Beef Recipe Rolls

Brr.  It's cold.  I busted out the hobo gloves today. 

These gloves always remind me of Joe Pesci's character in With Honors.  What's your favorite early '90s movie? 

It's pretty rainy here this week.  The Little Blogger isn't a big fan of going out in the rain so on our early morning and late night potty breaks I have to remind him that he needs to do a Number One and a Number Two.  He usually tries to get away with just a Number One.

It helps if Mom comes outside with him.

Mooooommmmm!  How humiliating. 

Tonight we're reviewing Natural Gourmet's Beef Recipe Rolls, which are distributed by my favorite place - Trader Joe's!

  

I had no clue that TJ's even carried dog treats until our friend Julie hooked us up with a bag of these.  Her dog Dragon was a fan.  I wonder if her new puppy Herman likes them, too.  I know he likes socks.  But I hear those are a little harder to digest than treats. 

  

One 10 oz bag of Beef Recipe Rolls at TJ's costs $4.99 and I pretty much always buy a bag when I'm there.  The Little Blogger loves these.

But I'm scared.  

 

Meat by-products?  Sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite?  I shouldn't Google this but I'm going to...

Gaaah!  According to Wikipedia (I realize it's not the most reliable source but I just want the gist here), according to the Association of American Feed Control Officials, meat by-products are defined as:   

"The non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes, but is not limited to, lungs, spleen, kidneys, brain, livers, blood, bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, and stomachs and intestines freed of their contents. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs. It shall be suitable for use in animal food. If it bears name descriptive of its kind, it must correspond thereto."  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meat_by-product)

Um.  Well, at least I can rest assured that the Beef Recipe Rolls don't have teeth in them?!

But brain, blood, bone, and lungs?!?!?!  

I feel a little queasy.  TLB doesn't seem to, though. 

Did someone say meat by-products?

Ok, so I'll try to get past that nasty description and give an honest review of this product. 

TLB has loved these treats since the moment he laid eyes on them.  They look delicious, smell delicious, and taste delicious.  

They're easy to break, too, which is nice.  Little T very rarely gets a whole beef stick.

I'm dreading the final decision on these Beef Recipe Rolls.  

If I hadn't Googled "meat by-products" I probably would have given these treats a seven (or maybe even an eight) out of 10 because TLB loves them with all of his little puppy heart and because they are inexpensive and a nice change from your average dog bone.

But I did Google it.  And I'm all the wiser.  Wiser and more grossed out, but wiser nonetheless.  

Sorry Natural Gourmet and Trader Joe's, the Beef Recipe Rolls get a four out of 10.  Why the meat by-products?  Couldn't you just use good ol' beef?  And the sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrite?  Aren't there other ways to preserve a dog treat?  

I can't feed this little booger sometimes that's loaded with yuckies.
  

I'm off to find a comparable treat.  Ah, my favorite kind of research.

Happy Birthday to my dear friend Chelsea!  Love you lots, wogabooongo. 

Goodnight!