Dog food panels are written in a regulated dialect: every name on the list is a defined ingredient, and the definition is where the meaning lives. This dictionary translates the dialect for the ingredients that actually appear in our scored recipe database. Every entry states what the ingredient is, why makers use it and what to watch for, written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words, and links the recipes in our database that carry it, so a definition can be checked against real panels.
The dictionary holds 74 entries, covering every ingredient family that appears in at least a handful of the 244 recipes we have read so far. Counts are computed from the database, not typed in, and they move as it grows. Two reading rules before the tables. Panel order is by weight before cooking, so fresh meats shrink in the finished food and dried meals punch above their place. And one plant family split across several lines, peas into whole peas, pea protein and pea starch, is one ingredient wearing three name tags; read families, not lines.
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 112 | The fresh flesh of chicken, weighed into the recipe before cooking. |
| Chicken Meal | 69 | Chicken rendered and dried before it is weighed in: the water and most of the fat cooked off, leaving a concentrated protein powder of flesh and skin, with or without bone.. |
| Chicken By-Product Meal | 21 | The rendered remainder of the chicken once the cuts sold for people are taken: necks, feet, organs and other defined parts, dried and ground.. |
| Chicken Liver | 57 | Liver from chickens, fresh or dried. |
| Turkey | 40 | Fresh turkey flesh, weighed before cooking and carrying its natural water with it.. |
| Turkey Meal | 20 | Turkey rendered and dried to a protein concentrate before weighing, the same process as chicken meal applied to a different bird.. |
| Beef | 59 | Fresh beef flesh, weighed before cooking. |
| Beef Meal | 21 | Beef rendered and dried before weighing, concentrating its protein in the same way as other named meals.. |
| Beef Liver | 35 | Beef liver, an organ meat carrying vitamin A, B12, iron and copper in high concentration.. |
| Lamb | 35 | Fresh lamb flesh, weighed before cooking with its water still in it.. |
| Lamb Meal | 20 | Lamb rendered and dried to a concentrate before weighing.. |
| Pork | 37 | Pork in fresh, meal or liver form. |
| Duck | 20 | Duck flesh or duck meal: a poultry protein outside the everyday chicken and turkey rotation.. |
| Venison | 13 | Deer meat, fresh or as a meal. |
| Salmon | 53 | Salmon flesh or meal. |
| Menhaden Fish Meal | 20 | Meal rendered from menhaden, a small oily fish caught in bulk. |
| Fish Meal | 20 | Meal rendered from fish without the species named on the panel.. |
| Egg and Dried Egg Product | 112 | Egg, usually spray dried whole egg. |
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken Fat | 109 | Fat rendered from chicken and added back as a named ingredient, usually preserved with mixed tocopherols.. |
| Fish Oil and Salmon Oil | 119 | Oil pressed from oily fish, the panel's usual source of EPA and DHA omega 3 fats.. |
| Flaxseed | 101 | The seed of flax, ground or whole: fibre, lignans and ALA, a plant omega 3 fat.. |
| Sunflower Oil | 66 | Oil pressed from sunflower seed, rich in linoleic acid, the omega 6 fat dogs require.. |
| Canola Oil | 13 | Oil from bred-low-erucic rapeseed, with a milder fatty acid profile than most seed oils and a little ALA.. |
| Lecithin | 31 | A fat emulsifier, usually from soy or sunflower, that keeps fats and water mixed.. |
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Brown Rice | 65 | Whole grain rice with its bran layer kept, milled for the recipe. |
| Oatmeal and Oats | 43 | Oats milled or rolled for cooking. |
| Barley | 43 | A whole grain, often pearled, with the highest beta glucan content of the common feed grains.. |
| Corn | 24 | Corn grain, ground and cooked into the recipe. |
| Corn Protein Meal (Corn Gluten Meal) | 19 | The protein fraction of the corn kernel, separated and dried after steeping. |
| Wheat | 24 | Wheat grain or its fractions, including wheat gluten, the elastic protein bakers rely on.. |
| Soybean Meal | 14 | What is left of the soybean after its oil is pressed out: a consistent, concentrated plant protein of about 44 to 48 percent.. |
| Brewers Rice | 27 | The small broken fragments separated when rice is milled for the human table. |
| Sweet Potatoes | 69 | The orange starchy root, dried or fresh: energy, fibre and beta carotene.. |
| Potatoes and Potato Starch | 68 | Potato in whole or starch form. |
| Potato Protein | 26 | The protein fraction of the potato, separated during starch making and dried to a high protein powder.. |
| Tapioca and Cassava | 17 | Starch from the cassava root, flavourless and almost pure carbohydrate.. |
| Grain Sorghum | 37 | Sorghum grain, an ancient cereal that digests more slowly than corn or rice.. |
| Millet | 31 | A small seeded ancient grain, gluten free, used whole in grain inclusive recipes.. |
