Beef Meal in Dog Food

When you read the ingredients list of your dog’s favorite food, you almost always find some ingredients that you don’t know, and meat foods like Beef Chowder may be one of them.

Although Beef is well known, many dog ​​owners are not sure what Beef is and if it is something their dog should be eating.

What is Beef Feed?

Beef Meal is a concentrated form of beef and tissue that has been processed to remove most of its 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.

As you can see, Beef is one of the worst offenders of this, containing much more moisture than other meats, about 73%.

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 because of the meat meal like Beef Meal which is removed this moisture in advance.

Beef Meal is an example of a responsible and transparent meat ingredient as it must be produced from beef 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 Eat Beef in Dog Food

Nutritious food

As we mentioned earlier, Beef Meal has had most of its moisture removed, meaning it is a very dense ingredient full of animal protein and fat.

This nutrient density allows pet food manufacturers to include a smaller portion of Beef Meal to provide nutrients compared to beef ingredients.

Like other red meat ingredients, beef contains a higher amount of fat compared to lean meat, with a protein to fat ratio of 30:70, although this can vary depending on the source.

Costs

It also happens that meat meals like Beef Meal are cheaper than beef ingredients.

This is because the majority of the Beef used to produce Beef Diner is lean and less desirable cuts of meat than the ones you are used to in the supermarket.

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 meals like Beef 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 Beef Meal

Although Beef itself may be one of the most common meat ingredients in dog food recipes, Beef Meal sees little use but is still found in hundreds of recipes.

There are many popular dog food brands that use Beef Meal in their recipes, including Victor, Diamond, Nature’s Logic, Iams, Instinct, Wellness, Purina Pro Plan, Purina One, Purina Beneful, Pedigree, Acana, Taste of the Wild, Rachael Ray Nutrish, and American Journey.

While recently researching the use of ingredients in dog food preparation, we found that only 4 of the 100 most popular dry dog ​​food recipes on Chewy.com contain Beef which was less than we expected.

It may be a coincidence that there are very few Beef Dinners including more than 100 recipes, but it may also suggest that other meat ingredients are more popular.

You can see a perfect example of using Beef Meal in a dog food recipe in the Nature’s Logic Canine Beef Meal Feast ingredient list, shown below.

As you can see above, Beef Tenderloin is the most common ingredient in the recipe, and given the density of Beef Tenderloin, it means there is a large portion of beef.

However, some brands tend to use a mixture of Beef and Beef in their recipes, and you can see an example of this in the ingredient list of Acana’s Red Meat Recipe, shown below.

As you can see here, Beef is the most abundant ingredient in the recipe and is included in a small portion of the Beef Meal.

However, given that Beef Meal is denser than beef, there is probably more beef in that small portion of Beef Meal than in a large portion of Beef.

It is also worth noting that this recipe includes other meat ingredients such as Pork, Pork, and Regular Beef for premium brands such as Acana.