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Investigations
It is an unfortunate fact that most of the dogs that die young in the United Sta
tes and worldwide could have lved a longer and healthier life had they not ben f
ed commercial dog food. The recent recall of more than 60 million cans of dog fo
od has spiked a nationwide interest in this topic which has been on the minds of
dog guardians for several years.
It is nothing new to report that most commercial dog food is junk, that's the be
st way to describe it. Replete with fillers, chemicals and preservatives, commer
cial dog food has one primary function.
It is to sell commercial dog food to unsuspecting dog owners. These well intenti
oned folks believe that filling the dog food bowl with their favorite brand of c
ommercial dog food is just what their dog needs to fulfill all of her nutritiona
l requirements.
Not so.
Most commercial dog foods are made from materials unusable or less desirable for
human consumption. These may include:
Meat by-products
Meat by-products are ground, rendered, and cleaned slaughtered meat carcass part
s such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, bones, heads, and intestines (and a sma
ll amount of feathers from chicken meat. Meat by-products or animal by-products
are common ingredients in commercial dog food. Meat by-products as defined by th
e Association Of American Feed Control Officials is
"The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammal
s, includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood
, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intest
ines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.
It shall be suitable for use in animal food."
In many cases, meat by-products meals are derived from animals that arrived at t
he meat packing plant dead, dying, diseased or disabled. The quality of animal
meat by-products also tends to vary widely between production batches..
Meat by-products are common in both lower and higher brands of commercial dog fo
od such as Science Diet, including the prescription diet, Purina, the Purina O
ne and Purina Pro Plans, and Iams/ Eukanuba .
Ingredients listed as "meat, beef, chicken, and/or poultry by-products" on comme
rcial dog food labels are not required to include actual meat, and "rendered mea
t" on labels can refer to any rendered mammal meat, including dogs and cats.
Meat-and-bone meal
Meat and bone meal is made by rendering plants. Meat and bone meal is used in an
imal feed to improve the amino acid content in the animal food. Meat and bone me
al is thought to have been a contributing factor in mad cow disease. Meat and bo
ne meal is no longer an approved ingredient in many countries. It is however a c
ommon ingredient in the U.S. in commercial dog food.
Meat and bone meal is now utilized in Europe as a fossil-fuel replacement, and i
s commonly used as a fuel in cement kilns, landfilling and in incinerators
Grain by products

The FDA says that grain by products shall "not... exceed 50% of the diet" for p
ets( dogs).
Lower grade and cheaper commercial dog food brands will have more animal by-pro
ducts and grain "fillers". The most expensive or super premium commercial dogs f
ood brands may include ingredients appropriate for human consumption.
If this list of unsavory "ingredients " is not enough to disgust every dog guard
ian, your dog food may also include anticaking agents, coloring, humectants- use
d for plastics and solvents.
It is critical that you read and understand the ingredients in the commercial do
g food that you feed your dog. What are the first listed ingredients. When any o
f the above suspect ingredients are listed, that is a brand to avoid at all cost
. Terms such as meat by product are very deceiving. It is only by a clear unders
tanding of what comprises the vaguley defined ingredient will you know what you
are buying and what you are really feeding your dog.
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