meat vs. dry dog food of popular producer

My dog really prefers real meat to dog food, which can be bought easily and is ready to serve. I am curious about your dogs. After reading about dog food industry I am even more convinced about feeding my dog with cooked food. Below I post a photo of popular dog food producer's dry food.. However, my dog doesn't like it and eats it only if there is no other alternative present. She also does not eat a lot of it. I think her instinct tells her not to eat this, as I read about somne facts concerning dry dog food I can easily understand my pet's behaviour! Recently I have started to read labels carefully and reaseacrh information about ingredientst dog food contain. The list is quite long, for example:

POULTRY BY PRODUCT MEAL, GROUND WHOLE BARLEY, BREWERS RICE, ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA/CITRIC ACID), DRIED PLAIN BEET PULP, NATURAL FLAVOR, SALT, CALCIUM CHLORIDE, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, VEGETABLE OIL ([SOURCE OF LINOLEIC ACID] PRESERVED WITH BHA/BHT), VITAMINS (CHOLINE CHLORIDE, a-TOCOPHEROL ACETATE [SOURCE OF VITAMIN E], NIACIN, BIOTIN, d-CALCIUM PANTOTHENATE, RIBOFLAVIN SUPPLEMENT [VITAMIN B2], PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE, VITAMIN A SUPPLEMENT, VITAMIN B12 SUPPLEMENT, THIAMINE MONONITRATE [VITAMIN B1], VITAMIN D3 SUPPLEMENT) MINERALS (ZINC SULFATE, ZINC PROTEINATE, COPPER SULFATE, POTASSIUM IODIDE, COPPER PROTEINATE, MANGANESE PROTEINATE,) BHA, CITRIC ACID.

I do not understand what do all of the ingredients stand for. I certainly think that salt should not be added to dog food. Salt (Sodium & Chloride) Requirement in dogs diet..

Adult dog foods should contain at least 0.06% sodium and 0.09% chloride (on a dry matter basis). Puppy foods should contain 5 times that much. Kitten and cat foods should contain at least 0.2% sodium and 0.3% chloride (on a dry matter basis). Most pet foods contain levels much higher than these minimum daily requirements.

I am right... salt here is added only to improve the flavour of dog's food! As for preservatives, while they are necessary for the food to be stored for a long time, are they really without influence on our dogs' health? Artificial Dog Food Preservatives Could Be Toxic to Your Pet

food preservatives aren’t all the same. They can be classified as either natural — or artificial. Natural preservatives are usually made from anti-oxidants — like vitamins C or E. You’ll see them printed on a dog food ingredients list using some form of the word “tocopherol” or “ascorbate”. These items typically look like this… “…chicken fat preserved with alpha-tocopherol” Natural preservatives are typically considered safe. Banned from Cat Food but OK for Dogs? However, artificial preservatives are another story. Used long term, they can add a notable risk of toxicity to any dog food. For example, take the moisture preservative, propylene glycol. You may recognize propylene glycol by its more infamous use in certain types of non-automotive anti-freeze. Now, to be fair, this chemical is considered far less toxic than its more dangerous cousin, ethylene glycol. However, due to its proven risk of blood toxicity, propylene glycol has been banned by the FDA for use in cat food. Yet it’s still used to preservative dog food. Dog Food Preservative or Toxic Pesticide? Ethoxyquin is another artificial preservative to watch for on a label. That’s because ethoxyquin is not only used as a preservative but also as a pesticide — and as a hardening agent for making synthetic rubber. Ethoxyquin has been under investigation by the FDA as a possible cause for certain liver and blood problems. Yet to this day, it’s still commonly found in many popular brands of dog food. Two More Dubious Preservatives Here are two more chemical bad guys to watch out for… Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) The World Health Organization openly names both BHT and BHA as suspicious cancer-causing compounds. Plus the State of California has now identified BHA as a possible carcinogen, too. Considering these troubling issues, you’d think these two dubious preservatives would be intentionally shunned by the pet food industry. Unfortunately, both BHA and BHT can still be found in a number of commercial dog foods. The Bottom Line Dogs are a captive audience. They have no choice but to eat what we put in front of them. The same food — consumed day after day. Week after week. Year after year. It’s that cumulative exposure that keeps us up at mights. That additive effect of using any artificial preservative relentlessly — especially when it’s suspected of causing cancer. So, avoid dog foods made with artificial preservatives. Here’s a list of some of the more common chemical additives… Propylene glycol Ethoxyquin BHA BHT TBHQ Propyl gallate Who knows? Avoiding these dangerous dog food preservatives may just add years of good health to your pet’s life.

On this website Petfoodindustry.com there is really much information about dog food. I will explore this website further, cause I would like to have some knowledge on dog food. As reagarding Myths About Corn Promoted by the Pet Food Industry, myths concerning corn in dog food (which seems to be the main ingredient of dog food apart from meat):

Makers and sellers of corn-based foods insist the negative stories about corn are simply unsubstantiated myths and rumors spread around the Internet by simple-minded consumers. The truth is, the pet food industry itself is guilty of disseminating its own self-serving and myth-based distortions, too. In fact, most of the exaggerated claims extolling the virtues of corn actually originate within the pet food industry and are unwittingly propagated by naive and well-meaning pet owners.

When you study a dog’s natural ancestral history, you won’t find any mention of corn. That is, until the year 1956. For that was the year indelibly marked by the invention of kibble. So, why did the introduction of kibble bring with it such a dramatic rise in the use of corn in making dog food? What suddenly made carbohydrates (like corn, grains and potatoes) so popular with the pet food industry? The truth is… Carbohydrates are cheap Carbohydrates are vital to the kibbling process You won’t find corn in commercial dog food because it contributes some unique nutritional property. No, it’s there simply because it supplies cheap calories to the product. And starchy carbohydrates play a critical role in a process known as gelatinization — a process which is absolutely crucial to the workings of kibble machinery. As proof, how often do you find corn in a raw or canned dog food?

All in all, salt, preservatives, corn - compared to most other ingredients used in making dog food, corn does not have a low glycemic index, corn is not easily digestible, aside from its energy content, corn’s nutritional completeness is certainly not exceptional, and a long list of ingredients I do not know, for what they really stand - it all makes me think dry dog food is not a good choice! What is your opinion??