In a recent conversation in one of the online groups I belong to, dog food ingredients came up – mainly kibble. The dog food manufacturers come up with terms for ingredients that hide what they actually are. There are chemicals of course – to make the food taste better, to color it so the humans feeding it think it looks better (if it looks better, it surely tastes better, right?), to preserve it so it lasts a long time without going bad. As if those chemicals aren’t bad enough, “animal digest” is added to most dry foods.
What exactly IS animal digest?
According to Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO), “Animal digest – A material which results from chemical and/or enzymatic hydrolysis of clean and undecomposed animal tissue. The animal tissues used shall be exclusive of hair, horns, teeth, hooves and feathers, except in such trace amounts as might occur unavoidably in good factory practice and shall be suitable for animal feed. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind or flavor, it must correspond thereto
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According to one major dog food manufacturer ”Digest is made from high-quality protein and fat material derived from animal tissues. Through an enzymatic process, the large protein pieces in the tissues are reduced to smaller peptides and amino acids. Likewise the fat particles are broken into smaller lipids and fatty acids. As the enzymatic reaction progresses, tissues liquefy. This liquid digest is then sprayed evenly on the outside of the dry-food kibbles. This is called “enrobing.” “
Interestingly enough, when defined by someone with an education in canine nutrition, and no vested interest in keeping pet owners from knowing exactly what it is, we get this definition, which is more specific, and lists actual sources rather than saying “animal tissue” or “high quality protein”.
According to canine nutrition expert Tracie Hotchner, ”Animal Digest is a boiled concoction made from unspecified parts of unspecified animals. Digest can be sprayed on lower-quality foods lacking good-tasting ingredients to give the food some desirability and palatability. The animals used for this broth can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Ingredients can come from restaurant and supermarket refuse, the dead, diseased, disabled, or dying (“4 D”) animals raised for human food, other farm animals, rodents, pets euthanized at shelters, and so on.“
The thought of forcing my dogs to be cannibals is horrifying to me, never mind their food being made from diseased animals.
Read labels folks, research those ingredients you don’t understand. Don’t let vague descriptions be enough – animal tissue is too vague – WHAT tissue exactly? Your dogs depend on you for everything. including healthy food. Don’t be sucked in by great marketing- research it all for yourself – and for your dog.
This video is not for the light hearted. Its very graphic, but shows you exactly what those BY PRODUCTS that are listed on your dry kibble food bags and canned meats are. .
