For example, sugar is bad for your dog's teeth, can cause obesity in your pup, or lead to diabetes. Every recipe is 100 % complete nutrition, so you know they get the most out of their wet dog food. Boy, did this slogan spread like . The general rule is that the top 5 ingredients are around 80 percent of whats inside the container. This can be in the form of constipation, excessive flatulence, diarrhea or indigestion. The One Type of Animal By-Product You Must Avoid On the other hand Generic by-product meals are different. There's more protein in Chicken Meal but is it higher quality protein? Dog food containing chicken meal is often sprayed with artificially derived nutrients to make up for the ones destroyed in the rendering process. As you cannot confirm quality, I would pesonally err on the side of caution and go with the chicken meal and hope that the meal has been processed and handled in a way not to damage the protein. Dietary Fat Content Why? A good quality food producer doesn't mind a small amount of bone in the chicken as this can be important for maintaining calcium and phosphorus levels. For puppies and pregnant dogs for safe digestion & faster pick-up of stools. Despite that, the concern of the ingredient source being a mystery remains. The answer is yes, it is. The sole purpose of the meal is to raise protein levels of the formula. Dog Food Without Chicken. Most reputable food companies will want a particular level of protein to be present in the product which means that there needs to be much more meat than bone. Turkey. And they contain CORN! Stomach issues can lead to itchy skin or a flaky coat, which is an eyesore. Some varieties of meat meal are extremely high-quality, giving your dog a dense source of nutritious, natural protein, while other types of meat meal are made up of waste materials including animal heads, hooves, bones, and other waste that you would NOT want your dog to eat. So, give the pet food supplier the benefit of the doubt: Lets say that a formula contained 25% fresh chicken with 8% Crude protein. (2) Dog Food Logic, Linda P. Case, M.S. Chicken Meal Rice Fat Beet Pulp The higher the protein, the higher the meat content, assuming there are no Glutens in the ingredient. With this pet food labeling rule, basic it might sound, there is a huge issue: Where does an ingredients water or moisture get factored into? All pet food companies are trying to compete on an equal playing field; so, when one company practices misleading labeling practices, most other companies follow suit to keep up with the competition as well. XP3020 - Chicken Meal This is why it is very difficult, if not impossible to read a pet food label and say if a food is good or not. With CESAR Wet Dog Food, Dogs with sophisticated palates will enjoy a rich culinary experience! Chicken meal is not the only animal protein that comes in dog food formulas. As described above, a lot of what we don't eat (such as liver, kidney, heart, neck, bones etc.) If you look at all the quality dog foods that offer meat meals as some of the top protein ingredients, they also come at slightly higher rates than the rest of the food products. So, why would a pet food manufacturer choose one product over the other: By now we've established that chicken meal and chicken are essentially the same thing when seen on a pet food label, but what about chicken by-product? Meals are generally of moderately higher quality than by-product meals BUT if the by-product meal doesn't contain chicken feet then you're getting pretty close. The most important thing is not the price but the fact that chicken meal food recipes come with everything your dog needs for all the nutritional requirements. When we say rendered, we mean undergoing grounding, melting, and cooking for hours until it becomes a powder. As the top animal-interest magazine in As a result, these dogs may lack the amount of taurine that is needed to keep their heart healthy, which may lead to heart disease or develop DCM. In this article, we help to demystify thechicken mealingredient in dog food list of ingredients. They conjure up ideas that make the consumer look good at their particular product. The highest absolute fresh chicken that you can force through an extruder is around 25%. But this is not true! (Remember, in order for intestines to be included in the chicken by-product, they must be cleaned so it's not like the intestines are loaded with feces and bacteria). They didn't get scraped off of the floor in the human grade factory. These hens put all their energy into producing eggs and dont have a lot of muscle on their skeletal frames, so you have a relatively high ratio of skin and bone versus muscle meat quality. Is Meat Meal Healthy? Chicken by-product meal: the ground, rendered, 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 unavoidable in good processing practice. Yes! This makes it incredibly difficult/impossible for consumers to know exactly what they're putting in the mouths of their dogs. The end product is a concentrated, bioavailable source of protein by drying and grinding the chicken up. (Translation: ground up necks, unborn eggs, feet and organs) Let us debunk some myths with some facts explained by experts. As a veterinarian, people ask me every day what the best foods are. Some examples of healthy, nutritious meat meals include: The Truth About Meat Meal In Your Dog Food, It could come in different forms, such as. Summary: That's because protein meal is a more highly concentrated source of the nutrient than whole meat. Specialties: Charley's has been a Lynchburg Tradition since it