Abstract
Fresh mechanically deboned meat (MDM) is usually claimed as high-quality ingredient on dry pet food recipes and this aspect may positively influence consumer choice. It is important to determine the scientifically sustainability of this claim and to assess the microbiological safety of MDM inclusion in dry pet food. Objectives were: 1) to evaluate the effect of inclusion of MDM in dry dog food on fatty acid profile and in vivo and in vitro digestibility, proposing a new system (DaisyII Incubator) to measure the in vitro digestibility for dogs; 2) to compare palatability of dry dog food containing MDM with dry dog food in which meat by-products (MBP) are the only animal protein sources; 3) to determine, whether or not, the inclusion of that ingredient changes the microbiology and the storage quality. Results indicated that MDM product was characterized by significant higher nutritional value in terms of fatty acids profile, in vitro digestibility (HV-IVD method) and lower palatability than the MBP product. Microbiological risk assessment showed no microbiological hazards for either product. After 6-months storage, the total mesophilic bacterial count ranged between 1.77 and 2.09 log CFU/g feed, while polyamine values were higher in the MDM (0.37 g/kg) than in the MBP (0.27 g/kg). The DaisyII Incubator was found to be a valid instrument for studying in vitro digestibility also for dogs, providing data simply, quickly, with less variability and costs than in vivo trials. In conclusion, MDM inclusion in dry dog food is microbiologically safe and it can improve its nutritional quality, at the expense of a reduced palatability. The higher polyamine levels fount in MDM-enriched petfood after 6-months storage, however, may represent a possible hazard, and further studies are still warranted.
Highlights
The majority of pet owners consider their pets to be family members (63% of pet owners in the United States and more than 71% in Italy), [1, 2]
mechanically separated chicken meat (MDM) was richer than meat by-products (MBP) in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), whereas MBP was higher in saturated fatty acids (SFAs) than MDM, because MDM had higher values for linoleic acid and lower values for some SFAs
Our results indicate that MDM and MBP are both a high-quality source of animal protein for commercial dry pet food
Summary
The objectives of the present study were: (a) to evaluate the effect of inclusion of MDM in dry dog food on fatty acid profile and in vivo and in vitro digestibility, proposing a new system (DaisyII Incubator) to measure the in vitro digestibility for dogs; (b) to compare palatability of dry dog food containing MDM with dry dog food in which meat by-products (MBP) are the only animal protein sources; (c) to determine whether or not there were differences in MDM/MBP pet food microbiology and conservation quality
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