Fish meal is the clean, rendered (cooked down), dried ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil. (AAFCO, 2003) Fish is a good source of protein and essential fats. However, fish meal is made from unspecified types of fish from unknown source, so be cautious, and look for try and find labels that list what kind of fish is actually in the food, such as salmon meal or herring meal.