opened in 1980. If I see chicken as an ingredient I have no way of knowing whether that ingredient is mostly meat with a little bit of bone and skin, or is it all skin? Also, "fresh" simply means that it came to the factory direct (not frozen) and was made into dry form at the factory so it could be made into kibble. Ever wondered what is the difference between "Chicken" and "Chicken meal"? If in reality, its just 5 percent of the pet food formula that adds only 3 percent of the total protein to the pets diet. Meal here is used in the sense of "an ingredient which has been ground or otherwise reduced in particle size."It is mainly used in pet foods. Add Purina ONE SmartBlend Tender Cuts in Gravy Lamb & Brown Rice Entree adult wet dog food to your dogs cravings for a savory flavor. But when it comes to cat and dog nutrition, that may not necessarily be the case. Chicken meal is ground up chicken meat that has been carefully dried to a moisture level of 10%. Glucosamine may also assist with healthy joints that make the dog keep active. To start with, we have to define the question a little more: "What delivers higher quality meat protein"? And here's some of those answers so you can see the difference: Other parts that could be included in chicken by-product include organs like liver, kidney and heart. This means that while whole chicken is made up of about 70 percent water and 18 percent protein , chicken meal only has 10 percent water and 65 percent protein. But, a poor food could contain a low quality chicken by-product. Take dog food, for example, that has a minimum of 30 ingredients. AAFCO defines the term "meal" as: "dry, rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcass of [chicken], exclusive (does not include) feathers, heads, feet & entrails". Pets Magazine is a quarterly publication that endears to the heart Just as it is beneficial to the dogs, chicken meal is also one of the safest ingredients to have in a quality dogs formula. Inspired by a wolfs favorite hunting ground and wrapped in hearty gravy with tender chunks of live salmon. pet owners through articles that inspire, enlighten, educate and The general rule is that the top 5 ingredients represent around 80% of what's in the bag. This article aims to help you understand if a chicken meal is bad for your pooch or not. A dog food formula, for example, guarantees 30% of Crude Protein with a similar label: The higher the protein, the higher the meat content, assuming there are no Glutens in the ingredient. Dog food is fed into a number of dogs and their stools are analysed to see what nutrients come out. Chicken meal has a lot of nutritional value, which is why it's common dog food. Corrections? The next question you may ask is whether the chicken meal is suitable for your dog. Low-quality meat meal is unspecific and does not clearly identify the type of animal its made from. However, a raw meat product on the product panel does not stay in the same place because about 70 percent of its total weight is lost when cooking the water. It could come in different forms, such as meat and bone meal, animal by-product meat meal, chicken meat meal, and many others. Chicken by-product: the 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 unavoidable in good processing practice. Look for a 'named' meat protein as the first ingredient i.e. This doesn't necessarily make it any more nutritious than a food that has "chicken meal" as an ingredient as the chicken meal could have been made from fresh chicken as well. So to further capitalize on this growing market, newer dog food companies had to differentiate themselves from other companies and hence the formation of the myth that chicken and beef byproducts are bad for dogs. Another reason for not adding fresh meats to dry kibble food is food safety. I have seen some foods, which are marketed as premium dog foods, that contain ingredients such as "fresh boneless chicken". Salmonella and Campylobacter bacteria. It comes down to not pretending that you are something that you are not. Chicken meal is also natural source of glucosamine, a building block of cartilage tissue. (2) However, in saying this. Typically, no more than 35% raw chicken is used in kibble formula's as it can be problematic for the manufactoring machinary so if you see a kibble that only lists 'Chicken' then you could make an assumption that it's less than 35%. Cesar Adult Dog Food makes mealtime easy, served in comfortable trays with no-fuss, peel-away freshness seals. Added note: A company could decide to include chicken breast in their pet food. Out of all the types of meals, beef is considered to be a premium option. Did you know that using chicken by-product in pet food is good for the environment! Consumers also assume the Meal, which is a cooked and ground-up food would be immediately better as it contains just around 5 percent moisture. Compared to regular chicken, a chicken meal does not contain significant amounts of water. These ingredients are nutritious and tasty for dogs. The general rule is that raw meat contains about 70 percent water and 12 percent protein before cooking, compared to a meat meal containing about 5 percent moisture and 70 percent protein. In Western culture we tend to think that eating chicken feet is gross, but in many parts of the world, chicken feet are considered a delicacy! 