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Peas | 101 | Whole peas: starch, fibre and roughly a quarter protein by weight, the workhorse legume of grain free recipes.. |
| Pea Protein | 28 | The protein fraction of the pea, split out and dried to about 80 percent protein.. |
| Lentils | 24 | Lentils whole or split: a legume of starch, fibre and about a quarter protein.. |
| Chickpeas and Garbanzo Beans | 24 | Chickpeas, sold as garbanzo beans in some regions: a legume of starch, fibre and plant protein.. |
| Beans (Pinto, Navy and Green) | 29 | Whole beans in their named forms, appearing mostly on fresh and lightly cooked panels rather than in kibble.. |
| Beet Pulp | 44 | The fibre left after sugar is extracted from sugar beets. |
| Dried Chicory Root and Inulin | 109 | Chicory root fibre, rich in inulin, a fructan the dog cannot digest but its gut bacteria can. |
| Pumpkin | 45 | Pumpkin flesh, dried or whole: soluble fibre that absorbs water in the gut.. |
| Alfalfa Meal | 36 | Dried alfalfa, the forage legume, ground into the recipe: fibre, plant protein and vitamin K.. |
| Tomato Pomace | 59 | The skins, pulp and seeds left from tomato processing, dried as a fibre source with some lycopene.. |
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Carrots | 112 | Carrot in dried, powdered or whole form: fibre, beta carotene and natural sweetness.. |
| Apples and Apple Pomace | 66 | Apple fruit, or pomace, the pressed skins and pulp left from juicing, used as a fibre source.. |
| Blueberries | 61 | Blueberries, usually dried: anthocyanin antioxidants in a very small panel share.. |
| Cranberries | 33 | Cranberries, dried: a tart berry carrying proanthocyanidins.. |
| Dried Kelp and Seaweed | 67 | Dried seaweed meals, used as a natural mineral source, above all iodine, with trace elements in tow.. |
| Ingredient | Recipes carrying it | What it is, in one line |
|---|---|---|
| Yucca Schidigera Extract | 67 | An extract of the yucca plant, carrying saponins, added in very small amounts.. |
| Turmeric | 42 | The golden rhizome, ground: source of curcumin, the plant compound behind its health reputation.. |
| Salt | 212 | Sodium chloride: sodium is an essential mineral, and salt also lifts palatability.. |
| Taurine | 130 | An amino acid dogs can normally make from methionine and cysteine, added directly to many modern panels.. |
| L-Carnitine | 53 | A compound that ferries fatty acids into mitochondria to be burned, made by the dog from lysine and methionine and also eaten in meat.. |
| DL-Methionine | 107 | A manufactured form of methionine, an essential amino acid that plant heavy panels can run short of.. |
| Glucosamine | 23 | A compound from cartilage or shellfish, a building block of the cartilage matrix, added as glucosamine hydrochloride or sulfate.. |
| Chondroitin Sulfate | 20 | A structural molecule of cartilage, usually sourced from animal cartilage and added beside glucosamine.. |
| Dried Fermentation Products (Probiotics) | 85 | Dried cultures of named bacteria, Bacillus, Lactobacillus, Enterococcus and Bifidobacterium species, added live to the finished food.. |
| Mixed Tocopherols | 182 | Forms of vitamin E extracted from vegetable oils, used as an antioxidant preservative.. |
| Rosemary Extract | 98 | A concentrated extract of rosemary leaf, antioxidant in action, used beside or instead of tocopherols.. |
| Choline Chloride | 202 | The standard supplemental form of choline, an essential nutrient for fat metabolism, liver function and cell membranes.. |
| Chelated and Proteinate Minerals | 201 | Trace minerals, zinc, iron, copper, manganese, bound to amino acids or proteins, named on panels as proteinates, chelates or amino acid complexes.. |
| Vitamin Supplements (the Vitamin Pack) | 243 | The individually named vitamin additions, E, A, D3, the B complex under their chemical names, that bring a recipe up to a complete profile.. |
| Menadione (Vitamin K Source) | 48 | A manufactured compound with vitamin K activity, the legal way to add vitamin K to a panel in many jurisdictions.. |
| Natural Flavor | 189 | A flavouring preparation from animal or plant sources, sprayed or mixed in so the food tastes stronger to the dog.. |
| Guar Gum | 71 | A plant gum used in wet foods to thicken and hold the gravy or loaf together. |
| Dried Yeast and Brewers Dried Yeast | 90 | Inactivated yeast, dried: B vitamins, amino acids and flavour compounds in a savoury powder.. |
| Calcium Carbonate | 127 | Ground limestone, functionally: the standard way to set a recipe's calcium level precisely.. |
| Selenium Yeast and Sodium Selenite | 205 | The two routes for adding selenium, an essential trace element with a narrow safe band: grown into yeast, or as the mineral salt.. |
| Green Tea Extract | 38 | A concentrated extract of tea leaf polyphenols, used as an antioxidant.. |
Definitions follow AAFCO ingredient definitions and standard label practice, rewritten by us. Recipe counts and links are generated from data-food/recipes.json, labels read November 2026.
Last updated: November 2026. Checked against the sources named on this page.