And You Thought Chorizo Was Bad......

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Here are some typical ingredients as listed on the packaging of most commercial pet foods, and what they might contain:

• Meat/Meat Based - When it reads "meat" on the label, it indicates the clean flesh from an animal. However, "meat-based" may also include blood vessels, sinew, organ meats, tendons and other parts of the animal.
• Meat Meal/Dried Animal Digest - This is the dry byproduct of rendered meat. During rendering, all usable animal parts (including fetal tissues from pregnant cows and glandular wastes) are heated in vats and the liquid is separated from the dry meal. Manufacturers then cover the meal with charcoal and label it "unfit for human consumption" before processing it into pet food.
• Meat By-Products - These are often organs, bone, blood and fatty tissue. They may also include brains, feet, heads, entrails, intestines, noses and stomachs. Unbelievably, byproducts can also contain cancerous or diseased tissue (including things like stomach flukes and other parasites).
• Poultry By-Products - These are the cleaned, ground parts from poultry carcasses such as feet, heads, intestines, necks and undeveloped eggs.
• Poultry By-Product meal - Rendered by-products and no feathers added.
• Meat and Bone Meal - This is the rendered meal from meat and bone.
• Tallow - This is hard white fat. Most animals find it hard to digest.
• Animal Digest - This is animal tissue that has been broken down with chemicals.
• Corn gluten meal - After the starch and germ have been removed from corn and the bran has been separated, the leftovers go through a wet milling process to make corn syrup or starch. The corn gluten meal is what is left over after that process.
• Fiber - This can come from whole grains and vegetables, or it could come from peanut hulls, newspaper or hair.
• Carbohydrates - This could be nothing more than sucrose (sugar), propylene glycol or corn syrup. Quality dog foods will contain complex carbohydrates derived from whole grains.

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