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Food labelling - something interesting

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  • Food labelling - something interesting

    Some of you may or may not actaully know what those terms on your dog food ingredients list actually are... I know I didn't. I work at a pet store, and at one of our meetings, we had a guest from Precise pet products come talk to us. Anyhow, since I don't have a scanner... I will type this info out for ya'll(I'm a Texan).

    Working Definitions of pet food meat sources:

    Meal: Term applied to the meat after it has been dehydrated and ground.

    Lamb Meal: Meat from lamb after water and bone are removed. An expensive meat used with rice to overcome allergies.

    Chicken Meal: Meat from chicken after water is removed. Regarded as a superior meat, high in protein and digestibility. May or may not contain bone and fat.

    Poultry Meal: Same as chicken meal, except meat from various birds is used. Is cheaper than chicken meal.

    Chicken: This term applies to the "Wet" chicken, prior to removing the water and bone. In general, 4 to 5 lbs of "chicken" are used to produce 1 lb of "chicken meal".

    Chicken by product meal: Head, intestines and feet of chicken. Considerably less expensive than meat of chicken.

    Poultry by product meal: Head, intestines and feet of various forms of poultry.

    Meat meal: Any source of meat; could include horse, mule, cow, goat, or whatever. Has been known to contain road kill. Lower in protein and digestibility, high in allergies. Very inexpensive.

    Meat and bone meal: Same as above, but with bone included.

    It should be remembered that within any of the individual classifications, trhere is a scale of quality. The manufacturer is at liberty to purchase ingredients from the lower end or the upper end of the scale; the bag will read the same. For example, "lamb meal" may not be 100% "Lamb".


    Ok, I didn't write this.(I still have a handout, and I rewrote the info from it) There probably are some typos, I rewrote this real fast. Not saying anything bad about this, but it is good to know what is what. Well, thanks for helping me learn, maybe I will soon be a part of this list!
    -Mark-


  • #2
    RE: Food labelling - something interesting

    Good idea, let's talk some more about food labels. First of all Federal regulations governing ANIMAL feeds are different from those governing human foods. Note your food label says "Protein" and the dog's food says "Crude Protein" "Crude Fat", etc. There is a difference. Crude protein is by deffinition ALL protein, digestible and nondigestible.
    "Ground beet pulp(sugar removed)", sounds good - the sugar's taken out, but this is a by product of the sugar beet industry and is filler a non soluble nondigestible fiber.
    "Animal Digest" - this is a real scam - the three "D's" of the slaughterhouse Dead, Diseased, and Disabled, all deemed unfit for human consumption. These animals are slaughtered and digested into a protein slurry and added to dog food as a protein suppliment
    "Wheat Middlings" the non digestible fiber husk covering the grain, another nondigestible by product.
    Just because you paid a lot for a food doesn't make it good. There are some "designer" foods out there that cost a lot because of a fancy name but have a lot of crap in them.
    Read the labels, a good rule of thumb - if you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your dog!


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    • #3
      RE: Food labelling - something interesting

      Interesting Mark. Doesn't seem to agree with what one can read in
      http://home.hawaii.rr.com/wolfepack/food.html
      Have a look at the Analysis parts and go from there.
      I have not looked at Precise or their ingredients. Just something
      that you might want to compare with your printout.
      But it is interesting how ingredients are described differently by those who are pushing a product and by those who are just (hopefully) offering facts or info.
      I often refer to the above page when looking into dog foods since I feel it is a pretty good reference point. There are several others but I have found this site to be the most complete.
      Liz

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      • #4
        RE: Food labelling - something interesting

        Liz - Excellent site. I've bookmarked it for reference. Thank you very much.

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        • #5
          RE: Food labelling - something interesting

          [font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Oct-21-00 AT 09:30PM (PST)[/font][p]Hi Gus,

          "A good rule of thumb - if you wouldn't eat it, don't feed it to your dog!" - Gus

          Glad to see you post that as it makes good sense. While we're on the subject of diet, I thought that I'd add that I feed our Danes raw chicken wings, chicken thighs, chicken necks, raw lamb brisket bones and some 21% protein kibble. I always throw in veggies, with brocolli being their favorite. Funny, but they won't eat apples. They gnaw on beef knuckle bones as a pastime. Fed this for years and my Danes have thrived very well on it. Their coats are to die for. They also get a can of sardines in oil once a week along with their regular dose of Vit C.

          Some folks have a hard time getting past feeding their Danes "raw" chicken.

          http://www.danesonline.com/images/paul.gif



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