# Meat vs Meat Meal



## muckquenzie (Aug 21, 2011)

Meat vs Meat meal...I was wondering which ingredient is better to look for as a first ingredient in a high quality cat food. I feel like meat meal would be because it seems to be much more concentrated and doesn't have a lot of water in it like straight up chicken or duck does. Just wanted your opinions


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## dlwhite (Mar 23, 2010)

I am never a fan of meat meal. It can contain all the parts of meat that is not fit for human consumption, sometimes even including feathers, feet, roadkill, blood and the like. I always get meat as the first ingredient when I can.


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## Lilysmommy (Jan 7, 2009)

dlwhite said:


> I am never a fan of meat meal. It can contain all the parts of meat that is not fit for human consumption, sometimes even including feathers, feet, roadkill, blood and the like. I always get meat as the first ingredient when I can.


That's by-products, not meat meals. Meat meals, if I'm remembering right, is just meat that has the moisture taken out of it.

But as far as which is better...I'm not sure if there's too much of a difference, honestly. Usually the better foods have a meat as the first ingredient, followed by a meat meal of the same animal or a different one. And I could be wrong on this, but at least in the foods I've looked at, a lot of the ones that have a meat meal for the first ingredient end up having corn in the first five ingredients as well. If a food has a meat for the first ingredient, it usually has better ingredients overall. Those are just my observations in looking at the foods that the pet store I work at sells though.


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## CourtneyFaye (Jul 31, 2011)

From the research I did I found that the best food has 2 meats as the first 2 ingredients (ex. Chicken, Turkey...). Meat as the first ingredient and meat meal and the second is good too. Meat meal as the first is okay.


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## dlwhite (Mar 23, 2010)

I found this description from The Dog Food Project:

"Example of a high quality product:
AAFCO definition for "chicken meal":
The dry rendered product from a combination of clean flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts of whole carcasses of chicken, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet, or entrails. 

Example of a poor quality product:
AAFCO definition for "beef and bone meal":
The rendered product from beef tissues, including bone, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents, except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices. 

This does not mean that blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents are not present in beef and bone meal, just that none of the mentioned things can be added to the mix. In other words, a number of entire cow carcasses (including all the above mentioned parts but not the quality muscle meat) could end up in the grinder to make beef and bone meal, but the manufacturer is not allowed to add ONLY the blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents of additional cows. "

I guess it would depend on the type of meat meal...?


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## susanaproenca (Aug 14, 2010)

Having meat meal as first or second ingredient (as long as it's a specified kind of meat eg. chicken, turkey, duck, beef so you know what you're getting) is, in my opinion, better than having one or two kinds of meats. That's because meat or meat meal is usually followed by a source of carbohydrate (barley, brown rice, or in grain fee foods, sweet potatoes, potatoes, peas) and when the water is removed from meat for processing its weight goes down, placing meat further down on the ingredients list, with the carbohydrate source being the predominant ingredient. 

Now when you have meat meal as first or second ingredient prior to the carbohydrate source, because meat meal already had its moisture removed, it will most definitely remain as first ingredient after all the other ingredients have the watr removed for processing. 

Does that make any sense?  :? 

As an example (and sorry if this is for dog food but the same applies for cat food, I just had the information for dog available right here), if you look at this food:

- Blue Buffalo Wilderness for Dogs, grain free, first ingredients:
Deboned Duck, Chicken Meal, Potato Starch, Turkey Meal, Peas, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid)...

Deboned duck is a fresh ingredient which means during processing it will have its water removed, therefore the weight of this ingredient will go down, putting it further down the list. But, the second ingredient is a meat meal, which won't change in weight so much during processing.

- Natural Balance Synergy Formula, first ingredients:
Chicken, Brown Rice, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols)...

Chicken is a fresh ingredient, so when the water is removed during processing this ingredient would be placed down the list. Second ingredient is brown rice which will therefore be a main ingredient in this food. 

Did I make sense at all? That's why I'd go with meat meal as first ingredient, or meat followed by meat meal.


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## muckquenzie (Aug 21, 2011)

Thank you all for answering my question! It's super helpful to me in the food choosing process! lol  I think I'll look for a food with one of each, or 2 meal to 1 meat. Thanks again!


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## Hissy-Fit-Hazel (Jul 15, 2011)

Further on meat meal... I've wondered looking at some of the food lists why those with meat are chosen over meat meal so asked a few questions of an aquaintance who is a recently graduated ~ *Certified Canine Nutritionist *~ who has done the extra courses on label laws & ingredient breakdown for dog & cat foods. She explains it pretty much the same as susanaproenca.

On the meat vs meat meal question:

"chicken (meat) is the solid scraps that are weighed with the moisture in the scraps AND the allowable amount of extra 'juice' that gets dumped in.

chicken meal is the scraps with moisture removed and ground already.
So 1lb of meal is actually 1lb

After chicken (meat) is dehydrated the weight drops dramatically and will fall well below the top 5 ingredients."

So as long as it is a quality product/company (you can ask them what their "meal" consists of) then going with meat meal is actually more meat!


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