Pet food manufacturers realize consumers are becoming more interested in the ingredients in dog and cat formulas, and they know you want to
see meat as the first ingredient on the label.
But these companies know that pet owners like to
see meat as the first ingredient and there is no USDA rule against this slight - of - hand.
Not exact matches
When you take a look at a number of Merrick Dog Food formulas, you can
see that real
meat is used
as the
first ingredient.
You can
see where a food containing the
first ingredient of «chicken» does not really contain more chicken
meat than a food that lists «chicken meal»
as the
first, second or possibly even the third
ingredient on their label.
We always like to
see meat protein
as the
first ingredient in a food.
It's better to
see a defined
meat (it must say for example chicken» «venison», «duck», etc.) and a defined
meat meal, (example, «chicken meal», «venison meal», «duck meal») and without grains such
as white rice, corn, wheat, etc. in the
first 5
ingredients.
Specified
Meat Meal: Second best to named
meats and good to
see listed
as one of the
first 5
ingredients.
We love to
see a good specified
meat protein source and preferably
as the
first ingredient, the
first two or three
ingredients even better!