As someone who worked at a place that boarded pets, you bet we tried most of the dog food at one point. The only thing I remember decently after all these years is that treats can be pretty decent. Someone had some chicken jerky, no spices or anything. That was certainly the best. Milkbones are bland and dry. Can't remember much else, like kibble and such, which really just says it's not horrendous and not great.
I remember years ago some blogger would eat lots of weird things and review them and he had an article where he tried different dog treats. He said something along the lines of "I now know why dogs lick their own asses. It's to get the taste of Beggin' Strips out of their mouths."
Ended up using dog shampoo while staying at my parents place for 2 weeks. It made my hair weird but how I figured it out was it was in one of those clear bottles with the picture on the inside behind the semi clear aqua blue shampoo. So when I picked it up for the 6th time I actually tilted it passed the point where I could see "Shampoo" and up to what I thought would be wheat or yellow flowers.
As someone who has eaten expired MREs the term palatable can mean very different things to different people. I ate a spaghetti MRE once that my grandmother said "smells like moldy paper towels" yet I stilled shovelled it down my throat. They tasted like old cardboard.
It was acceptable I think there was just something wrong with that one in particular. Usually they just smell funky and taste fine. Also all the side shit was pretty good and the chocolate bar hadn't seperated at all so I assume there was just something wrong with the pasta.
My parents, for God knows what reason, leave their dog treats in a bowl on the table. They look like oyster crackers.
I walked in one day to find my aunt eating them. I laughed and told her they were dog treats, and she was like "i was wondering why they tasted a bit weird... But they're not bad." Lol
I had a friend in college who sampled dry dog food before giving it to his dog. I don't remember why exactly, but it certainly isn't poisonous to humans