QUESTION:
Please can you explain what “By Products” are in my dog's pet food?
ANSWER:
It is very important for all dog owners to understand about "By Products" used in pet food.
We at the International Association of Veterinary Care believe it is highly irresponsible for the commercial pet food industry to use the term “Meat By-Product”, on the ingredients label, as it never actually includes any meat.
Basically a “By-Product” is what gets scraped off the floor after being deemed unfit for human consumption and then used in dog food.
Under AAFCO guidelines (Association of American Feed Control Officials) , “acceptable meat by-product” can include animal lungs, spleens, brains, livers, blood, bones, low-temperature fatty tissue, stomachs and intestines.
- Livers can be infested with worms (liver flukes) or diseased with cirrhosis.
- Lungs can be filled with pneumonia.
- If an animal is diseased and declared unfit for human consumption, the carcass is acceptable for pet food.
Unfortunately, many of these remnants provide a very, very poor source of nourishment for our Labradors.
How are these ingredients acceptable?
According to the pet food industry, these are perfectly fit protein sources for our animals. According to scientists, these ingredients provide little or no nutrition (see box below)
Academic Research
James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two professors with the Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine, assert that, “There is virtually no information on the bioavailability of nutrients for companion animals in many of the common dietary ingredients used in pet foods. These ingredients are generally by-products of the meat, poultry and fishing industries, with the potential for a wide variation in nutrient composition. Claims of nutritional adequacy of pet foods based on the current Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) nutrient allowances do not give assurances of nutritional adequacy and will not until ingredients are analyzed and bioavailability values are incorporated.”
Professor James Morris & Professor Quinton Rogers, Department of Molecular Biosciences, University of California at Davis Veterinary School of Medicine |
To ensure you are not feeding your family pet “By Products”, please spend a short amount of time finding out about the most nutritious, cost-effective diet for your Labrador on pages 30-47 of Labrador Health For Life!
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