Poultry By-Product Meal

It may come from chicken, turkey or duck, but the label does not say which.

Poultry by-product meal is made from the clean parts of slaughtered poultry other than the muscle meat, ground and rendered into a dry powder. Tufts veterinary nutritionists say by-products often provide more nutrients than muscle meat on a per-weight basis. They also say ingredient quality cannot be judged from the label. If your cat has a food allergy or another medical condition, ask your veterinarian.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

It supplies a concentrated animal protein from parts of the bird that people in the United States rarely eat, such as organs. Those parts carry protein, minerals and taurine. Rendering turns them into a dry meal that is easy to store and mix into kibble. Using these parts also means less of each animal goes to waste.

Source: sites.tufts.edu

Chicken meal comes from chicken flesh and skin, while poultry by-product meal comes from the parts left after the meat is removed, such as organs. The other difference is the bird. AAFCO lets a label use a common name like chicken or turkey when the meal comes from one particular bird. Poultry by-product meal does not say which birds were used.

Source: aafco.org

It means the bird species is not specified. AAFCO allows the common name, such as chicken or turkey, when an ingredient comes from one particular bird. When a label just says poultry, the meal can come from chicken, turkey, duck or a mix. For cats with a food allergy, that makes it hard to know which protein they are eating.

Source: aafco.org

Pettings gives poultry by-product meal 2 out of 5 and lists it as a by-product meal. It appears on 18 of the 149 dry cat foods we list. It scores lower because neither the bird species nor the exact parts are named. Each food's page shows how the whole recipe scores overall.