Awesome Paper is Awesome/Eating Dog Food vs Pate

[gabeygoat]

http://wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP36.pdf
Basically, this paper found that while dog food was rated the worst tasting of 5 smeary meat things (spam, pate, etc), most folks couldn't correctly identify which option was actually dog food.

My sentence is probably poorly constructed, so just read the abstract of the paper, which is pretty straight forward.

[WhatRoughBeast]

http://wine-economics.org/workingpapers/AAWE_WP36.pdf
Basically, this paper found that while dog food was rated the worst tasting of 5 smeary meat things (spam, pate, etc), most folks couldn't correctly identify which option was actually dog food.


And, speaking from personal experience and a small sample set, non-US college students often find dog biscuits palatable. Actually, so do I. Pretty crunchy, though.

[gabeygoat]

haha, i used to eat dog food when i was 3. the semi-soft kibble kind, not the pate. very similar to totino's pizza rolls.

[Tiktaalik]

Milk bones are yummy. Breath Busters aren't bad. Some dog cookies smell better than my food. The canned stuff - not so much. It's gotten a lot better though; used to be I had to lean back as I opened the can. Now it looks and smells pretty palatable.

[Soapy Sam]

Cut out the middlemen.

Eat the dog.

[Horatius]

Okay, here's the part I don't get:

In a double-blind test, subjects were presented with five unlabeled blended meat products, one of which was the prepared dog food. After ranking the samples on the basis of taste, subjects were challenged to identify which of the five was dog food. Although 72% of subjects ranked the dog food as the worst of the five samples in terms of taste (Newell and MacFarlane multiple comparison, P<0.05), subjects were not better than random at correctly identifying the dog food.



So, a large number of them apparently said, "Gee, this pate tastes even worse than that dog food over there!" :boggled:

[leon_heller]

I trtied some of my cat's food once, out of curiosity. It tasted just like pate.

[CapelDodger]

Cut out the middlemen.

Eat the dog.

:mad:

Cats are dog-food.

(Posted on behalf of my avatar, but we're in full agreement over this).

[gabeygoat]

Okay, here's the part I don't get:





So, a large number of them apparently said, "Gee, this pate tastes even worse than that dog food over there!" :boggled:

agreed, but results is results

[rjh01]

I wonder how safe it is to eat cat or dog food. I was once told that it is not safe to do so.

[WhatRoughBeast]

Okay, here's the part I don't get:

So, a large number of them apparently said, "Gee, this pate tastes even worse than that dog food over there!" :boggled:

Well, all of us know what we like, and what we don't like when we taste it.

How many of us can identify dog food by taste? I mean, what exactly is it supposed to taste like? Besides dog food, of course.

[yomero]

The experiment was carried out between 7:00 PM and 10:00 PM on 31 December 2008 in Brooklyn, New York10. After fully disclosing the aim of the experiment--to evaluate the taste of dog food--18 subjects volunteered. Subjects were college-educated male and female adults between the ages of 20 and 40.

I wonder about the social and family lives of those 18 young Brooklynites. It was 10:00 PM on new year's eve and they were in a lab being the subjects of some experiment.:boggled:

[Rasmus]

I wonder about the social and family lives of those 18 young Brooklynites. It was 10:00 PM on new year's eve and they were in a lab being the subjects of some experiment.:boggled:

I'd bet that there was a huge party next door and that each and every one of the testees was just as drunk as the experimenter and that all of them were back at the party before 11.

[novaphile]

:mad:

Cats are dog-food.

(Posted on behalf of my avatar, but we're in full agreement over this).

Woof-woof!

erm... Hear-hear!

(Also posted on behalf of my avatar)

[citizenzen]

Sounds like they're prepping society for major cuts in Social Security.

Dog food for dinner.

Who wants seconds?

[John Albert]

I've had cheap pâté that is probably not much better than Alpo, but a fine foie gras or nice smoked braunschweiger neither smells nor tastes like dog food, unless you happen to own one lucky dog.

[Horatius]

Well, all of us know what we like, and what we don't like when we taste it.

How many of us can identify dog food by taste? I mean, what exactly is it supposed to taste like? Besides dog food, of course.



