Difference with UK and US

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wickedkitten

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I've already said before on here with Iams that the food over here is a lot different ingredient wise than the food in the UK but I didn't realise exactly how different until now. Our boys are finally old enough to get switched from kitten food so after a lifetime (literally) of just eating Iams dry kitten with various wet food we are going with Nutro Indoor Cat. I was just looking over the various posts in this forum about and people not recommending it over others and then decided to look at the difference in the ingredient lists.

Originally Posted by US

Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Rice Flour, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Soybean Oil, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Flaxseed, Tomato Pomace, Brewers Dried Yeast, Natural Flavors, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Dried Vegetable Fiber (Carrots, Celery, Beets, Parsley, Lettuce, Water Cress, Spinach), Potassium Chloride, Menhaden Fish Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Oat Fiber, Soy Protein Concentrate, Cranberry Powder, Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Taurine, Dried Egg Product, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, L-Carnitine, Inositol, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Dried Chicory Root, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Niacin, Copper Sulfate, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Manganous Oxide, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Beta-Carotene, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Biotin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite.
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and

Originally Posted by UK

Dried Chicken Meat (min. 25%), Ground Rice, Corn Gluten, Rice Flour,
Poultry Fat (min. 5%), Sunflower Oil (min. 3%), Flaxseed, Tomato Pomace, Dried Yeast,
Dried Beet Pulp, Mixed Vegetable Fibre, Potassium Chloride, Menhaden Fish Oil, Oat Fibre, Cranberry Powder, Dried Egg Product, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Dried Chicory Root, Yucca Schidigera Extract.
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It is really gobsmacking the difference and I actually have to salute anyone in the US that actually does go out of their way to make sure their pets eat up without a lot of unnecessary stuff in their bodies.
 
mschauer

mschauer

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I wonder how much of the difference is explained by differences in the ingredients listings standards in the two countries? Like is "dried chicken meat" just what is called "chicken meal" here? And perhaps over there they aren't required to list in detail all the added nutrients.

Just guessing, I have no idea...
 
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wickedkitten

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You definitely have to list everything that is in it. According to this site

http://www.messybeast.com/cat-food-industry.htm

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 labelling is described later.
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So it can be anything really :O
 
sharky

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THAT is a FAR CRY from a REAL MEAL definition,... Chicken meal is the meat ( NO BY PRoDUCTS) and some bone that has most of the water and some fat removed... it is similiar to making chicken jerky... the only consistancy is how much bone is there and that is a call away for most companies
... The affco definition is is QUITE close to what I wrote ... as for digestabilty we could ALL think on that one ..lmao... as anything made into a kibble is HARDER to digest than a can of the same thing ... BY MOST Chicken meal is considered the BEST protein avail in DRY food


Yes Chicken meal and Dried Meat are similiar ... per members who understand both sides of the pond
labeling
 
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wickedkitten

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ah see, I'm just going by the meal definition on the site really

The ground or pulverised composite of animal feed-grade ingredients e.g. poultry by-product meal consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered poultry, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs, and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidably in good processing practices. Meal contains nothing humans would term meat.
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which is different from the actual definition for what is termed as meat in the US

The clean flesh of slaughtered cattle, pigs, sheep or goats. Does include muscle meat, tongue, some organs, fat and skin of the animal. AAFCO define "meat" as the "clean flesh of slaughtered mammals as is limited to the striate muscle with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels, which normally accompany the flesh."
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sharky

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POuLTRY by product meal contains : head feet intestines undeveloped eggs...


Chicken meal NOT BY PRODUCT MEAL ... contains the flesh meat only the water and fat is removed.AS NO organs are allowed either .. It contains only FLESH meat and some bone

SOME more realible sites
.. Not exact but AFFCO decided to make us pay for access to the real definitions

http://searchwarp.com/swa5545.htm

http://alter-idem.smartmonkey.org/cats/definitions.htm
http://www.omhpet.com/wellness/dog_faq_index.html#20
I copied the chicken meal portion
... But lots of good info


What is the difference between chicken meal and chicken by- product meal?
Chicken meal is a high quality protein source that contains muscle meat as well as a small percentage of bone. The bone fraction contains rich sources of calcium and phosphorus. By law it may not contain heads, feet or intestines. Chicken by-product meal contains a variety of chicken "parts" including heads, feet and intestines. The only part of the chicken which cannot be included in chicken by-product meal is feathers.
 
mschauer

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As far as the main ingredients I don't think the 2 are really all that different. The first 16 ingredients are the same assuming "chicken meal" and "dried chicken" are the same thing and with the exception that "natural flavors" is included in the US version and not the UK version. Beyond the first 16 ingredients the differences are all supplements.

I see taurine isn't included in the UK version. That is a nutrient that has been shown to be essential to the long term health of a cats heart and eyes. Other important nutrients are also missing...

If I were you I would complain to Iams. I think you have good reason to complain...
 
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