PROTEIN · ANIMAL
Meat and animal by-products (pork, beef)
PETLYTIC SCORE
Watch
50/100 risk index
Meat and animal by-products (pork, beef) appears in the ingredient lists of thousands of pet foods. Here's what the regulatory record, toxicology data, and veterinary nutrition research actually say about it — not the marketing copy on the bag.
FDA PET STATUS
Not evaluated
FDA HUMAN STATUS
Not evaluated
EFSA STATUS
Not evaluated
NTP CARCINOGEN
Not listed
What Meat and animal by-products (pork, beef) actually is
Meat and animal by-products (pork, beef) is a protein commonly found in commercial pet food. It is sourced from animal origins and is classified as watch quality by Chowmark's scoring rubric.
Why it's still in pet food when human food has moved on
Two reasons: cost and regulatory inertia. Pet food regulation lags human food regulation by decades. Premium brands have largely moved away from it. The cheap ones still use it.
WHICH BRANDS STILL USE MEAT AND ANIMAL BY-PRODUCTS (PORK, BEEF)
We checked every brand in our database. Here's the partial list — the products with the highest sales volume that still include this ingredient.
| BRAND | PRODUCT | CATEGORY | RECALLS (5YR) | SCORE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vet Concept | Dog Low Protein | wet dog | 0 | 40 |
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