I happen to know a handful of people who started pet food companies, albeit boutique ones. (California.) They all taste their pet foods. I've tried some of the treat biscuits, and they aren't half bad, though I wouldn't necessarily reach for them.
I'm not an expert on cat or dog digestion. But I think anything they can eat, humans can, too. (Just not the other way.)
Growing up in California, one thing we were taught as kids is that pet food is safe for human consumption, and can be used for food after an earthquake as emergency rations.
It won't taste good, but it will prevent starvation!
This is false in general, and dangerously misleading at best. In particular, some dog foods contain ingredients (bone meal IIRC, but don't rely on that) that can pretty much destroy a human's intestines (which are much less hardy than most animals's because coevolution with cooked food allowed cost-cutting). Pet food sold in California might (might) be required to be safe, but that's dangerously unreliable at best.
Well, when I search human consumption of bone meal I get results saying it might be good or might be bad. There's a risk of intestinal blockage but that takes a whole lot and would happen in dogs too.
Searching is not suggesting any other particularly dangerous ingredients, other than to say it's not great long term. But on a level like "be careful not to get scurvy", not "will destroy your intestines". And that you should watch out for bad storage and still probably avoid raw meat.
I happen to know a handful of people who started pet food companies, albeit boutique ones. (California.) They all taste their pet foods. I've tried some of the treat biscuits, and they aren't half bad, though I wouldn't necessarily reach for them.
I'm not an expert on cat or dog digestion. But I think anything they can eat, humans can, too. (Just not the other way.)