AgriCultured

Where people who eat get their food questions answered

Meat by-products

September 4, 2012 by Marybeth

I recently stopped to talk to someone who was selling a line of “all-natural” dog foods. One of the points she started the conversation with was:

You know by-products are the beaks and feet. Our foods don’t contain any by-products.

I was a bit thrown by her pitch. I knew that animal and meat by-products really are not beaks and feet, but I did not know exactly what by-products are. Or where to point her for the correct information. I know that foods like hot dogs and bologna often get a bad rap for being “by-products instead of real meat.” But what does that really mean? And is it even true?

So I went looking.

And it was a hard search!!

First, let’s define what we mean when we say “meat.” That will help us figure out what we mean when we talk about animal or meat “by-products.”

What you may or may not know is that plain and simple, meat is muscle. In a previous post, I showed you a picture of where on the cow the different cuts of meat come from. Muscles in different areas of the body have different properties (lean or fat, tough or tender), and that is why different cuts of meats have different tastes and textures.

According to the United States’ Code of Federal Regulations (CFR; 9 CFR 301.2), meat is defined as:

The part of the muscle of any cattle, sheep, swine, or goats which is skeletal or which is found in the tongue, diaphragm, heart, or esophagus, with or without the accompanying and overlying fat, and the portions of bone…, skin, sinew, nerve, and blood vessels which normally accompany the muscle tissue…

(i) Meat does not include the muscle found in the lips, snout, or ears.

(ii) Meat may not include significant portions of bone… or any amount of brain… [or other large nervous tissue]

Okay… are you ready for the translation? Basically, when we say “meat,” we mean the parts of the animal’s muscle that we would eat, and some of the parts that we might throw away. Sinew, nerve, and blood vessels sounds kind of gross right? You know that stringy/chewy part in just about every chicken drumstick that you don’t eat? That’s sinew, nerve, and blood vessels. That whole chicken that you roast, but then throw out the skin before you serve it? The fat you trim off the steak before you put it on the grill? Technically, in this definition, when it all comes together, it’s considered meat.

BUT – some muscles are not considered meat – like muscles in the lips. There are also restrictions on nervous tissue (like brain and spinal cord) that can not be included. (The brain and spinal cord are where the prions that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy live. BSE can be transmitted to people through eating these tissues.)

So what about “meat by-products”? Let’s check out the CFR (same section) again…

Any part capable of use as human food, other than meat, which has been derived from one or more cattle, sheep, swine, or goats.

Well, that’s not very helpful. But it does tell us that it has to be “capable of use as human food.” And we can’t digest feet and beaks, so that kicks those right out of this definition.

The USDA Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book has some examples of by-products.

Byproducts must be individually declared by species and specific name in the ingredients statement, e.g., Pork Liver, Beef Tripe, and Beef fat.

Now we’re getting somewhere! So we know that meat is muscle. And by-products are parts of the animal that are edible, but not muscle. Remember when we said that the whole chicken was considered meat? But when you buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts the skin that is removed is considered a by-product. The fat that is trimmed from the pork loin before you buy it? That’s a by-product once it’s removed. Beef kidneys? Pork liver? Apparently some people like them. They’re not muscles, which means they’re not meat, but they’re edible, which makes them a by-product.

(For those who are wondering, tripe is the wall of the first two compartments of a ruminant’s stomach. Technically it’s a muscle, but it’s not in the list of the types of muscle that are considered meat.)

Have I lost you? Is this as clear as mud? Before I wrap up, let me get back to what sparked this post in the first place – that lady’s pet food claims. Once I had all this (sort of) figured out, I looked at the labels on some of the pet food samples she gave me.

pet food ingredients

Beef meal and beef fat. It turns out her “no by-products” pet foods actually do contain by-products.

Here’s the ingredient list from a package of hot dogs I have in my freezer.

hot dog ingredients

Heading back to that same CFR (9 CFR 319.180), if the hot dogs contain by products, it must state on the label “with by-products” or “with variety meats.” This package does not, so “beef” here does refer to meat, not beef by-products.”

