Skip to content
In The Kibble
My dogs

Ingredient file // Animal protein

Beef Organs

Real animal protein, but the label hides the mix

Beef organs are liver, heart, kidney and other innards from cattle, sold without saying which ones. They add digestible animal protein. When liver is in the mix, they also add a lot of vitamin A and copper.

What it is
A blend of internal organs from cattle, such as liver, heart and kidney, with the specific organs left unnamed.
Made from
Organs from slaughtered cattle
Main job
Animal protein plus liver minerals
Typical amount
Not published
Watch for
Dogs with beef allergy or copper liver disease
Not the same as
Beef or beef meal

Straight answer

Is Beef Organs safe for dogs?

Count it as meat with an unknown mix

Beef organs sitting near beef in the list add real animal protein, not filler. The name hides whether the blend is mostly liver or mostly heart, and that swings copper and vitamin A a lot. Skip it for dogs with beef allergy or copper liver disease. Otherwise, judge the food by its protein figure.

Why it is in the food
Animal protein plus liver minerals

Our read // In our catalog

In 1 of every 3,204 foods we track

Share of foods that list it

<1%

1 of the 3,204 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All freeze-dried dog food.

Each square is 1% of the catalog

Where it sits on the label

Median position 2. In the top five of 1 food, so it is usually a main ingredient.

Top five List position, heaviest first

Who leans on it

100%

of the foods that list it are from Wysong. 1 brand use it in total.

What it is

How it is made

Every beef carcass yields organs along with the muscle cuts sold as meat. US tongue and liver mostly export abroad at a premium over domestic prices. The rest falls under AAFCO's broad meat by-product definition, unrendered parts other than muscle.1,6

  1. 01 // Source Cattle at slaughter Liver, heart, kidney and other organs come out of the carcass at a beef slaughter plant.
  2. 02 // Process Cleaned, not rendered AAFCO counts clean, unrendered parts other than muscle, such as livers and kidneys, as meat by-products.
  3. 03 // Output Unnamed organ blend Organs go into the recipe unrendered. The name does not tell you which organs, or how much liver, went in.

What is in it

Composition, as fed

119

mg/kg copper

Copper in raw beef liver, as fed. Heart carries 3.7. Which organs fill the blend decides how much copper and vitamin A the dog gets.

Crude protein 17.4-19.6%1
Crude fat 3.2-4.5%1
Moisture 71.5-78.8%1
Copper 3.7-119.5 mg/kg1
Vitamin A 0-37 mg/kg1
Iron 46.4-52.1 mg/kg1
Ash 1.1-1.5%1

Ranges span raw liver, heart and kidney sampled mainly from 3 US plants, given as fed. Liver drives the copper and vitamin A highs; heart and kidney carry a small fraction of either.1

Why it is in the bag

What the manufacturer gets

  1. 01

    Animal protein, like muscle

    Raw heart, kidney and liver run about 17 to 20% protein as fed. In a 10-dog trial, liver digested as well as sirloin trim.1,2

  2. 02

    Vitamin A and copper

    Liver carries about 37 mcg of vitamin A and 119 mcg of copper per gram raw, far above heart's 0.02 and 3.7.1

How much No source publishes a typical amount. One 10-dog digestibility trial mixed beef liver into a reference diet at a 30 to 70 ratio, dry matter basis.2

Our read // The claims

What the evidence supports

Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.

  1. Owners say

    Beef is a common food allergen in dogs

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Beef was the trigger in 102 of 297 dogs with proven food reactions, more than any other food. The authors warn the counts partly mirror what dogs were fed for decades.4

  2. Brands say

    Organ meat digests as well as muscle meat

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    In a 10-dog Latin square trial, beef liver digested like sirloin trim, with 84.1% of its crude protein absorbed. Trachea did worse. It is one small trial and covers liver only.2

  3. Brands say

    Organs are the most nutrient-dense part of the animal

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    True of liver: about 37 mcg of vitamin A and 119 mcg of copper per gram raw. Heart has 0.02 and 3.7. An unnamed blend heavy in heart or kidney offers far less.1

  4. Owners say

    Liver in dog food causes vitamin A poisoning

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    A 32-dog, 1-year trial fed vitamin A at up to about 3 times the old safe maximum and found no change in bone density. It did not feed liver and measured bone and blood markers only, so toxicity was not tested.3

  5. Critics say

    Organs are cheap by-product filler

    Outruns the evidence

    Evidence

    1. Strong
    2. Some
    3. Thin
    4. None

    Organs match muscle for protein, about 17 to 20% raw, and liver digested like sirloin trim in a 10-dog trial. US liver and tongue even sell abroad at a premium.1,2

Straight answers

What owners ask

  1. Q01

    Is it just filler?

    No

    Raw beef organs are about 17 to 20% protein, much like muscle, and liver digested as well as sirloin trim in dogs. Filler would have no job. Organs supply protein and minerals.1,2

  2. Q02

    Why doesn't it name the organs?

    Label choice

    The list ranks ingredients by weight, not by organ. That gap matters: raw liver has about 1,850 times the vitamin A of heart, so the name alone does not tell you what your dog gets.1,6

  3. Q03

    Is it the same as meat by-products?

    Close to it

    AAFCO's meat by-product definition covers clean, unrendered parts other than muscle, including livers and kidneys. Beef organs is a narrower name: one species and organs only, though still unnamed ones.6

Who uses it

Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps

Top brands, by foods that list it

  1. Wysong 1 / 20

Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.

Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it

  1. Beef 100%
  2. Chicken 100%
  3. Beef Bone 100%
  4. Beef Fat 100%
  5. Natural Flavor 100%
  6. Vitamins 100%
  7. Calcium Carbonate 100%
  8. Ascorbic Acid 100%
  9. Vitamin E 100%
  10. Niacin 100%
  11. D-Calcium Pantothenate 100%
  12. Vitamin A 100%

On the shelf

Foods that list Beef Organs

1 food in our catalog lists it, highest on the label first.

Wysong Archetype Burgers Freeze-Dried Raw Dog FoodWysongWysong Archetype Burgers Freeze-Dried Raw Dog FoodFreeze-Dried // No. 2 on the label

Sources

What we read

Checked October 1, 2026.

  1. 1 Nutrient Analysis of Raw United States Beef Offal Items Nutrients, 2024 // Journal
  2. 2 Ingredients derived from the slaughter of bovines in dog food Ciência Rural, 2017 // Journal
  3. 3 Effect of increasing dietary vitamin A on bone density in adult dogs Journal of Animal Science, 1997 // Journal
  4. 4 Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats BMC Veterinary Research, 2016 // Journal
  5. 5 ACVIM consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of chronic hepatitis in dogs Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine, 2019 // Journal
  6. 6 What's in the Ingredients List? AAFCO, n.d. // Regulator
An ingredient on its own tells you very little. What matters is how much of it there is and where it sits in the list. That is why we weigh the top five rather than reacting to any single name further down. Back to the wiki

Keep In The Know,
Know What's In The Bowl

The In the Kibble newsletter. Useful emails for dog owners: what we find inside dog food, how to feed well, and a heads-up when a food is recalled.
DOUBLE OPT-IN // ONE CLICK TO STOP // NEVER SHARED