Nutrition & Ingredients
Why are meat by-products penalized?
By-products are the parts of an animal not typically used for human food - and while not inherently dangerous, they signal lower ingredient quality and less transparency about what's actually in the food.
"By-product" doesn't automatically mean harmful. Organ meat, for example, is technically a by-product and is actually nutritionally dense. The problem is that the term covers a very wide range - from nutritious organs to low-quality rendered waste - with no way to tell which it is from the label.
What counts as a by-product?
By-products in pet food typically include: organ meat, blood, bone, and other parts excluded from the human food supply. The nutritional value varies enormously depending on what's actually in the batch.
Why does the score penalise them?
What to look for instead
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