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What is Real Meat?

Pet food advertising uses this line all the time – ‘Made with Real Chicken’ or ‘Real Chicken is our 1st Ingredient’. So what is ‘real’ chicken – what do they mean by ‘real’? Here’s what some pet food manufacturers told me about ‘real’ meat.

Pet food advertising uses this line all the time – ‘Made with Real Chicken’ or ‘Real Chicken is our 1st Ingredient’.  So what is ‘real’ chicken – what do they mean by ‘real’?  Here’s what some pet food manufacturers told me about ‘real’ meat.

Real” is not defined within AAFCO pet food definitions.  Despite that, many pet food companies proudly state their pet foods are made with “real” ingredients.  Most of the responses were similar, most told me ‘real’ implies meat (when used with a meat ingredient).

Here’s what they were asked…
“This is sort of a silly question – but I’ve noticed that you (pet food company I am speaking with) and several other pet food companies use this same term and I don’t understand what it means.  You say you include real chicken (or what ever the exact phrase is for that company) in your pet food…what does ‘real’ mean?”

Purina One’s website (True Instinct Dog Food) states “Real Turkey is the #1 ingredient”.  When asked what ‘real turkey’ means, the Purina One representative told me “real” means muscle tissue not by-products.  A follow up question asked does ‘real’ mean human quality meat?  He responded no, that it only implies muscle tissue.

Purina – real means muscle tissue.

On the Iams website, (Naturals dog food) it states “Real chicken, fish, or lamb meal to help build and maintain strong, lean muscles.”  (Note this claim is with a meat meal ingredient – rendered ingredient.)  When asked what ‘real’ means, Iams told me ‘real’ means their meat meals have real protein in them.  She explained that their meat meals go through a special refining process where they take out all the bones, beaks and feathers.  When I told her that it was still confusing to me – she shared there are different grades of meat meals and again referred to the Iams special refining process for their meat meals.

Iams – real means high quality meat meals – no bones, beaks or feathers.

On the Eukanuba website, (Naturally Wild pet foods) it states “Real lamb meat is #1 ingredient” and “Real Animal Protein #1 Ingredient”.  When asked to explain what ‘real’ means, Eukanuba was the first (thus far) to be a bit honest.  They stated there is no legal definition of ‘real’, that it is more of a marketing term.  The Eukanuba representative also stated ‘real’ means no by-products – no skin or bones – meat only.  She shared Eukanuba follows AAFCO guidelines stating, as example, AAFCO’s definition of lamb is just lamb meat.

Eukanuba – real is actually marketing, but means no by-products.

On the Blue Buffalo website it states (Life Protection pet food) “Real meat – always the first ingredient”.  The Blue Buffalo representative told me she didn’t know why the word real was used.  She shared she knew that their food uses deboned meat as the first ingredient.  When I shared that it was just puzzling why the word real is used by so many she asked me if I wanted her to go ask another representative – yes I did.  She came back saying that it is Blue’s intention that ‘real’ means a meat not a meal or by-product.

Blue Buffalo – real means meat, not a meat meal or by-product.

The Nutro website states “Natural Choice® Cat Food features real poultry or fish as the #1 ingredient in our dry and loaf formulas…”  The Nutro Representative told me ‘real’ means nothing that is artificial.  She gave the example that some pet foods use a lot of other things in a meat ingredient and Nutro doesn’t – it’s just the meat.

Nutro – real means nothing artificial, meat.

The Science Diet website (cat food) states “Real chicken 1st ingredient”.  Hill’s Science Diet was the second company to be honest stating ‘real’ is more of a marketing term.  Science Diet never explained their intention of the word real, their representative only stated Science Diet’s chicken is meat mechanically deboned primarily from chicken necks and backs.

Science Diet – real is a marketing term.

The Innova website (puppy food) states “Each bite is packed with real turkey and chicken to meet a puppy’s increased protein and energy requirements.”  The Innova representative told me ‘real’ means no by-products.  She shared it is “much like you going to the grocery and buying chicken breasts”.  I asked why don’t they just say ‘chicken meat’ instead of ‘real chicken’ (I was implying on the website) she said there were certain ways pet foods have to be labeled and it could not be stated as ‘real’ on the label.

Innova – real means no by-products.

Meriam-Webster.com defines ‘real’ as “not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory; being precisely what the name implies.”  (Clearly, Meriam-Webster isn’t familiar with pet food’s definition of real.)

The real ‘real’ is USDA inspected and approved, Grade A, Prime, Choice.  If a meat is truly ‘real’, it should be nothing less than the same quality of foods sold for human consumption.  Anything less is not real – it’s fake.

Ask your pet food company “Are the meat ingredients in your pet food USDA inspected and approved?”  Make certain they respond to the “and approved”.  Many pet foods will give half answers such as ‘all our meats come from USDA inspected facilities’.  But they did not respond to are your meat ingredients USDA inspected and approved.  Pay close attention to how they respond.

Note:  All of the pet foods that have provided their Pledge have given consumers this information (in writing and sworn to be true by CEO or President).