Yes, but who here wouldn't expect the dog food to taste the worst? They apparently rated dog food fairly consistently as the worst taste, but then decided that something that they thought tasted better was the dog food.

I could understand someone liking the dog food, and therefore thinking it's pate, but not liking the dog food, and still thinking it's the pate? That's just silly.

[X]

I don't like pate. Always found it gross. Good to see I was right.

[LTC8K6]

Strange results. What did they think the rotten tasting stuff was then? Spam? Pate?

Logically, you'd think the stuff that tasted bad would be the dog food. Be interesting to know what they thought tasted bad.

[MuDPhuD]

The dog food tested was Newman's Own organic brand, one of the most expensive, and probably least offensive tasting to humans.

[ingoa]

Did anyone look at the publication date or the references?

Some people are too gullible.... :D

[bruto]

I wonder how safe it is to eat cat or dog food. I was once told that it is not safe to do so.The dog food in the test was Newman's Own. Probably safer than much of the crap we eat.

As to why so few subjects could reliably say which sample was dog food, even though most ranked it as the worst, remember that they did not know what else was in the test. It's no surprise that dog food scored worse than Spam (which is really pretty decent quality stuff) or than gourmet pate, but who knows where it would have stood if compared with, say, One of these fine comestibles? (http://pk.org/pottedmeat.html)

edit to add: I just noticed the publication date. Uh oh.

[wollery]

I'm sensing an IgNobel award on the horizon.

[wollery]

Did anyone look at the publication date or the references?

Some people are too gullible.... :DAnd some people are far too quick to jump to conclusions. Just because it's published in April and references a paper with the words "Shaggy Dog story" in the title....

It's a genuine paper, as are the papers it references. A couple of minutes googling shows that.

[jasonpatterson]

I'm sensing an IgNobel award on the horizon.

Indeed. :)

Okay, here's the part I don't get:
...
So, a large number of them apparently said, "Gee, this pate tastes even worse than that dog food over there!" :boggled:

The authors address this in the paper. Their idea was that because they had assured people that the experiment wasn't going to be disgusting, the subjects were primed to believe that dog food tasted better than it really does. Basically, they thought that the experimenters would have found a nastier tasting substance to test them against. They ranked liverwurst as being second worst tasting, and that was the stuff most commonly chosen to be dog food.

Gotta read more than the abstract.

[TubbaBlubba]

Okay, here's the part I don't get:





So, a large number of them apparently said, "Gee, this pate tastes even worse than that dog food over there!" :boggled:

Well, one possibility is that the quality of the products are essentially the same, but the pate and the like is spiced to appeal to humans.

[NobbyNobbs]

When my oldest was still crawling she decided she wanted to share the cat's dinner, but found the kibble too hard to chew. She quickly figured out that if she soaked it in the water dish first, it would be a better consistency.

I didn't know whether to be proud or horrified.

[bruto]

Well, one possibility is that the quality of the products are essentially the same, but the pate and the like is spiced to appeal to humans.I also seem to recall from long ago an article on how dog food is flavored, in which at least one manufacturer was adding some kind of flavor element that tasted like "something dead," to appeal to the doggy taste.

[svenax]

I wonder how safe it is to eat cat or dog food. I was once told that it is not safe to do so.

What do you mean by "not safe"? Do you see dogs and cats dying in great numbers because of them eating canned food? No, I thought not.

[catsmate1]

Cut out the middlemen.

Eat the dog.
I have. Not much like chicken.:)

[fuelair]

When my oldest was still crawling she decided she wanted to share the cat's dinner, but found the kibble too hard to chew. She quickly figured out that if she soaked it in the water dish first, it would be a better consistency.

I didn't know whether to be proud or horrified.She would be a great survivalist I would think!!

[bruto]

What do you mean by "not safe"? Do you see dogs and cats dying in great numbers because of them eating canned food? No, I thought not.At least some of the contents of pet foods, such as "meat byproducts," are officially deemed unfit for human consumption. Dogs seem not to die in great numbers from eating festering road kill, cat feces and their own vomit either. It would not surprise me to find that "not fit for human consumption" means more than just unsavory.