2022 pets - Singapore's leading magazine for pet lovers. One truckload of chicken meal contains the same amount of food as 5 truckloads of wet chicken. Let us explain some information to you, the pet consumer, that could completely change the way you look at pet food labels. What is the difference between chicken meal and chicken by-product? Are you aware that kibble producers are not permitted to refer to the ingredients consistency in the product (digestibility, vital nutrients in the products, and actually how available they are to the dog)? (Translation: Chicken meat skin and bone that is ground into small pieces. Remember, if Chicken not a Chicken Meal is the first ingredient, you want to see it followed up by a meal otherwise there's not alot of meat in that kibble. Are food recipes with a chicken meal more expensive than others are? This meat comes with high water content. 4.Pet Nutrition: Chicken Meal in Dog Food and Cat Food | BeChewy. Chicken meal in the kibble also allows for longer shelf life and a cheaper price tag. Similarly, some companies will put "fresh chicken" on the label. You might jump to the conclusion that chicken meal in dog food or even salmon meal in dog food is a low-grade ingredient compared to whole meat or fish, and that manufacturers are just trying to save money by including it. This grain-free recipe, made from fresh salmon as the first ingredient, plus fruits and vegetables, includes the most beautiful natural ingredients enriched with vitamins and minerals. However, if they received the product already processed then it must be called chicken meal. Chicken meal contains only 10% moisture and about 12% compared to chicken meat, which contains about 70 to 80% water and only 5% fat. Subscribe to our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter. Other quality brands include American Journey Salmon & Sweet Potato Grain-Free Dog Food that contains deboned salmon and chicken meal, Purina ONE SmartBlend Chicken, & Rice Formula, and Purina Pro Plan SAVOR Adult Shredded Blend Chicken and Rice Formula, among many others. What delivers higher quality meat protein between chicken and chicken meal? Glucosamine can help keep your dogs joints safe, which will help your dog remain active for a long time to come, so be sure to pick dog food with extra glucosamine outside the meal. Chicken By-Product Meal Besides that, the meal also contains high levels of choline, phosphorus, selenium and vitamins B12, and B6 that contribute significantly to the wellbeing of the dogs health. AAFCO outlines that Chicken by-product meal may contain varying amounts of clean flesh and skin - ('varying' meaning probably not alot), PLUS chicken heads, chicken feet and chicken guts. Hill's Science Diet Adult Sensitive Stomach & Skin Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food. If they did so, they could put "chicken breast" on the label. It is the same thing as Chicken meal (combination of flesh, skin and possibly bone, with no feathers, heads, feet or intestines) but the difference is simply that it came to the manufacturer as wet meat. But these foods are filled with fillers! The processing of the meal is under high temperatures, which makes it free from any bacteria. Most of the fat is removed to use elsewhere. What I learned was that it is virtually impossible for me to read a pet food ingredient list and decide whether the ingredients are going to be good nutrition for my pets. No, dogs should not eat fried chicken. Is chicken meal a fancy way of saying the recipe contains chicken, or is it a different ingredient all together? Once again, "chicken" can mean any type of flesh (not necessarily breast or thigh meat), skin and bone. Chicken Meal These products may not have been used in the human market but that doesn't mean that they are unsafe or unclean. If the protein gets damaged, then dogs dont get a good source of amino acid. meat meals not including fats, gravies etc." Why? Established in 1980. "Boneless" does not always mean "better". They are exactly the same thing! However, is a chicken meal all about negativity for your dogs nutrition? If youve been buying dog food, youve probably come across this ingredient, but why is chicken meal bad for dogs? The biggest difference is it doesn't have to be clean, and it's been highly processed at an extremely hot temperature that extrapolates the nutrients. Regular chicken contains about 70% water with 18% . Chicken meal could be a product made only from high-quality, deboned chicken breasts, much like the kind you would find in a grocery store; or it could be made from the entire carcasses of spent egg farm hens at the end of their productive cycle. The ingredients in pet food shall be listed in descending order, and according to its weight.. Many of those things that make the pet food bags look good contain little to no nutritional value for your dog. It comes with high concentrates of energy and linoleic acid that is vital to the health of the dogs coat and skin. If the pet food company received the product as wet meat then they can call the ingredient chicken. You may have heard this before but it never hurts to repeat it. I will address these issues in future articles. A good example is the thanksgiving dinner chicken or turkey. The difference between input and output is the availability of nutrients or digestibility. Help your dog grow happy and healthy with food for dogs Pedigree Choice Cuts.. If your dog is allergic to other protein sources like chicken, or fish, a lamb meal is a reliable option. If it's is not in meal form then it may drop further down the ingredient list after processing when the water content has been removed, you'll want to see a named meat meal following it or in the top 3 ingredients. It is a great ingredient if you want your dog to have enough energy to keep it active for many