Meat meal

The AAFCO definition

AAFCO defines meat meal as the rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, or stomach and rumen contents (except in quantities unavoidable in good processing). Species-named versions, chicken meal, lamb meal, salmon meal, must come from the named species.

'Meat and bone meal' is a related ingredient that contains a higher mineral fraction from included bone, raising calcium and phosphorus levels.

Why meal ingredients climb the label

AAFCO requires ingredients to be listed by pre-cooking weight. Fresh chicken is ~70% water, so by the time the kibble exits the extruder most of that mass is gone. A pound of chicken meal, by contrast, is already dry, so meal-form proteins deliver more actual protein per ranking slot.

• 1 lb fresh chicken (raw) → ~0.3 lb of protein-bearing solids after cooking.
• 1 lb chicken meal → ~0.65–0.7 lb of protein, already cooked and dry.
• Result: a food whose first ingredient is 'chicken meal' often delivers more chicken-derived protein than one whose first ingredient is 'chicken'.

Quality signals to look for

Named meals (chicken meal, lamb meal) are more transparent than generic 'meat meal' or 'animal meal', which can pool species. Generic terms are legal but limit traceability. For an owner trying to manage a known protein sensitivity, named-species meals are the safer choice.

Why it matters

Most consumers read the first ingredient on a bag as the headline. Understanding that a meal-form ingredient delivers two-to-three times more protein per gram than its fresh equivalent prevents the common mistake of dismissing a meal-led recipe as inferior.