Chicken meal
Also appears on labels as: chicken meal (source of glucosamine and chondroitin sulfate)
Chicken that has been cooked, pressed, and dried into a dense powder. Roughly 300 percent more protein by weight than fresh chicken, because the water is already gone.
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- Where it comes from
- Rendering plants. Regulation defines it as the dry rendered product from chicken flesh and skin, with or without bone, and excludes feathers, heads, feet, and entrails.
- Why it's in the product
- Concentrated protein. A food listing chicken meal high on the panel usually has more actual chicken in it than one listing fresh chicken first, since fresh chicken is about 70 percent water at weigh-in.
- Safety and toxicity
- No inherent safety issue. The name is the quality signal: chicken meal identifies its species, unlike poultry meal or meat meal.
- Interactions and who should be careful
- Same poultry allergen consideration as whole chicken.
General reference, not veterinary advice. Dose, breed, and existing conditions change the answer, so talk to your vet before changing what your pet eats. Think we got this wrong? Tell us and we log it publicly.
Found in 52 scored products
Lowest scores first. Its presence here is not what drove those scores.
28 more scored products list this ingredient. Showing the 24 lowest-scoring.