 

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible

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12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Mollie Morrissette

    July 31, 2013 at 12:34 pm

    Fabulous article Susan! I love what you said about the PFI not being aware of the dictionary definition of ‘real’. Bottom line: The word is used as a marketing tool. Words like: natural, holistic, cage free, organic, green, healthy, eco-friendly, etc. are utterly meaningless (BS). Unless, of course, it is Certified Organic or Animal Welfare Approved, or they signed the Pledge. And even then…one must remain skeptical, cynical, analytical and vigilant. Is that jaded? Perhaps. But if consumers knew what we know, they would storm the pet food mfgs with pitchforks and torches demanding for their surrender. I’ll keep my skepticism, thank you, as long as the PFI, AAFCO, and the FDA continue to put consumers, pets and animals at risk. Thanks again Susan for all your hard work!

  2. Peter

    July 31, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    And remember that the “answer” you get when contacting any of these businesses may vary, depending on the who and when with respect to the “representative” that you get at any given time. Most aren’t trained well, and many read from scripts that they are given as FAQ manuals.

  3. MARTY

    July 31, 2013 at 3:47 pm

    IT WOULD BE AWESOME TO HEAR WHAT “ALL” THE OTHER COMPANIES SAY WHAT REAL MEANS TOO, NOT JUST A FEW

    • Kristin

      July 31, 2013 at 9:54 pm

      Marty,

      I’m sure Susan would appreciate your help in contacting more of those pet food companies that use the term “Real”. I look forward to hearing your findings.

  4. Dianne

    July 31, 2013 at 4:39 pm

    It would be interesting to find out which of the brands can state they are GMO free. If any say they are and yet are owned by Monsanto or any of its wholly owned subsidiaries I would be extremely skeptical. Along with any of the other garbage included, GMO is or should be another serious issue given the new research coming out.

  5. KAH

    July 31, 2013 at 5:03 pm

    Advertising agencies are smart. When they conduct focus groups (and I’ve been in many) they test how consumers react to verbal and image queues (messaging). A likely question from them would be … when you hear the word “real” (meat) what comes to mind? The likely responses often include opposite connotations. Therefore companies can get away with using the word because the opposite of real is fake and artificial. No matter how compromised the ingredient is, short of being a synthetic, there is some element of real-ness to it. As long as you have a customer thinking real, it’s easy to make the bridge over to favorable and positive! What you seldom hear a PF company use are the words “whole, unadulterated, pure, uncompromised, original, minimally processed, genuine, grade A quality, primary and organic” (in the sense of being fundamental). Susan is correct in that the only definitions that really matter are whether the ingredients are USDA inspected and approved, human grade quality, non-diseased and unspoiled. While fruits and veggies can certainly be “seconds” in the sense of not being retail sale worthy, seconds is not meant to be the same as rotten and moldy.

  6. b

    July 31, 2013 at 7:34 pm

    I remember reading a book about Pet Food by a researcher.
    She clearly stated that if it says MEAT or ANIMAL MEAT that is from dead dogs and dead cats picked up for free from animal shelters.

    I talked to someone who was in the business of picking up dead dogs and cats from kill shelters. They deliver the dead dogs and cats to rendering plants for commercial pet food factories like purina, iams, eucanuba, science diet, etc, where the dead dogs and cats are cooked and their protein is used for commercial pet food as it is the cheapest free animal protein available for high profits in pet food.
    Ingredient on pet food packages call it Animal Protein, Meat, Animal Meat, etc.

  7. Linda

    July 31, 2013 at 8:14 pm

    Susan, What a HUGE effort you continue to make on behalf of all our dear, beloved pets. Thank you for all you do, Linda & Rufus

  8. Jay Smith

    August 2, 2013 at 12:14 am

    After wading through all of this, you still have to answer the question about what “made with” means. In our research, we realized (when things stopped making sense in the nutritional analysis and cost containment comparisons we were doing) that “made with” (to many of these manufacturers) is OK to say whether you use 1% or 20% of the actual product your “real” term is supposed to describe.

    Trying to nail these players down became so tiring that, finally, we learned to ask “does your (chicken, beef, turkey, etc.) contain anything except lean muscle cuts, as in does it contain carcass, cartilage, sinew, waste processing materials or other non-muscle meat portions in any quantity?”

    We received few replies, and even a few hang-ups from Customer Service people.

  9. Pingback: What is Real Meat mean in Pet Food for your Best Friend? |

  10. pam

    August 16, 2013 at 11:03 am

    have been battling with what to feed my two rottweiler pups who are 10 months and 8 months of age. Every time I read articles I get even more disappointed of frustrated with the of feeding them something that is bad for their health. I spoke with a Rottweiler breeder who recommended the 4Health Dog Food Products sold at TSC stores. Cannot find out where this food comes from. Cannot get any solid answers. Anyone out their have the answer?

    • Marscha

      August 23, 2013 at 5:26 pm

      If this helps…I make my own food for my two pug puppies. Ground beef, rice, peas, carrots, and add 1/2 tsp fine ground egg shells for calcium. Their coats shine, they are more playful. My youngest pug was express her anal glands on my furniture, floor, couch. Once I made my own food …..never any issues again.

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