Why Doesn't Halo Use Chicken Meal?

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Why Doesn’t Halo Use
CHICKEN MEAL?

Chicken	Chicken Meal
May be sold to human or pet food companies¹	Legally unfit for human consumption²
Subject to human ingredients safety standards¹	Subject to only the less-stringent animal food safety standards²
Contains NO “4-D” animal products	May contain “4-D” animal products²: Diseased animals Animals that were Dying prior to butchering Animals that were Dead prior to butchering Disabled animals (may carry more infections)
No rendered or “recycled” meats	Rendered
Cannot include waste products	May contain waste products² Restaurant waste Supermarket waste Meat processing facility waste Packinghouse waste
Meets FDA safety and quality standards for human food¹	Not subject to testing for quality standards or nutrient levels, may vary widely from batch to batch²

Notes
¹Please remember, even though you might be tempted by Halo’s appearance, aroma, and ingredients list, Halo Spot’s Stew is intended for dogs and cats, not for humans.

²See the FDA links below for additional information and legal definitions related to meat meals and rendered meats, including chicken meal. In addition, The Official Publication of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) contains a list of feed ingredients with their definitions.

More information from Dr. Donna Spector

FAQs About Chicken Meal

Q: Is Halo saying that chicken meal is terrible for animals?

A: No, we believe that chicken meal can provide good nutrition. However, it is not nearly as high a quality ingredient as real chicken, from both a health and safety perspective.

Q: Isn’t chicken meal higher protein than chicken, pound for pound?

A: It can be, and often is. So it’s important to check the protein level of the food (especially the dry-weight protein level), and the quality of ALL the ingredients. Companies like Halo that avoid chicken meal have to put in much more real chicken to get the same protein level as a company using chicken meal – a much more expensive proposition. All else being equal, chicken is a far superior ingredient.

Q: If a brand uses chicken meal, but has a terrific reputation for quality, can’t we assume they avoid 4D and waste products?

A: They may choose to avoid 4D and waste products. But if they use chicken meal, they can’t legally make the claim that they don’t, because no government authority will verify it. Plain and simple, if it says chicken meal, they’re allowed to use 4D and waste products and can’t legally claim they don’t -- so they have little incentive to do otherwise, and no one is watching to make sure.

Q: Some companies use chicken AND chicken meal – is that better?

A: Yes, it’s certainly better to have real flesh meat than not having any. Instead of using any meals or other rendered meats, Halo uses real flesh meat plus ingredients like eggs and pea protein as additional high-quality sources of protein.

Q: Are other meat meals, such as beef meal, lamb meal or salmon meal as bad?

A: Yes, all such “meals” have the same issues as chicken meal. Unspecified meals (such as meat meal, fish meal or poultry meal) are of even lesser quality and have additional health risks associated with them.

Q: What about by-product-meals?

A: By-product-meals are inferior to named meat meals such as chicken meal – but all of the meals are inferior to real flesh meat such as chicken

Useful FDA links

HALO holistic products (with NO meat meals)

Available at Whole Foods, Petco and thousands of natural foods and pet specialty stores. Because Halo sells out quickly, please call ahead to make sure.

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