[akama1]

They ranked liverwurst as being second worst tasting, and that was the stuff most commonly chosen to be dog food.
.

Heathens, Latvian liverwurst is food of the gods I tells ya.... Food of the gods.

[wollery]

Heathens, Latvian liverwurst is food of the gods I tells ya.... Food of the gods.Those would be the undiscerning gods with head colds and a distinct lack of taste buds . . . . .











:p

[gabeygoat]

At least some of the contents of pet foods, such as "meat byproducts," are officially deemed unfit for human consumption. Dogs seem not to die in great numbers from eating festering road kill, cat feces and their own vomit either. It would not surprise me to find that "not fit for human consumption" means more than just unsavory.

I suppose it depends on why the vomit comes up. If it's due to disease from a virus or bacterium, prolly best to avoid it. but if it's just from overeating, or a bird-like impulse to feed young, then ladle it up!

[TubbaBlubba]

I suppose it depends on why the vomit comes up. If it's due to disease from a virus or bacterium, prolly best to avoid it. but if it's just from overeating, or a bird-like impulse to feed young, then ladle it up!

Meh, most bacteria are toast once you get them into the stomach. A virus would be problematic.

I seem to recall that dogs have a more aggressive oral flora than humans though, in order to let them eat more stuff. Any truth to this?

[Beerina]

Someone eat a Mar-O-Snack (http://milkbone.com/products/mar-o-snacksdogsnacks) and let me know how they are. They're fake bone cross sections, but actually seem to be more of a bacon Combo (http://combos.com/).


ETA: You could have copy-and-pasted the funky "pâté" from the paper into the title, that's easier than learning to type all that cwazy stuff. Actually I thought this thread was about dog food vs. a bald guy's head, which made little sense.


ETA 2: I wondered if the dog food was worst due to lack of salt, but they took care of that: "Even with the benefits of added salt, a smooth texture, and attractive presentation, canned dog food is unpalatable compared to a range of similar blended meat products."

[bruto]

I suppose it depends on why the vomit comes up. If it's due to disease from a virus or bacterium, prolly best to avoid it. but if it's just from overeating, or a bird-like impulse to feed young, then ladle it up!
Thanks, I'm on a diet. You go ahead.

[jnelso99]

I suppose it depends on why the vomit comes up. If it's due to disease from a virus or bacterium, prolly best to avoid it. but if it's just from overeating, or a bird-like impulse to feed young, then ladle it up!

We used to have two cats that would do the "snarf-and-barf". Whenever that happened to one cat, the other cat came running because, hey, warm meal!

[Rolfe]

At least some of the contents of pet foods, such as "meat byproducts," are officially deemed unfit for human consumption. Dogs seem not to die in great numbers from eating festering road kill, cat feces and their own vomit either. It would not surprise me to find that "not fit for human consumption" means more than just unsavory.


Pet food is sterilised. In fact, the canning process sterilises canned food in any case. And there's nothing poisonous to man in dog food. Whether the diet is properly balanced for human consumption over a long period is a different matter, but the occasional snack of Pedigree Chum ain't gonna kill you.

Rolfe.

[bruto]

Pet food is sterilised. In fact, the canning process sterilises canned food in any case. And there's nothing poisonous to man in dog food. Whether the diet is properly balanced for human consumption over a long period is a different matter, but the occasional snack of Pedigree Chum ain't gonna kill you.

Rolfe.I wasn't expecting it would kill anyone, but I would not be surprised to find it indigestible.

I'm also quite ready to accept that many dogs and cats are better fed than many humans. A can of Super Supper* is probably better for you than a fast food hamburger if you can keep it down. When my daughter was very little she occasionally snacked on the contents of the cat dish. We never worried about poisoning, but she usually threw up later anyway, so we tried to discourage the habit on those grounds.


*I don't know whether they still make that one. 9 Lives Super Supper was all my cat would eat for years. I don't know what was in it, but it smelled not too bad when fresh. No treat, cat or human, would deter him from a fresh can of this stuff. We had a big old hand cranked can opener, not very noisy, but when he heard the merest little clink of a can in the kitchen he'd come running. My (then) wife once accidentally cut the tip off his ear when he leaped untimely into the mechanism.