Worth knowing · Unnamed rendered protein

Meat and bone meal

Also appears on labels as: beef and bone meal, beef meal and bone meal, meat meal, blood meal, bone meal, bone phosphate

Rendered mammal tissue including bone, with no species named. Bone content pushes the calcium and phosphorus high and the digestibility down.

Watched ingredients get highlighted on every product panel you open.

Where it comes from: Rendering plants that take material from multiple sources. The regulation does not require the animal to be identified.
Why it's in the product: The cheapest way to hit a protein percentage on a guaranteed analysis.
Safety and toxicity: No acute toxicity, and US rendering is regulated. Our objection is that an unnamed mammal source is the least transparent protein you can buy, and the high ash content means the protein number on the bag overstates what the pet can actually use.
Interactions and who should be careful: Unusable for elimination diets. The high mineral load is also a poor fit for large-breed puppies, where calcium excess is a documented growth problem.

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.