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When you read the ingredients list of your dog’s favorite food, you almost always find some ingredients that you don’t know, and a meat food like Turkey Meal may be one of them.
Although Turkey is well known, many dog owners are not sure what Turkey Meal means and if it is something their dog should eat.
What is Turkish Food?
Turkey Meal is a concentrated form of turkey meat and tissue that has been processed to remove excess moisture.
This process, known as rendering, is carried out on an industrial scale and produces other well-known animal products such as Beef Tallow.
Many dog owners do not realize that whole meat ingredients such as Turkey, Chicken, or Beef contain a very high proportion of water or moisture, which is 75%.
You can see a few examples in the chart below.
Turkey is not listed above but is very similar to Chicken so it will contain about 69% moisture which is important.
This high moisture content means that when the meat is cooked during dry dog food recipes, most of this moisture is lost, leaving only a small portion of the meat remaining.
But the portion remains stable due to meat meals such as Turkey Meal being released from this moisture in advance.
Turkey Meal is an example of a responsible and transparent meat food ingredient as it must be produced with Turkey-based ingredients.
This is in contrast to other meat meals such as Bone and Meat Meal, which are less versatile and can be made with a variety of ingredients.
You can read more about Bone Meal in our dedicated discussion – Bone Meal In Dog Food.
Why Turkey Food Is Dog Food
Nutritious food
As we mentioned earlier, Turkey Meal has had most of its moisture removed, meaning it is a very dense ingredient full of protein and animal fat.
This nutrient density allows pet food manufacturers to include a smaller portion of Turkey Meal to provide more nutrition than whole turkey ingredients.
Unlike red meats, turkey contains a much higher proportion of protein compared to leaner meats, with a protein to fat ratio of 80:20, although this can vary depending on the source.
Costs
It also means that meat meals like Turkey Meal are cheaper to buy than whole turkey meals.
This is because most of the turkey used to produce Turkey Meal is in cuts and cuts of meat that are less desirable than the ones you are used to in the grocery store.
Think of the leftover turkey meat and tissue on the bones of the turkey carcass after it has been butchered from the breasts, thighs and wings.
While that may not seem appealing, those scraps and trimmings are still very nutrient dense, and dogs won’t turn their noses up at them.
Storage and Security
An often overlooked reason that meat dishes like Turkey Meal use whole meat ingredients is that they are less prone to spoilage once served.
This is an important feature in the pet food manufacturing industry and reduces the risk of problems that could lead to recalls.
It also allows manufacturers to more easily transport and store ingredients over time, allowing for a more efficient supply chain.
Dog Food Products Using Turkey Meal
Despite being very similar to Chicken Meal, Turkey Meal is nowhere near as popular in dog food recipes and is only used in a small selection of products.
Some of these brands you may see include Wellness, Canidae, Nature’s Logic, Adirondack, Blue Buffalo, Zignature, Rachael Ray Nutrish, Merrick, and Earthborn Holistic.
We recently spent some time researching the use of ingredients in dog food, too we found that of the top 100 most popular dry dog foods on Chewy.com, only two recipes contain Turkey Meal as an ingredient.compared to 37 containing Chicken Meal.
This shows a huge difference in popularity between Chicken Meal and Turkey Meal, despite serving the same food and taste.
You can see an example of using Turkey Meal in a dry dog food recipe in the Nature’s Logic Canine Turkey Meal Feast ingredient list below.
As you can see, Turkey Meal is the most common ingredient in the recipe, which is very rare. But because of its nutritional value, this large portion of the Turkey Meal translates to a large portion of turkey that is full of protein and animal fat.
However, many other brands use Turkey Meal in combination with turkey or other meat ingredients.
You can see an example of this condition below in the ingredient list for Wellness’ Core Grain-Free Original Deboned Turkey, Turkey Meal, & Chicken Meal recipe.
This example shows turkey as the main ingredient, with turkey as a secondary ingredient. However, despite being so small, the density of the Turkey Meal means that there is more Turkey served in it than a large portion of Turkey.
You will also notice that this recipe includes a small portion of Chicken Meal and some Chicken Fat, which is normal.
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