Lamb Meal in Dog Food - Dog Nutrition DB

Lamb meal is a popular choice for pet food manufacturers as it is a digestible and nutrient-rich protein source. This article will explain what lamb meal is and why it’s in your dog’s food.

Contents

What is Lamb Meal?

Lamb and lamb meal are widely used in dry dog food.

Lamb is a highly nutritious and palatable red meat that is commonly used in pet food products.

Lamb meal, a concentrated form of lamb protein, is also widely used in pet foods due to its nutritional value and digestibility.

Much of the lamb and lamb meal used in pet foods is derived from the lamb meat industry in Australia and New Zealand^[2].

To make lamb meal, lamb tissues are rendered into a meat meal.

This includes all parts of the lamb that are not suitable for human consumption and deemed slaughterhouse waste such as organ meats, meat scraps, offal, or connective and fatty tissues.

However, the raw material for lamb meal production cannot include added blood, hair, horn, hide trimmings, manure, or stomach contents^[1].

Lamb meal has to contain mostly digestible protein to ensure that it actually provides nutritional benefits and is not just made from keratin and other fibrous proteins that resist digestion.

During the rendering process, high temperatures, draining and pressing are applied to the lamb tissues to kill microorganisms and separate protein and fat.

This produces a solid lamb protein fraction and melted lamb fat.

Rendering transforms lamb parts that are not suitable for human consumption into a highly concentrated and protein-rich powder.

Lamb meal is a digestible source of nutrients for dogs, and it’s made by recycling animal leftovers into usable feed ingredients.

If lamb meal contains a significant amount of bone and is high in phosphorus, it may be referred to as lamb and bone meal.

Lamb Meal Nutrients

Overall, lamb meal is a high-quality protein source that offers excellent nutritional benefits for your pet’s diet.

As a named protein, it provides a lot more transparency to pet owners compared to just “meat meal” or “meat and bone meal“.

But analytically, it mirrors the nutrient composition of meat and bone meals but has a poorer protein quality and digestibility compared to other meals or raw ingredients^[2,4,5,8].

The primary use for of lamb meal is to be a source of essential amino acids, fatty acids, and minerals.

According to AAFCO guidelines, the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in lamb meal should not exceed 2.2:1^[1]. This helps to ensure that the mineral content is balanced and appropriate for dogs.

But it’s not real meat and it’s never as wholesome as fresh lamb.

While lamb is a fresh ingredient, lamb meal provides a processed and cost-effective source of concentrated lamb protein recycled from animal by-products that would otherwise go to waste.

Compared to other “novel protein” meals, lamb meal had the lowest digestibility of indispensable amino acids. Specifically, the digestibility of histidine was less than 70%, while the other indispensable amino acids had a digestibility between 72% and 88%^[8].

Other research on the digestibility of lamb meal found it to be quite low in digestible essential amino acids lysine and threonine as well as sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine^[5,6].

In a 2016 study, the analytical content of some amino acids still met NRC and AAFCO recommendations for adult dogs but was below the recommendations set by the European Pet Food Industry^[6].

Cysteine is a precursor of taurine. And lamb meal and rice diets were a common factor reported in dogs with low taurine levels^[7].

One explanation for the discrepancy between adequate analytical amino acids and the level of actually digestible amino acids in lamb meal might be due to contamination with wool^[2].

Wool is high in sulfur amino acids like cystine, but its nutritional availability is low. This poor availability of cystine, a taurine precursor, may explain the taurine-associated dilated cardiomyopathy in certain breeds of dogs fed an otherwise nutritionally complete diet based on lamb meal and rice […]
Essential Rendering 2006^[2]

Dog food formulations typically combine different protein sources to compensate for any deficiencies. And this seems to be especially crucial when feeding lamb…

Lamb Meal in Dog Foods

Lamb meal can be a valuable ingredient in a dog’s diet for many reasons. But lamb meal in dog food is not the same as lamb meat.

Lamb meal is highly concentrated in protein with little moisture, meaning only a small amount of meal is needed to provide the same nutritional value as a larger amount of fresh lamb.

Using fresh lamb as the first ingredient in dog food is a common practice, but the high moisture content of raw meat can result in a lower percentage of actual protein in the final product.

The reason for this is that most of the weight of fresh meat is water, which is boiled off during kibble manufacturing.

Lamb meal, on the other hand, has already been dried and processed, providing a much higher protein content per weight compared to fresh lamb.

In addition to its nutritional value, lamb meal is also more cost-effective than using whole lamb meat.

As a by-product made from recycled material, lamb meal can be produced at a lower cost, making it a more affordable option for pet food manufacturers.

Lamb meal is also more stable and easier to transport and store than fresh lamb meat, making it a convenient and practical ingredient.

Overall, lamb meal provides a source of concentrated protein and can help keep the cost of dog food down while still offering the benefits of animal protein.

However, it seems like it’s best to combine it with other protein sources to compensate for its potential deficiency in essential amino acids.

What is Lamb Meal?

Lamb Meal Nutrients

Lamb Meal in Dog Foods

Further Reading