There hasn’t been much additional information forthcoming about chicken or poultry meal for some time. Most of the activity has moved to debates and controversies over the more exotic ingredients. However, this doesn’t mean that we’re not seeing some subtle changes over time. Most of this is a rehash of issues from yesteryear like ingredient definition, concern over composition and nutritional quality, and stability.
As names go, the age-old “no by-product” claim applies most specifically to poultry. Unlike animal and fish meals, the big qualifier that relegates poultry to a by-product category is the inclusion of viscera or entrails. Even with the newest revision to the rules in 2016 (the Association of American Feed Control Officials Official Publication) this discrepancy was not corrected. In this last update there was an addition to include wet rendering and more qualification for the levels of calcium and phosphorus. But these changes really didn’t improve the general understanding for consumers or provide additional clarity to the naming convention. This lack of real description for chicken meal merely leaves room for controversy and misinformation.