Man, what a headache! Okay, I know you’ve got them. What are your questions? Let’s tackle this!

Author: Marybeth

Large animal veterinarian, cattle farmer, pet owner, grocery buyer.

  • http://www.askthemotherboard.com Dani

    Great post, I’m sure this is going to generate some conversation. :)

    I would love to hear your thoughts on the raw food diet for dogs as well.

    • Marybeth

      Dani – Thanks for your comment. I’ve got another post for later this week talking about the inedible by-products that I didn’t mention this time that you’ll probably find interesting.

      The raw food diets for dogs are a hot topic among veterinarians right now. The American Veterinary Medical Association recently released an FAQ document that might answer some of your questions. https://www.avma.org/KB/Resources/FAQs/Pages/Raw-Pet-Foods-and-the-AVMA-Policy-FAQ.aspx

      Some discussion on raw foods for dogs (and cats) might be a good topic for an article here. Thanks for the idea!

  • Kerry

    Awesome. Thank you! I too have come across people with wild notions of what goes into things. I’ve never heard “beaks and feet” claim but the seemingly scare-tactic of calling things “by-products” is something that comes up a lot.

    But it makes me wonder; what does become of the beaks and feet? I know people eat pigs’ feet, and cattle claws make good doggy chew toys (or costuming items for monster costumes!), but I can’t imagine all the chicken feet wind up in Chinese buffets which is the only place I’ve ever seen them. Do these things go into bone and/or blood meal as appropriate? Or are there other uses for them?

    • Marybeth

      Kerry, I’m glad this helped you understand. Hopefully you can help other people understand as well! Check back on Thursday – my next post will talk about the “inedible” by-products, and will address your questions. Thanks for your comment!

  • Gwen

    I am a small animal Veterinarian, who once worked for a large well-respected pet food company and can personally attest to the beaks and feet included in meat by-products. The better pet food companies will further refine their by-products to remove larger pieces of bone and things like chicken claws (I have personally seen these) to make a more digestible product. This article doesn’t refer at all to AAFCO, which is the organization that regulates pet food ingredients. Pet food labeling is definitely difficult to understand exactly what goes into something. I would strongly suggest purchasing from a company that is large enough and interested enough to do extensive nutritional research to back up their food claims.
    The following description is from Wikipedia but is complete. “Meat by-products are parts of slaughtered animals that don’t include meat. These include lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, liver, blood, bone, and stomach and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth, or hooves. The definition for meat by-products by the Association of American Feed Control Officials is:
    The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.
    A new category of pet food typically marketed as holistic, wellness, organic, ultra healthy, and/or simply premium pet food often emphasizes the use of human-grade meat sources only, with no animal meat by-products.
    AAFCO has declared that using the term “human grade” is “false and misleading” to quote AAFCO in a letter sent to pet food manufacturers in (March 2004) Section IV – Pet Food Label Claims – Page 66 Section E. “Claims that a product contains or is made from ingredients that are “human grade”, “human quality”, “people foods”, “ingredients you (the purchaser) would eat” “food(s) that you (the purchaser) would feed your family” or similar claims are false and misleading…” Note that AAFCO actually has no official definition of human grade ingredients.
    The AAFCO only governs the pet food packaging and has no authority over websites or advertising. Companies making this claim, do so on websites or other advertising, but they never do so on the package which AAFCO governs. ISO has published a series of standards regarding the products of the topic and these standards are covered by ICS 67.120.10.[4]“

    • Marybeth

      Gwen, thanks for your comments and for the information about AAFCO. I was going to include some of that information in this article, but didn’t want to get too complicated. It can be difficult to balance being complete and being brief in these posts! You’re right, pet food labeling is complex and much different than people food labels. My point here was that this particular pet food does contain by-products in the form of meal and fat, even though their sales person was very adamant that it did not contain by-products. Tomorrow’s post will discuss some inedible by-products and rendering, and will address some of the points you raised here. I would love to hear your comments on that post as well.