What is meat meal in dog food? A plain-English definition

You'll find "meat meal" on the back of most dry foods and baked treats, and the words do a lot of hiding. Meat meal is animal tissue that has been rendered, meaning cooked at high temperature so the fat separates and most of the water cooks off, then dried and ground into a fine, shelf-stable powder. It's a concentrated protein ingredient, recognised by the Australian pet food standard.

What the word doesn't tell you is which animal, which parts, or how carefully it was made.

Why do manufacturers use meat meal?

Three honest reasons. It's dense: with the water gone, meal carries far more protein per gram than fresh meat. It's stable without refrigeration. And it behaves in a mixer and an extruder in a way wet meat doesn't. A complete dry food has to hit the protein levels in the NRC and FEDIAF guidelines, and meal is one ordinary way of getting there. The question isn't "is there meal?" but "what kind, and from what?" The raw material can be anything from clean muscle trim to a mix of organs, bone and connective tissue; AS 5812 sets out what may go in, but the label term covers all of it.

What's the difference between "meat meal" and "chicken meal"?

Specificity. A named meal comes from one animal. "Meat meal" doesn't have to; the source can vary between batches while the label stays the same. If you're managing a dog on a single protein, an unnamed meal is a gap, and a fair thing to ask a manufacturer about.

One useful trick: ingredients are listed by weight before cooking. Fresh chicken is around three-quarters water, so a recipe that starts "chicken, chicken meal, rice" may end up with more of its protein coming from the meal than the fresh chicken listed first. That's not deceptive; it's how the rule works. Our label guide walks through the rest of the list.

Is there meat meal in Pudel treats?

No, and not because we think it's wicked. There's no step in our process where it could appear. A Pudel treat is one cut of one animal, naturally dried at low heat; nothing is rendered, ground, mixed or reformed.

So the ingredient list on a bag of kangaroo jerky reads "kangaroo". Whatever's listed is the whole list, across the range. And because a dried cut is concentrated too, it counts fully against the 10% rule. A treat, not a meal.

Keep reading: How to read a dog treat label: ingredients, analysis and small print · Single-ingredient dog treats: why one named cut is the point

Sources

• Pet Food Industry Association of Australia. AS 5812:2023 Manufacturing and marketing of pet food. pfiaa.com.au
• National Research Council (2006). Nutrient Requirements of Dogs and Cats. National Academies Press. nap.nationalacademies.org
• FEDIAF (2024). Nutritional Guidelines for Complete and Complementary Pet Food for Cats and Dogs. europeanpetfood.org

Pudel · Reviewed September 2026 · Single-protein, naturally dried dog treats, made in Australia. General information, not veterinary advice.