The Short Answer
Named meat meals such as chicken meal or salmon meal are concentrated, dehydrated protein sources and can be excellent ingredients: a food with chicken meal as its first ingredient often delivers more protein than one leading with fresh chicken. The ingredient worth avoiding is unnamed meal ("meat meal", "poultry meal", "animal derivatives"), where the species is not declared and quality varies batch to batch. When reading a label, the key question is not fresh versus dried, but whether the species is named.
When you see "chicken meal" or "lamb meal" on a dog food ingredient list, it is easy to assume this is a lesser version of fresh chicken or lamb. In fact, meat meal is simply meat that has been cooked and dehydrated to remove water, resulting in a concentrated protein source. Whether it is a good ingredient or a poor one depends almost entirely on the source being named.
What Is Meat Meal and How Is It Made?
Fresh meat is approximately 70 to 75% water. When you list "fresh chicken" as the first ingredient, it appears prominent on the label, but after cooking it reduces to perhaps 20 to 25% of its original weight. "Chicken meal" is chicken that has already been rendered (cooked to remove moisture and fat) and dried. It typically contains 60 to 70% protein by dry weight, making it a highly concentrated protein source.
The rendering process involves cooking at high temperatures, which kills bacteria and destroys moisture. The result is a shelf-stable, high-protein powder that manufacturers mix into the food formulation.
Meat meal is not inherently inferior to fresh meat as an ingredient. A food with fresh chicken and chicken meal may actually deliver more protein from the meal component than the fresh component, because the fresh chicken loses most of its weight during cooking.
Why Does "Named" vs "Unnamed" Matter?
This is the crucial distinction.
Named meat meal (good): "Chicken meal", "salmon meal", "lamb meal", "turkey meal." The species is declared, which means the nutritional profile is predictable and consistent, and the manufacturer can be held accountable for what is in the bag.
Unnamed meat meal (poor): "Meat meal", "poultry meal", "animal meal", "poultry derivatives." The species is not named, meaning the content can vary batch to batch, mixing whatever is most available or cheapest at any given time. This might include restaurant waste, abattoir leftovers, or a blend of multiple unspecified species.
The practical problem with unnamed meal is:
- Nutritional consistency cannot be guaranteed
- Dogs with protein allergies cannot reliably avoid their trigger
- Quality control is harder to enforce
A food where the first ingredient is "chicken meal" is using a consistent, predictable protein source. A food where the first ingredient is "meat meal" or "animal derivatives" is not.
What Is the Difference Between Meat Meal and Fresh Meat on a Label?
| Label Wording | What It Means |
|---|---|
| Fresh chicken | Whole chicken including water content (approx 70% water) |
| Chicken meal | Dehydrated chicken, approx 65% protein by dry weight |
| Chicken (named, dehydrated) | Same as chicken meal, different labelling style |
| Poultry meal | Unnamed poultry species, variable quality |
| Meat meal | Unknown species mix, lowest quality designation |
| Animal derivatives | PFMA term for the lowest-disclosure category |
Is "Fresh Meat" Always Better Than "Meal"?
Not automatically. A food listing "fresh chicken" as the first ingredient sounds better, but if the food also lists "maize" and "wheat" as the second and third ingredients, the total protein quality and quantity may still be poor.
A better food might list "chicken meal" as the first ingredient (concentrated protein, genuinely high content) with "sweet potato" and "brown rice" as subsequent ingredients. The labelling is less appealing but the nutrition better.
Read the full ingredient list rather than just the top ingredient. A food with three named meat sources (even as meals) in the top four ingredients is providing substantial, consistent protein regardless of whether those sources are fresh or dried.
Which UK Foods Use the Best Meat Meal Practices?
| Brand | Meal Disclosure | Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Orijen | Named species, named origins | Full disclosure, highest standard |
| Millies Wolfheart | Named species throughout | Good transparency |
| Barking Heads | Named species, fresh and meal | Good standard |
| Harringtons | Named species (mostly) | Acceptable standard |
| Own-brand supermarket | Often unnamed ("meat meal", "poultry") | Lowest transparency |
Our Verdict
Named meat meals are not something to avoid: they are a legitimate, concentrated protein source used in many excellent dog foods. The ingredient to avoid is unnamed meal ("meat meal", "poultry meal", "animal derivatives"), which indicates variable quality and low transparency. When reading a label, the most important question is not whether the protein is fresh or dried, but whether the species is named. Named always means better.
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