Read And Understand Commercial Dog Food Ingredients Label

What is "meat" when the product being fed to the dog bears no resemblance to that ingredient? Is "meat" different than "meat meal?" What about "meat by-products?" Is that "corn" the same or different from the "corn gluten" or the "whole corn" that is listed on the label? The following is a list of common food ingredients that are found in commercially available dog food. Also included in this list are common "bad" ingredients that you should avoid.

Common Commercial Dog Food Ingredients

Meat: When listed on a pet food label "meat" must be the clean striated muscle mass of the slaughtered animal listed on the packaging. The term "meat" also includes the fat, sinew, nerves, blood vessels, and sometimes the skin.

Meat By-Products: Meat by-products are the edible parts of the animal that are not striated muscle. By-products include the brain, heart, lungs, kidneys, and liver. The spleen, bone, and fatty tissues (lard) are also included. Although many high-end dog food companies make the claim that by-products also include feathers, beaks, and other offal, there is no evidence that these items make up a significant amount of the by-products used by dog food manufacturers.

Meat Digest: Meat digest does not include any meat at all. Instead, meat digest is a natural flavor that is produced from a combination of heat and enzymes. Digests are more commonly used to provide the flavor of a particular meat in a pet food or treat than are artificial flavors.

Meat Meal: Unlike "meat," meat meal a rendered product. It can include any number of animal tissues, including connective tissues. Meat meal cannot contain any hair or hide, manure, stomach contents and other tissues that are considered non-edible. Meat meal provides as much nutrition as non-rendered meat although it is not as aesthetically pleasant on human terms.

Dried Beet Pulp: Dried beet pulp is an alternative form of fiber in dog food. It consists of what remains of the beet after it has been processed for sugar manufacturing. "Dried beet pulp" and "dried beet pulp (sugar removed)" are the same ingredient.

Brewer's Rice: White or brown rice kernel fragments, separated from larger kernels that remain after the milling process.

Corn Gluten Meal: This meal is what remains of corn after the corn starch or corn syrup manufacturing process, after the bran, germ, and starch of the corn kernel have been removed.

Ground Corn: The chopped or ground dried corn kernel. This product is both a source of fiber and is an inexpensive source of energy.

Preservatives: Preservatives are often added to foods to prevent the corn it contains from spoiling. Some preservatives should be avoided. These chemicals, such as Ethoxyquin and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), have been potentially linked with cancer. Other preservatives, such as tocopherols (vitamin E and others), are also occur naturally in food, making it ideal in preserving both the food and your dog's health.

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