years. These remains are the ones that go into dry dog recipes. I will also talk about whether or not grain free is a good idea, and also whether or not you should feed a high protein food. So, let's first start with defining what Chicken in its different states actually is: Chicken And I pictured that if the label said "chicken meal" it was made with much more inferior stuff like chicken feet, beaks and feathers. Let's start by defining some common ingredients listed on a pet food ingredient panel - chicken, chicken meal, chicken by-product, and chicken by-product meal. If all we fed to our pets were chicken breast and thighs and we wasted the by-products, think of the effect on the environment! In almost every pet food, this is true. In other words, meat meal contains nearly 300% more protein than whole meat. Just because the meal ingredients do not appear as the primary sources of proteins in the majority of the formulas, it does not mean that they have less potency than the real meats. In short, chicken meat in dog food recipe is the scraps that you get after deboning, while a chicken meal is the mostly the flesh of the thigh and breast of the chicken with less water content for more protein provision. Rendering is a lot like making stew except that this stew is intentionally over-cooked. When defined on a pet food label, chicken meal and chicken are exactly the same thing! I hear the cries of the blogosphere already! Both these kibbles have quality ingredients, one simply has more meat than the other. What we know is that its not the complete chicken like we see in kibbles. Whereas whole chicken has roughly 70% water and 18% protein, chicken meal flips that ratio on its headit contains just 10% water and a whopping 65% protein! Fresh doesn't mean that it contains any more nutrients than frozen or than chicken meal. This recipe is from real lamb and brown rice, and every high-quality ingredient has a purpose with 0 percent fillers. (3) Digestibility is usually preformed by feeding trials. There are several ingredients of meat meals, such as fish, chicken, and beef. Unfortunately, there are those canines (larger in size) out there that produced taurine at a much slower rate than your smaller dog. So what should you be looking for? On the other hand, a 30% protein level in a portion of dog food will have more meat than a 22% protein level pet food. Chicken meal is not chicken meat making it a completely different ingredient. What makes chicken meal good as an added ingredient in dog food is that it's an affordable natural source of highly digestible protein and in such amounts that would make it excellent as part of a healthy and well-balanced diet. Post written by Dr. Marie of Ask A Vet Question. Is boiled chicken good for dogs? Chicken by-product gets a little dirtier. Just the opposite: any meat meal that clearly identifies what type of animal it comes from is likely to be a healthy, Meat meal is mead through a process called rendering. In this process, the meat is cooked until all the excess water evaporatesleaving you with highly concentrated protein. You can feed a small portion of boiled, skinless chicken with your dog's regular food once or twice a week as a tasty dinner treat. For starters, chicken meal is high in protein, a vital ingredient that aids in muscular building as well as immune function. And this is what it comes down, but it's not something your kibble company are going to put on their bags or their website. Chicken by-products in dog food are the parts of a chicken that remain after meat is removed. These variables affect a by-product meal quality-does it involve chicken feet and how much if so. One of the most common components in dog food ingredients is chicken meal. What we don't know is what 'Chicken' actually is in your bag of kibble, it could be chicken fillets or it could be chicken carcass or anything inbetween - this will differ company to company. By measuring the ash content they can determine if there is too much bone in the product which can affect the calcium and phosphorus levels of the food. Cesar Dog Food delights with an enticing filet texture and is fortified with vitamins and minerals to have a full and healthy diet. If you're feeding fresh dog food, you should feed your dog between 1/4 and 1/3 cup of boiled chicken for every 20 lbs of body weight. Meals are a source of more concentrated protein than pure raw meat. Thats why Hills Science Diet Adult Sensitive Stomach & Skin Salmon & Vegetable Entrance helps optimize your adult dogs digestive health & skin health. There is more to love with Science Diets new look. Sugar - Sugar in your pet's food can do the same thing to canines that it does to humans. It can be problematic for manufacturing machinery, so if you see a kibble that lists only Chicken, you might assume it is less than 35 percent. Wellness Core Original Turkey and Chicken Dry Dog Food Recipe, Purina ONE SmartBlend Chicken, & Rice Formula. You, as the user, however, have no way of knowing that detail. Cook boneless chicken, or remove the bone as cooked chicken bones splinter easily and can puncture the stomach and intestines, or even cause choking. Many pet food businesses are nothing more than marketing companies dressed up as pet food businesses. It would be good, though, to add glucosamine aside from the chicken meal source. Do not rely on the image on the front of bag, that is simply marketing hype to draw you in. Notice how whole chicken contains about 70% water and 18% . For example, chicken meals have protein, an essential nutrient that plays a role from muscle growth to immune