Malted Barley Extract and Malt Flour

Most likely not. The gene for the sweet taste receptor does not work in cats, so sugars like maltose only add unnecessary carbohydrate.

Malted barley extract and malt flour are made from barley grains that are sprouted, dried and then ground or extracted. They add a mild sweetness and some carbohydrate to cat food. Tufts veterinary nutritionists say cats can digest and metabolize properly cooked carbohydrates, though adult cats have no specific dietary requirement for them. Ask your veterinarian about the diet of a cat with a medical condition.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Malt is used mostly for flavor, color and binding. Malting turns some of the grain's starch into sugars, mainly maltose, which gives a mild toasted sweetness and helps kibble brown during cooking. Pettings notes that malted barley also helps bind the food. It adds carbohydrate rather than any nutrient a cat needs.

Malted barley extract is a concentrated syrup or powder made by soaking malted barley in water and evaporating the liquid, so it is high in malt sugars. Malt flour is the whole malted grain ground into flour, with more of its starch and fiber intact. Pettings groups the two on one page because they do the same job in cat food.

Yes. Malt comes from barley, and barley contains gluten proteins, so malted barley extract and malt flour are not gluten-free. Malt is used mainly for flavor and binding, so it tends to sit lower on an ingredient list than the main grains. For a cat on a strict elimination diet that avoids grains, your veterinarian can tell you whether malt matters.

Pettings scores malted barley extract and malt flour 2 out of 5 and lists it as a grain, potato or other carb source. We found it on 11 of the 149 dry cat foods in our list. The ingredient score is separate from a food's overall score, which you can see on each food's page.