pork by-products

By-product

Pork by-products are named pig organs and trim, common in wet foods. How Bowlmark scores named by-products.

Also appears on labels as: pork by-product · pork byproducts

What it is

Pork by-products are the non-muscle parts of pigs — organs and trim — used mostly in canned and pâté-style foods where organ tissue fits the format naturally.

Why it's in pet food

Same economics and same nutrition story as every named by-product: real organ nutrients at low cost, with the species stated. What varies batch to batch is the mix of tissues, not the animal.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Named, so no unnamed-source deduction applies; by-product terms are excluded from the named-protein bonus, so none applies either. The zero-point informational note rides along: by-products can be nutritious — unnamed sourcing is the issue the engine actually deducts for.

Read the full methodology

Common questions

Answers come from this entry and the scoring rules above — reviewed before publish, like everything else on this page. For anything about your own pet, your vet knows best.

What are pork by-products in cat food?

The non-muscle parts of pigs — organs and trim — used mostly in canned and pâté-style foods where organ tissue fits the format naturally. What varies batch to batch is the mix of tissues, not the animal: the species is stated.

Are pork by-products bad for pets?

Same economics and same nutrition story as every named by-product: real organ nutrients at low cost, with the species stated. The category's bad name belongs to its unnamed cousins — a named by-product is a different disclosure entirely.

How does Bowlmark score pork by-products?

Named, so no unnamed-source deduction applies; by-product terms are excluded from the named-protein bonus, so none applies either. The zero-point informational note rides along: by-products can be nutritious — unnamed sourcing is the issue the engine actually deducts for.

Foods that list pork by-products

Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.

Sources

Further reading

Cite this page

Bowlmark. "Pork by-products in pet food — what it is and how it scores." https://www.bowlmark.com/ingredient/pork-by-products

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Last verified August 22, 2026

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