Abstract: Textured animal protein can be prepared by forming a heated pressurized wet mass of animal meal and extruding the mass or otherwise reducing the pressure and temperature surrounding the mass. The ingredients for the animal meal are chosen so that the measurable gelatin content of the extruded product is less than 10% of the dry solids of the product. As gelatin is a hydrolysis product of collagen, this means that the animal meal should be prepared from material which is intrinsically low in hydrolysable collagen, or the hydrolysable collagen content should be reduced either by cross-linking (for example with propylene glycol alginate) or by hydrolysis and washing away the gelatin.