PROTEIN · ANIMAL
Menhaden fish meal
PETLYTIC SCORE
Watch
50/100 risk index
Menhaden fish meal 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 Menhaden fish meal actually is
Menhaden fish meal 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 MENHADEN FISH MEAL
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Instinct | Instinct Original Grain-Free Real Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food 25 lb | dry dog | 0 | 82 |
| Nulo | Nulo Freestyle Grain-Free Adult Salmon & Peas Dry Dog Food 24 lb | dry dog | 0 | 77 |
| Natural Balance | Natural Balance L.I.D. Limited Ingredient Diets Sweet Potato & Fish Dry Dog Food 26 lb | dry dog | 0 | 72 |
| Purina One | Salmon Adult Cat Food | dry cat | 0 | 60 |
| Wellness CORE | Adult Ocean Small Breed | dry dog | 0 | 40 |
| Blue Buffalo | Tastefuls Deliciously Healthy Kitten Food | dry cat | 2 | 34 |
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