Here's a reply that I received from Iams co regarding their quality.

Thank you for writing. I am happy to clear up any confusion and misconceptions about our food and ingredients for you.

It is true that chicken is a wet ingredient and chicken by-product meal is a dry ingredient; however, it's important to remember that the guaranteed analysis for protein printed on our bag is measured from our finished product, not the ingredients as they go into the mix. Our laboratory technicians take samples off the production line as the kibble is dropping into the open bag. So the amount of water in the chicken at the start doesn't matter because we are measuring the protein in the finished product--the kibble that will be going into our four-legged customers' mouths.

In fact, it's a waste of time to compare the water content of ingredients at the beginning of the production line--that's not what your pet will be eating. The important measurements are taken at the end of the production line, after the food has been processed and cooked. That's what your pet will eat. That's where Iams takes its measurements.

The advantages of chicken by-product meal are:

The quality of the protein. Quality is measured as a biologic value (a measure of digestibility and the levels of essential amino acids supplied).

The levels of fat and minerals that it supplies.

Only chicken and egg are judged to be better; however, chicken and egg are usually in high demand for human consumption.

Not every chicken by-product meal is as good as ours. Our chicken by-product meal is muscle and internal organs (including intestines) that have been cleaned, dried, cooked, and ground. By industry definition, chicken by-product meal can contain the feet of the chicken - but that's not an acceptable source of protein for us, so our suppliers make every effort to keep the feet out of our chicken by-product meal.

In addition to the superior specifications we set for our suppliers, we take additional steps to ensure our chicken by-product meal is the best. We put it through a proprietary screening process to further improve its protein quality. This quality assurance process costs more, but it's part of what makes Iams different. Our chicken by-product meal is an excellent and complete source of protein because it contains each of the amino acids that are essential to good nutrition for dogs and cats.

Chicken by-product meal may include stuff that people have a cultural aversion to eating; but that doesn't make it a bad source of protein. Guts are not bad! If you look at how wolves and lions eat in the wild, one of the first things they eat after they've killed their supper is the underbelly of the animal. We may think it's gross to eat intestines, but these ancestors of the dog and cat relish that part of their dinner.

Would you like to read more about our chicken? We have additional information available in our Eukanuba Dog Nutrition Library. Simply copy-and-paste the following URL to your web browser:

http://www.eukanuba.com/en_US/jhtmls...&questionid=98

There are four broad classifications of sorghum. Sweet sorghum is used to make syrup and sugar. Grain sorghum (also called milo) is used as a grain food source. In many parts of the world, grain sorghum is the staple food component in human diets. We use grain sorghum in our formulas, not sweet sorghum.

Brewers rice is used as a carbohydrate source and it is the small fragments of rice kernels that have been separated from the larger kernels of milled rice.

The fish meal that we use is from cold, northern Atlantic fisheries. We do use whitefish.

Brewers dried yeast is a source of protein and B vitamins. It is used to help promote a

healthy coat and assists with vitamin availability.

Beet Pulp

http://www.eukanuba.com/en_US/jhtmls...&questionid=97

Please contact us anytime through our E-mail Us Now page located on our web sites at www.iams.com or www.eukanuba.com. We would also welcome your call Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time at 800-525-4267.

I hope this information helps! Have a great day!

Sincerely,

Catherine

Iams Consumer Care, North America



Eukanuba Dog and Cat Foods - high quality ingredients and safety processes you can count on for the health and well- being of your pet. For additional information, please copy-and-paste the following URL to your web browser:

http://www.eukanuba.com/en_US/jhtmls...pti=AD&qi=4858