What is Meat Meal in Cat Food and What Are the Benefits?

You may have noticed when reading the back of the packaging of some cat foods that one of the first ingredients on the list is a meat meal. These can be seen as chicken meal, salmon meal, or turkey meal, for example.

Now you might be wondering, what is meat meal in cat food? Is meat meal bad for cats? Or, what’s the difference between fresh meat and a meat meal?

Fresh Meat in Cat Food

Fresh meat includes muscle meat and naturally present amounts of accompanying fat. You’ll notice that ingredients like de-boned meats like de-boned chicken are listed. Unlike the ingredient “chicken”, “de-boned chicken” has had the bones removed.

Fresh meat is not as concentrated of a protein source as meat meals.

Natalie Williams Nutrition Manager

What is a Meat Meal?

Meat meals are created by using fresh meat and nutrient-rich bones and cartilage. Using a cooking process, called rendering, the meat is converted into a protein-rich, dry ingredient.

What is Rendering?

Rendering is a cooking process used to make many useful ingredients for use in pet foods. The process involves the application of heat, the extraction of moisture, and the separation of fat. Once the fat is separated from the cooked meat, the remaining high protein material is further processed to remove additional moisture and then ground into a meal.

Really you can have a meal out of almost any animal or fish that is processed on a large scale, including cod, whitefish, beef, or pork.

Benefits of Meat Meals

There are many benefits of using meat meals in pet food. Meal meals are a more concentrated source of protein than fresh meat, due to reduced moisture content. Pound for pound, meat meals contain increased protein as compared to fresh meat, which appeals to a carnivore's palate.

Recommended Solution

Protein-Packed, Premium Cat Food Recipes

Indulge your cat's carnivorous instincts with our Go! Carnivore meat-based cat food recipes. Specially designed for high-energy felines with an assortment of premium animal proteins for a healthful, hearty meal.

View Carnivore cat food

Meat meals also have an increased shelf life compared to fresh meat. Meat meals provide a concentrated source of protein and increased naturally occurring mineral content, relatively speaking, due to their reduced moisture content.

By-Product Meals, Un-Named Meat Meals, & Named Meat Meals

What’s the difference between by-product meals, un-named meat meals, and named meat meals? Well, by-product meals such as poultry-by-product meal, for example, may include unwanted ingredients such as heads and feet. On the other hand, un-named meat meals such as poultry-meal may include meats from many different unknown animal sources. Named meat meals are created with a single animal source.

Go! Solutions does not use any alternative meat meal sources, such as by-product meals and un-named meat meals, in any of our products; these alternative meat meals are considered lower-quality sources of protein.

Natalie Williams Nutrition Manager

Recommended Solution

Cat Food Made with Premium-Quality Ingredients

Go! Solutions uses premium quality 'named' meat meals such as chicken meal and salmon meal in our premium cat food recipes, as they provide a high-quality and concentrated source of protein.

View all cat food

Named ingredients ensure recipes are high in protein and more nutrient-dense than recipes with only fresh meat. Since it takes 3 to 5 pounds of fresh meat to produce 1 pound of meal, this ensures that your cat gets the most nutrients possible from the least amount of food.