The "Bizarre foods" television program host, "aint got nuthin" on our nation's pet dogs. Travelling the world to find the most bizarre foods, the host of the show eats larva, bugs, and offal (various organs and entrails of butchered animals), for our entertainment. Our pet dogs just walk to the kitchen and eat dry dog food kibble,not nearly as entertaining.
As an example of a bizarre food, chicken by-product meal, a ubiquitous ingredient in kibble may contain "ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occor unavoidable in good processing practice," according to AAFCO. Clean parts of the carcass may include chicken intestines which can harbor bacteria such as E. Coli and Salmonella, brain, liver, spleen, and lungs (it is illegal to sell lungs for human food in the U.S.A.). All of these carcass parts are ground up together to make chicken by-product meal, and the meal is used in making dog food kibble. Any unsafe contaminants in the chicken carcass can be distributed throughout the by-product meal, and then into the kibble.
Less often fed than kibble, but still important are the various foods that pet owners give their dogs to eat. Although they mean well, there are many common foods eaten by people (with no adverse effect), but that are toxic to dogs. Two examples are garlic and chocolate. How bizarre is that!
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