Since the popularization
of the Internet with it's fast wide reaching communications the
practice of using dead pets from kill animal shelters or vet hospitals
has become considerably less common. But dog and cat are possible
components of any ingredient labeled meat or animal and does not
specify animal type.
Animal
Digest Is a material which results from chemical and/or
enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and un-decomposed animal tissue. The
animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves
and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably
in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed.
If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor(s), it must
correspond thereto.
Comment: Animal
Digest is usually used as a pet food flavoring. It is a cooked-down
broth made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. Any
kind of animal can be included: goats, pigs, horses, rats, etc.
The animals can be obtained from any source, so there is no
control over quality or contamination. Also, see the comments
under Meat meal.
Animal
Fat Fat/Oil Is obtained from the tissues of mammals
and/or poultry in the commercial process of rendering or extracting.
Comment: See
the comments under Meat meal.
Beef & Bone Meal Is the rendered
(cooked down) product from beef tissues, including bone, exclusive
of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach
and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably
in good processing practices.
Comment: Beef & Bone Meal is a byproduct made from beef parts which are not
suitable for human consumption. It can incorporate the entire
cow, including the bone The quality cuts of meat are always removed
before beef & bone meal is made.
Beef
Byproducts Are the non-rendered, clean parts, other
than meat, derived from slaughtered cows. 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.
Comment: Beef
Byproducts are not "meat" as people usually think of
it. However it makes up the parts that wild predators often eat
first after a kill.
Beef
Tallow Fat/Oil Is obtained from the tissue of cattle
in the commercial process of rendering.
Beet
Pulp Is the residue from sugar beets which has been
cleaned, freed from crowns, leaves, and sand, and extracted in
the process of manufacturing sugar.
Comment: Beet
pulp is added to some pet foods to act as a fibrous stool hardener.
BHA/BHT Is short for Butylated Hydroxyanisole
(BHA) and Butylated Hydroxytoluene (BHT), both of which are chemical
preservatives.
Comment: BHA
and BHT have been banned from human use in many countries. In
the US, they are still permitted in pet foods.
Chicken
Byproduct Meal Consists of the dry, ground, rendered
(cooked down), clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken,
such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive
of feathers except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in
good processing practices.
Chicken
Byproducts Consist of the rendered (cooked down), clean
parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as heads, feet,
viscera, free from fecal content and foreign matter except in
such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Chicken
Digest Is a material which results from chemical and/or
enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed chicken tissue.
Comment: Chicken
digest is a palatability enhancer made by reducing (cooking down)
chicken meat and fat into a concentrated liquid or dry product.
Consider it a flavoring. ingredient and not a food ingredient.
Corn
Gluten Meal Is the dried residue from corn after the
removal of the larger part of the starch and germ, and the separation
of the bran by the process employed in the wet milling manufacture
of corn starch or syrup, or by enzymatic treatment of the endosperm.
Comment: Corn
gluten is an inexpensive byproduct of human food processing. It
is a carbohydrate that offers very little nutritional value and
serves mainly to bind pet food ingredients together.
Corn
Meal Is the entire corn kernel, finely ground.
Ethoxyquin Is a chemical preservative
not approved for human use.
Comment: First
used as a rubber stabilizer, ethoxyquin (EQ) has also been effective
as an insecticide and a pesticide. EQ, developed by Monsanto in
the 1950s, was originally permitted in feeds as a stabilizer for
alfalfa, clover, and grasses to be fed to livestock, at 150 PPM
(150 PPM is equal to .015 percent or 4.8 oz. per ton). Pet food
was never considered in the original permit, but, because pet
food falls under the legal category of animal feed, the use of
EQ is permissible.
Fish
Meal Is the clean, rendered (cooked down), dried ground
tissue of undecomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both,
with or without the extraction of part of the oil.
Lamb
Bone Meal Is the dried and ground sterilized product
from the wet cooking of undecomposed lamb bones.
Meat
Byproducts Are 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 hoofs.
Comment: Meat
byproducts are the leftovers from butchering any Mammal. They
can include almost any part of the animal other than meat. Because
any mammal can be used, cheaper meats like horse, pig, or goat
are often included. Also, see the comments under Meat meal.
Meat
Meal/Meat & Bone Meal Is the rendered (cooked down)
product from mammal tissues, with or without bone, exclusive of
any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach
and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably
in good processing practices.
Comment: Most
people associate "MEAT" with beef. The truth is that
it can come from any mammal: pigs, goats, horses, rabbits, animals
from animal shelters, and dead animals found on roads. Basically
pet foods that use Meat byproducts and meat meal
are the resting place for many sick, unwanted or found dead animals
in the US. Meat meal can contain condemned parts and animals that
are rejected for human consumption. It can include pus, cancerous
tissue, and decomposed (spoiled) tissue.
Ocean
Fish Is undecomposed whole fish or cuttings, with or
without part of the fish oils
Poultry Is the clean combination
of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from
the parts or whole carcasses of poultry or a combination of thereof,
exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.
Comment: The
Poultry classifications are the same as chicken classifications
except that it can include any domesticated bird such as chicken,
turkey, ducks and geese
Poultry
Byproduct Meal Consists of the ground, rendered, clean
parts of the carcasses of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet,
undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers except
in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices.
Poultry
Byproducts Must consist of non-rendered clean parts
of carcasses of slaughtered poultry such as heads, feet, viscera,
free from fecal content and foreign matter except in such trace
amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice
Poultry
Meal Is the dry rendered product from a combination
of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived
from the parts of whole carcasses or a combination thereof, exclusive
of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.
Wheat
Gluten Is the tough, viscid nitrogenous substance remaining
when wheat is washed to remove the starch.
Comment: Wheat
Gluten is a cheap byproduct of human food processing, the result
of washing wheat and letting the starchy liquid dry. It offers
almost no nutritional value, and serves mostly to bind the food
together.
Wheat,
Ground Is the entire wheat kernel, ground or chopped.
Comment: Ground
Wheat is a good quality source of carbohydrates. Because it includes
the entire wheat kernel, it contributes additional protein, wheat
oil, bran, and vitamins and minerals to the diet.
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