# cooked or uncooked meat in dry food



## 4loveofadog (Mar 3, 2010)

i know most of the dog owners on this site believe in raw meat diets for your dogs. i'm just curious to know if you buy the good dry dog food, like innova, wellness, fromm or solid gold, where meat is the first ingredient and no harmful by-products, if the meat is raw or has it been cooked. does anyone know this answer. thanks for your response.


----------



## Asche-zu-Staub (Apr 25, 2010)

i believe all pellets are baked at a very high temp...thats what i heard, but great question, is like to know the 100% behind that.


----------



## Relayer (Apr 29, 2010)

I'd need to check again on their site, but seem to remember Orijen siting that their meat is raw and dehydrated. Less sure about any others.


----------



## roxy84 (Jun 23, 2007)

most of the meat in any dry food that has a decent meat content is going to come from the named meat meals. manufacturers arent going to use enough fresh meats to make the cooked product a significant part of the food....if they did, the bags would probably cost $200.

*for example, turkey meal is defined as* the ground clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails......then the meat products (dpending on what type of named meat meal it is) are ground up carefully dried to a moisture level of _10%._

that is what makes up any significant meat in the high end dog foods, and it leaves some questions as to the quality of the meat each manufacturer is really putting in their kibble.

different manufacturers are going to have different qualities of named meat meals.

i love orijen as a kibble and think it is one of the best as kibbles go.......but, in no way could i compare it to a dog eating fresh raw meats. 

straight raw meat from the meatiest part of a chicken, turkey, etc...are not what is ending up in most dog foods. even orijen uses primarily named meat meals to get a decent quantity of meat in their kibbles, though they do claim that most of their named meat meals come from muscle meat.

it is still a named meat meal being used in a food like orijen, not dehydrated meat, which would likely be very expensive for the consumers.


----------



## roxy84 (Jun 23, 2007)

here was part of correspondence i had with champion foods regarding their meals:

_Hi Derek,_

_There are definitely different qualities of meat meals out there, just as there are many different grades of meat for you to choose from at your local grocers. If you start with ingredients that are mostly muscle meat (as is the case with our meat meals), this results in a quality meal that is very high in protein._
_yes, most of the content of our meals will be muscle meat. _

_Best Regards,_
_*Bonnie*_
_Customer Care_
_Champion Petfoods LP_
_p 780.939.6888_
f 780.939.6858



even with orijen, that means in addition to the muscle meat being used, there are still flesh and skin parts that we would not want to eat that are used to make the meal.

im sure other manufacturer use meals of varying quality, some with less muscle meat and more flesh and skin parts being used.


----------



## Relayer (Apr 29, 2010)

roxy84 said:


> most of the meat in any dry food that has a decent meat content is going to come from the named meat meals. manufacturers arent going to use enough fresh meats to make the cooked product a significant part of the food....if they did, the bags would probably cost $200.
> 
> *for example, turkey meal is defined as* the ground clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of turkey or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails......then the meat products (dpending on what type of named meat meal it is) are ground up carefully dried to a moisture level of _10%._
> 
> ...


It was the "fresh, never frozen meat" part about Orijen that I mixed up with not cooked, my bad.


----------

