 It is often difficult to select the right food and treats for your dog. Many leading brands of dog food and dog treats claim they are “healthy” or “gourmet”. These corporations market the idea that your dog will live longer and will love the wholesome flavors of their food. The reality is that most leading brands contain refined meat products, preservatives and artificial flavorings. The fact is that large multinational companies utilize the pet food market for food waste products including slaughterhouse offal and grains “unfit for human consumption.”
Pet food labels can be very deceiving. The average consumer that chooses to read pet food labels may see “meat and bone meal” or “by-products” and really not understand what these terms mean. These ingredients are either rendered or non-rendered parts of the animal deemed unfit for human consumption including the carcass, bones, blood and fat.
“Meal” products have been processed by rendering plants that blend material from dead stock animals, slaughterhouse waste and other items including old restaurant and bakery products that have passed expiration dates. Many of these items can be contaminated with bacteria, rot, mold, disease, hormones, pesticides and more. The rendering process separates fat soluble from water soluble and solid materials. Most of the water is removed and bacterial contaminants killed. The nutritional value of the resulting “meat meal” is questionable at best and certainly not the wholesome, healthy food suitable for our faithful companions.
Meat and poultry by-products are not rendered, but tend to vary widely in composition and quality. This material usually comes from the slaughterhouse industry or dead stock removal operations deemed “unfit for human consumption” but considered clean by government standards. The composition can include organs, bone and blood. While not gourmet by any means, it is preferable to “meal” products if higher quality material is not available. But remember, manufacturers are not required to state the composition of meal or by-product material, as each batch of product would consist of different material. Therefore, you may consider searching for natural, organic sources of protein for your pet.
While dogs are carnivores, usually the first or second ingredient in most dog food is corn or wheat. The problem with most of these grain products is that they are by-products of milling and processing grains for other uses. These products contain a fraction of the nutrients contained in the original form.
Corn flour, bran and gluten meal contain very little of the bran or germ of the corn. Wheat flour and germ meal are also used as a filler and inexpensive source of protein for dog food.
Other common ingredients in commercial dog food include:
- Fats sprayed directly onto kibbles and pellets help to increase flavor for dogs and works as a binding agent to which manufacturers add other flavor enhancers. The fats used in many varieties of dog food are a blend of fat extracted during the meat rendering process, restaurant grease which is stored in large drums and other processed fat. The mixtures are stabilized with powerful antioxidants to slow spoilage and sold to pet food companies.
- Beet pulp is the dried residue from sugar beet and is added for fiber. However, it is primarily sugar.
- Soybean meal is the by-product of oil removal from soybeans by a solvent extraction process.
- Powdered cellulose is purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose obtained from plant material similar to sawdust.
- Synthetic preservatives including butylated hadroxyanisole (BHA), Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate, propylene glycol and ethoxyquin.
So what is a caring dog owner to do? Begin by reading the labels of dog food and dog treats to understand what you are feeding your dog. Find products that do not contain rendered material and are loaded with unnecessary fillers as described in this article. All products sold by Distinctive Dog are organic, fresh and healthy. We believe that a natural, well-balanced diet will keep our pets healthier and happier. |
