Meat meal is a method commonly used prior to the invention of refrigerators and freezers, based on an old way to preserve meat – by drying.

All ingredients for meat meal are sourced from human food slaughter houses, sickly or dead (none slaughtered) animals are not included. A good chicken based meat meal does also not contain beaks, feet and feathers. Some meals do contain a limited number of bones – in which case they are defined as meat and bone meals specifically, rather than meat meal. Calcium, which the bones provide, is an important component in the pet’s diet and can prove beneficial when included in pet food, in limited volumes.

When the meat scraps are processed into meat meal, they are purely dehydrated, dried and ground into a fine flour. As this is done shortly after the animal has been slaughtered, the meat is well preserved and can help ensure good and healthy pet food all the way to the expiry date.

Meat meal versus meat slurry or fresh meat?

As the meat has been dehydrated it is also significantly more concentrated than meat slurries – a fresh meat ‘soup’. So keep this in mind if you attempt to compare meat meal with pet food, based on meat slurry.

For more information on Aller Petfood visit their website, HERE.