|
To help distinguish between different grades of meat ingredients, we only use the term 'mince' for fresh, minced meats with a certified VL (visual lean) percentage of 75% or higher and a bone and offal content of zero.
VL shows how much of the mince is made up of lean meat. The remaining percentage will be fat and/or connective tissues. So in a mince with 75% VL, 75% will be lean meat, 25% fat/connective tissues. As a rule, the higher the VL, the better quality the mince - standard mince that you might buy from the supermarket, for example, would usually be around 75-85% VL while premium mince might be up to 95% VL.
On AADF, if you see a food that includes 'minced' meats, you can rest assured that it is at least as good as regular supermarket minced meat and sometimes even better. If a company fails to prove that their minced meats meet the above criteria, we remove the term mince and just list it (and score it) as fresh meat instead.
Meat of this quality delivers significantly superior levels of digestible protein, essential amino acids, and natural micronutrients compared to the highly processed meat forms found in most pet foods, making it a much more wholesome and species-appropriate option for your dog.
The only meat ingredients that score on a par with 75%+ meat minces are fresh whole cuts - for example you might see listed 'fresh chicken thighs', 'fresh beef forequarter' and so on.
PLEASE NOTE that the term 'mince' is not so protected outside of AADF. Companies can and do use the term for miscellaneous meat ingredients up to and including mechanically reclaimed meat so unless you see the term 'mince' on a food's AADF listing, you might be looking at a significantly lower quality meat ingredient than what we have described above.
Find foods containing Minced Meat
See the full Ingredient Glossary
|
