What the Dog Food Industry Doesn't Want You to Know About "Meat"

The label trick hiding in plain sight

Let's talk about labels.

Not particularly glamorous we know, but worth five minutes of your time.

Flip over most bags of dog food and you'll find a familiar phrase: "meat and animal derivatives." It sounds specific. It isn't. Under UK and EU pet food regulations, manufacturers are legally allowed to use category names like this instead of naming the actual ingredients inside - which means "meat and animal derivatives" could be chicken, beef, or a mix of several species, without ever telling you which.

It's not illegal. It's not even hidden, exactly - it's sitting right there on the packet and has been this way for years. But it's also not designed to help you understand what you're actually feeding your dog. And most owners have no idea the loophole exists.

We think that's a problem. That's why every Caboodle recipe uses clearly named proteins — chicken, lamb, beef, turkey - rather than hiding behind vague ingredient categories.

The loophole, explained

Manufacturers are allowed to label ingredients in one of two ways:

• By category - e.g. "meat and animal derivatives," "cereals," "derivatives of vegetable origin"

• By individual ingredient name - e.g. "chicken," "beef," "carrots"

Both are legal. Only one actually tells you what's in the bowl.

The category option exists in law, and the ingredients inside still have to meet the same safety and quality standards as anything else on the label - this isn't about food safety. It's about the fact that two bags with identical "meat and animal derivatives" labelling could contain completely different proteins, and there's no way to tell from the packet alone.

Why this matters more than it seems

Naming the actual protein isn't just a nice-to-have. It means:

• No guessing which species is actually in the recipe

• No wondering if the protein source has quietly changed batch to batch

• A clearer picture of what your dog might react to, if they're sensitive to a specific protein

• The ability to actually compare one food to another, rather than comparing vague categories

If you've ever tried to work out why your dog reacts to one food and not another, and found the label no help at all, this is usually why.

How to spot it on any label

Next time you're checking the information on the back of a bag of dog food, here are a few things worth looking for:

1. Look for named proteins, not categories. "Chicken" tells you more than "meat and animal derivatives."

2. Check the percentage. Under FEDIAF guidelines, a named ingredient has to meet minimum thresholds — for example, "with chicken" means at least 4% chicken is present, while "chicken dinner" means at least 26%.

3. Watch for mixed labelling. Regulations don't allow mixing category names and individual names in the same list — so if a label does both, it's worth a closer look.

4. Remember: legal doesn't always mean transparent. Category labelling is permitted and widely used across the industry — it's just not designed with you in mind.

The Caboodle way

We built Caboodle on the belief that feeding your dog well should be easy and hassle-free. Not having to guess how much you're feeding them and not guessing what's actually in the bag. Naming every protein is part of the same principle: no mystery, no vague categories, just food you can trust and understand.

See what's in every Caboodle recipe.