Uncovering Unwanted Ingredients in Dog Food — It’s Shocking!

If you haven’t checked recently, dog food ingredient lists can be quite alarming.

However, these unsettling lists are the only way to gain insight into what a product truly contains.

While my research primarily focused on meat protein, I recently decided to delve deeper into the world of cereal grains in dog food processing.

Moreover, I was eager to shift my attention from the grim subject of meat and explore the realm of what I had perceived as “nutritious” grains.

Shocking Discovery

However, I was completely unprepared for the extremely alarming components I would come across.

Quality Grains or Rejected By-Products?

Some of the cereal grain ingredients in Dog Foods are actually by-products from the human food industry, considered leftovers.

This less than desirable material is deemed as “unfit for human consumption” but is allowed in the production of commercial dog food.

For instance, wheat middlings, also called wheat mill run, are a manufacturing by-product.

According to the pet food industry…

Middlings consist of “fine particles of wheat bran, wheat shorts, wheat germ, wheat flour, and some offal from the mill’s end”¹

This inexpensive and inferior waste product is humorously termed “floor sweepings” by grain industry insiders. Despite its questionable nutritional value, it is still utilized in the production of Dog Foods.

Understanding Dog Food Ingredients

Have you ever come across the term “cereal food fines” on a dog food label and wondered what it means?

Cereal fines are essentially manufacturing by-products derived from processing breakfast cereals

These cereal fines are basically waste material from the manufacturing process, often containing unknown residues from the original cereal source.

In essence, cereal fines are considered lower quality ingredients that don’t meet the standards for human consumption.

Surprisingly, these inferior ingredients are legally allowed in the production of dog food.

Below is a list of some common low-quality grain by-products used in manufacturing dog food:

Striving for Quality Over Profit

It is evident that some companies prioritize profits over the quality of their products, such as Best Dog Foodz, who focus on saving money rather than producing top-notch dog food.

Despite the accessibility and affordability of nutritious grains, why do certain dog food companies continue to resort to inferior by-products just to cut costs?

We are fortunate that there are still ethical companies that prioritize the well-being of our cherished pets over financial gain, steering clear of the profit-first mentality.