Beef has been a principal ingredient in dog and cat diets for decades. Although it lost a bit of popularity a few years ago as chicken took over the top spot in most pet foods, beef-based ingredients are still considered a preferred choice by many pet owners. For manufacturers, beef can be expensive, in large part because most of the better portions go into the human food market and a consistent quality supply can be limited. According to AAFCO 2020, beef falls under the broad definition of meat:
9.2 Meat is the clean flesh derived from slaughtered mammals and is limited to that part of the striate muscle which is skeletal or that which is found in the tongue, in the diaphragm, in the heart or in the esophagus; with or without the accompanying and overlying fat and the portions of the skin, sinew, nerve and blood vessels which normally accompany the flesh. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears a name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto.