functions in all. Removing the water from the meat at meal formation provides a higher percentage of protein in the kibble. To start with, we have to define the question a little more: chicken heads were slightly lower in quality. Other sources of protein to consider as an alternative to chicken include. If your kibble is 'Kangaroo' then you don't want to see any other non-fish ingredients in there i.e. At this point, the top three that I recommend are Hill's Foods (including Science Diet), Royal Canin (including VMD and Medi-Cal) and Iams / Eukanuba products. What do you mean by that? This gourmet wet dog food also uses formulated ingredients to follow the nutritional standards set for maintenance by the AAFCO dog food nutrient profiles. Whereas whole chicken has roughly 70% water and 18% protein, chicken meal flips that ratio on its headit contains just 10% water and a whopping, The Sport of Dog Weight Pulling: How to Train Your Dog to Weight Pull. BUT, you as the comsumer has no way to know this information. The only amount that could probably worry you about the values is that of fat. For instance, whole chicken contains 18% protein while chicken . For example, if we tried to make kibble using all the chicken breasts, which are about 75 percent moisture, it would be way too watery and would not come out properly through the extrusion process. AAFCO describes the word meal as fresh, made product from a mixture of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, extracted from parts of the entire [chicken] carcass, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, and entrails. The chicken meal could be a product made only from high-quality, deboned chicken breasts, much like the kind youd find in a grocery store, or it could be from all the carcasses of spent egg farm hens at the end of their productive cycle. Fried foods, in general, are poor choices for a dog treat, even occasionally. Unfortunately as outlined above, there is no way for consumers to know if the meal in their dog food is good or poor quality. Although chicken is a great protein choice, you should make sure that their diet also has the . When it comes to the provision of protein content in the diet, a chicken meal has more content than chicken meat. When you see chicken listed as an ingredient, it means unprocessed chicken, complete with water. It is a wet food that youll want to check out made with natural ingredients. AAFCO don't have any rules or regulations about how digestable dog food is - that's kind of shocking. Again, it makes you think that the food was made from this: But really, "fresh boneless chicken" can be used as a marketing ploy. Is chicken meal a good first ingredient? The 125 fat in the chicken meal should not worry you at all because chicken fat is amongst the most nutritious fats. It makes it incredibly hard or impossible for consumers to know what they are putting in their dogs mouth. You may be surprised at what you read in this article. Natural fibers help promote easy cleaning of stools, while Omega 6s and vitamin E nourish the skin of your adult dog and add luster to their coat. The only amount that could probably worry you about the values is that of fat. It is a rich source of protein since it renders all its fat and water content. The chicken meal contains no feathers, feet, heads, or intestinal contents. If the protein is damaged then it's not a good source of amino acid for dogs. The reason behind this is that the ingredients come with more nutritional benefits, and sourcing is not from manufactured products but real hoe-raised animals. If you think this ingredient is unsafe, try these next best options. Using a lot of whole or fresh chicken in making a dry dog food can also cause some manufacturing problems. Dont depend on the picture on the front of the bag to pull you in, thats all marketing hype. The controversy occurs when you add to the formula Fresh or Dehydrated meats. I would love to have your comments on this post. In short, a by-prouduct meals quality is influenced by these variables - does it contain chicken feet and if so, how much. The ingredient differs from chicken in that it comes as a dehydrated and defatted ingredient. If it is chicken by-product is it a healthy mix of liver, heart, flesh and a little bone or is it 90% feet? The highest absolute fresh chicken that you can force through an extruder is around 25%. Find out what a chicken by-product is and whether if it's a good or bad ingredient to have in your pet's food. 5 Best Milk Bones: What Is In Milk Bones For Dogs? Have you ever read through the ingredients in your dog food and noticed an ingredient called meat meal? Chicken meal is also a natural source of glucosamine, a cartilage tissue building component. Chicken meal means chicken with the water and fat removed. Just the opposite: any meat meal that clearly identifies what type of animal it comes from is likely to be a healthy, high-quality dog food. Digestability But if you see a bag of dog food that proudly says its made with True Chicken, it refers to a healthy mixture of flesh and skin of the chicken. The difference between chicken by-product and chicken on a label is that by-product meal can contain chicken feet, undeveloped eggs and cleaned intestines and organs. On the contrary, meat meals in the recipes contain more protein levels than the deboned chicken, and they provide more energy and nutrients. Some new studies of by-product meals as protein sources for dogs the general finding is that the meals slightly contain more amino acids and are slightly more digestible than by-product meals.