How 'bout those by-products?
Of all the ingredients that might go into pet food, by-products tend to have the worst reputation. Is it warranted? That depends on how picky you are about what goes into your pet’s mouth as well as who you talk to.

The term “by-products” can mean the trimmings from chicken breasts destined for grocery stores — or things you wouldn’t feed your worst enemy, let alone your best friend.

The Association of American Feed Control Officials describes meat by-products this way: “The non-rendered clean parts, other than meat … lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low-temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hooves.”

If you visit Nestle Purina’s Web site, you’ll read that poultry and beef by-products are excellent sources of protein, secondary products produced in the same plants as beef or poultry processed for human foods. Poultry by-product meal includes ground, rendered (heat processed), clean parts of poultry such as necks, intestines and undeveloped eggs. Doesn’t sound that much different from what you’d see wolves or lions eating on the Discovery Channel, does it?

It goes on to say that meat by-products are also used in human foods, including specialty items such as liver, kidney, sweetbreads and tongue.

But Jean Hofve, a veterinarian in Jamestown, Colo., who was an official liaison to the Association of American Feed Control Officials for two years, says, “Meat by-products, by-product meal, and meat and bone meal are cheap meat substitutes. They are poorer quality protein sources.”

FREE VIDEO Owners turning to homemade pet food March 30: Pet owners are making their own pet food amid tainted supply scare. NBC News Channel

Veterinary nutritionists point out, however, that it would be foolish for pet-food companies to produce unhealthy foods.

“Pet-food companies do not formulate and sell diets that are designed to hurt a dog or cat,” says Joe Bartges, professor of medicine and nutrition at the University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Knoxville. “Not only would it be unethical and illegal, but not very smart business.”

What does ‘premium’ mean?
When you shop for pet food, you can find organic foods, raw foods, foods for indoor cats, foods for cats with hairballs, food for high-energy dogs, tiny dogs, obese dogs and all dogs in between. You’ll also see foods marketed as “premium,” “ultra-premium” or “super-premium.” What makes them different from Brand X at the grocery store?

“Premium foods are not always better than grocery store foods, but manufacturers of premium diets may use more expensive ingredients, have better quality control, do more research and analysis of their diets and feed them to animals in a controlled setting to ensure they are nutritionally complete,” says Craig Datz, a clinical assistant professor at University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine in Columbia, Mo.

Will a pricey niche pet food protect my dog or cat from the bugs and toxins that can contaminate grains and meats?
Not necessarily. Premium products have pluses, but no pet-food manufacturer is exempt from human error or just plain bad luck.

What kind of testing is done?
Some companies analyze each batch of food before releasing it for sale, while others do so only if a problem is suspected, Datz says.

But testing food prior to sale probably would not have helped in the Menu Foods recall. After the problem was recognized, the food was tested extensively for all known toxins that tend to occur in foods and was negative for all of them, says Richard Goldstein, associate professor of medicine at Cornell University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in Ithaca, N.Y., where pet-food samples were tested by the New York State Animal Health Diagnostic Center. “This substance was picked up on a very wide screening type of test. It’s not a substance you would have initially thought to look for,” he says.

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