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Meat - prime steak,
juicy liver, succulent turkey etc - are the
primary products of the food industry and the ones
which end up on the human dinner table. A
by-product is literally any secondary or
incidental product produced in the course of
making a primary food ingredient, not just the
internal organs. For example feathers are a
poultry by-product, hair is a meat (or animal)
by-product. These items are removed from the
carcass and hydrolyzed (pressure cooked with steam
until they form an edible gel). This turns
feathers or hair into an acceptable pet food
ingredient shown on labels as "poultry
by-products."
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NOTICE ON RENDERING PLANT WALL
All Animals
Are To Be Destroyed In A Humane Manner.
No
Processing Is To Begin Until The Animal
Has Expired.
-The Management.
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The term
"meal" on a cat food label means that
the material in the meal have been rendered. The
quality and content of the meal may be variable
across batches. In the USA, this means that some
some question the nutritional value of the
by-products. James Morris and Quinton Rogers, two
professors with the Department of Molecular
Biosciences, University of California at Davis
Veterinary School of Medicine, felt there was a
lack of information on the bioavailability of
nutrients of pet food ingredients. The pet food
labels give the supposed nutritional adequacy, but
the nutrients are no good if they are in a form
indigestible by the pet. Pet food labeling is
described later.
Depending on the
contents (grade), rendered material is sold to pet
food manufacturers, farm livestock feed
manufacturers and as honestly named fertilizers
such as blood meal, bone-meal, "blood and
bone" and "hoof and horn".
Where Do The
Ingredients Come From?
The animals
rendered come from various sources. In the US,
they are know as 4D animals: Dead, Diseased, Dying
or Disabled. Some died or are dying from unknown
causes and will have been treated with various
drugs, possibly including a euthanizing drug. The
animals are delivered to a "receiving
plant" where the hide (sold to a tannery)
skin, fats and meat are removed. The meat from
these animals can be sold for pet food after it is
completely covered in charcoal (to prevent
ingestion by humans), and marked "unfit for
human consumption". If the 4D animals are
already decomposing, they go straight for
rendering.
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