What are chicken meal and by-product, and are they healthy for pets?
Updated On September 23rd, 2025
What is chicken meal or chicken meal by-product
2 Answers
Most Helpful Answer
Published on August 17th, 2018
Chicken meal is ground up chicken meat that is dried and rendered. Chicken by-product is the parts of the chicken that remain after the meat is removed, such as the lungs, liver, spleen, and kidneys. These are perfectly healthy to feed to your pet. I hope this helps!
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Related Answers from Veterinarians
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Published on November 4th, 2018
Chicken meal and chicken by product meal are both lower quality ingredients than actual meat. Manufacturers use it to increase protein levels while maintaining or lowering production costs. As long as it isn't the major component of protein in the diet, it won't harm Chloe. It will likely be difficult to find a diet without it unless you choose a "super premium" or custom diet.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful
Health & Wellbeing
What exactly is in chicken by product meal, and fish meal and is it ok? These are the treats I have right now and it lists chicken by product meal as well as fish meal. Please explain, thanks!
By product meal contains the clean parts of the animal that are not rendered, meaning the tissues that people don't eat. This can include scraps of muscle as well as organ meats and bones. It is a nutritious source of protein and vitamins/minerals. It is also a good way to use all parts of the slaughtered animal so there is less waste.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Is chicken byproduct a decent quality ingredient? Why or why not?
Chicken meal and chicken by product meal are both lower quality ingredients than actual meat. Manufacturers use it to increase protein levels while maintaining or lowering production costs.
As long as it isn't the major component of protein in the diet, it won't harm Chloe. It will likely be difficult to find a diet without it unless you choose a "super premium" or custom diet.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
Bought purina one lamb and rice. Concerned on an ingredient. Chicken by product meal? Was taught bad for dogs and can be diesed animals. Mixing with 80 to 20 ratio of food the 80 percent is pure Balance trout and lentils grain free. But some of you s
According to Purina, their chicken by product meal is made "of chicken that has been ground and cooked, reducing the fat content to create a protein-rich ingredient."
I feed my dog Purina ProPlan and regularly recommend it to others. It is one of the few foods he can eat without issue. While grains have been implicated in allergies, not all dogs who eat grains in food develop allergies.
If your dog does well with what you are feeding, there is no need to change it or be concerned. There is no one "best" food. Feed what your dog will eat, does well on and is easy for you to buy.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
I give IAMS to my Chi. I noticed that it used "chicken by-product." Any harm in this ingredient?
No, there is nothing harmful about chicken by-products at all in dog food. This refers to ground up chicken carcasses once the muscle meat is removed, and includes bones and internal organs - these are parts of the bird that dogs would naturally eat, and are an important source of calcium and vitamins.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Does Chicken & Beef By Products and Chicken and Beef Broth fine in wet dog food? I found a lot of those in wet dog food.
Hello, by products are commonly used in dog food and have been used for many years. They are generally safe for our pets to consume unless they have a specific allergy to chicken or beef. If so, there are other protein sources for dog food including lamb, duck, venison, and some states even kangaroo. If Prince seems to be doing well on this kind of food, then I would not worry about changing his diet to another food. However, you may find other foods that do not use by products and instead use chicken breast or leg. Likely wise with the beef products. However, do expect these kinds of food to be more expensive. Hope this helps and best of luck.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Is meat and bone meal a bad or unacceptable ingredient in dog food? Why or why not? Can't this legally be roadkill?
There are different grades of meat and bone meals. Yes, some lesser quality meat/bone meals may be derived from roadkill or dead or dying livestock. For this reason, it is best to avoid diets with meat meals or by products, especially if they appear early on in the ingredient list. There are grades for a majority of ingredients. Diets that use human grade ingredients are generally better (and more expensive) than store or discount brands that utilize "feed grade" ingredients. These are the leftovers from processing ingredients used in different diets.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Food & Nutrition
What does meat and bone meal mean in dog treats/ food? Is this an unhealthy ingredient? Why or why not? are milkbones an acceptable treat for my dog?
Thank you for submitting your question regarding Chloe. The pet food industry and its terminology can be very confusing. Meat generally refers to skeletal muscle tissue from the animal source (chicken, beef, etc). Meal meal is formed from tissue leftover after slaughter. It is cooked down and dried to be added as a protein source. Bone meal refers to ground bone and adds calcium and phosphorus to the diet. Milk bones are nice treats for dogs as then come in very small sizes. This helps with portion control as many peta are overweight. I have attached an article that will explain this further. I hope this information helps! http://news.vet.tufts.edu/2017/02/unwholesome-ingredients-in-your-dogs-food/
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
When a pet food or treat label says meat and bone meal what does this mean? Can this legally be from dead roadkill? thanks! The product I'm referring to in particular is milk bones for dogs.
Great question! While we certainly appreciate you posting on our forum, this would definitely be a question for the actual pet food company or for a representative of the USDA. They will be able to provide you with a much greater wealth of information on what their ingredient list actually mean, and what they can / cannot legally use in pet food. Generally speaking, I believe that meat and bone meal are the slaughterhouse products that are not used in food meant for human consumption. This is not to say that it is unsafe, but that it is simply unapproved by the USDA for people to eat. Hope this helps.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Iam sorry but iam so confused how royal canin contains wheat rice and grain and especially chicken by products and you doctors advice people to feed royal??
If you are comparing diets that claim your dog is like a wolf it is important to think about how wolves eat. The first thing they eat is the stomach of their prey. A rabbit, for example, eats grains and wheats as their main diet. Therefore, a wolf or dog would be eating grains and wheats from inside that stomach. Chicken by products are usually chicken livers which are an important source of vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. Diets like Royal Canin have been on the market for decades, are tested and studied by veterinarians and proven to be healthy and balanced for domesticated dogs. Royal Canin, Hills Pet, Nestle Purina, and Iam’s PetCare are the best pet foods on the market. These companies have veterinary nutritionists on staff to ensure quality and nutritional value. This is why we recommend these diets.
Updated on September 24th, 2025
Health & Wellbeing
Is Hills science diet a premium brand - if so why? I was taught to believe wheat, corn and soy were fillers and should be avoided at all costs. what nutrients do these foods contain? Isn't rice, oats and potatoes better sources of nutrition? Is Natur
Basically, there is proponent of people in the media and in the "natural" food sector that would like to make everyone believe that grains are the devil and that dogs are wolves. This is, in fact, incorrect. Wheat and soy, grains, contain valuable nutrients including proteins that dogs can readily digest and utilize appropriately. While it is true that there are dogs that get GI upset from consumption of these, the same can be said about beef, chicken, and any other meat protein. Rice, oats, and potatoes are acceptable in small quantities, but do contain starches which are complex sugars, and are a little more difficult to digest. In terms of by-products, this is usually referring to any part of the animal that is not the flesh of the beast. Usually this includes certain organs, bones, blood, etc. These products can be ground up and made into a byproduct - meal of sorts. Obviously, the actual meat is going to contain more appropriate nutrients but if a dog were left to it, the
Updated on September 24th, 2025
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