Comparing Dog Foods – Asda Hero – Chiken, Rice and Vegetables
Back in November 2020, we published a blog post called Dog food labelling – what it all means.
To follow on from that, we thought we would compare three dog foods available on the market today by translating their food labelling into layman’s terms.
Today, we start with:
Asda Hero – Chicken, rice & vegetables
The labelling tells us the following:
Features:
Healthy skin & glossy coat with omega 3 oils. Healthy digestion with added prebiotic. Healthy immune system enriched with vitamins. Healthy teeth & bones enriched with vitamin D. Suitable for all dog types. No artificial colours or flavours.
Additives:
Free From: Artificial Colours, Artificial Flavours.
Ingredients
Cereals (4% Rice in Rice Component), Meat and Animal Derivatives (4% Chicken in Chicken Component), Oils and Fats (0.3% Omega 3 Fatty Acids), Derivatives of Vegetable Origin, Minerals, Vegetables (4% Peas in Pea Component), Yeasts (0.1%), Citrus Extract (0.04%), Yucca Extract (0.001%)
Analytical constituents
- Protein 21.0%
- Crude oils and fats 8.5%
- Crude fibres 3.0%
- Crude ash 8.5%
- Vitamin A 12000 IU/kg
- Vitamin D3 1200 IU/kg
- Vitamin E 90 mg/kg
- Vitamin C 65 mg/kg
- Iron (III) Ferric Oxide 1000 mg/kg
- Zinc Chelate of Amino Acid Hydrate 370 mg/kg
- Manganous Oxide 80 mg/kg
- Zinc Oxide 55 mg/kg
- Copper Sulphate Pentahydrate 40 mg/kg
- Iron Sulphate Monohydrate 33 mg/kg
- Calcium Iodate Anhydous 3 mg/kg
- Sodium Selenite 0.2 mg/kg
At first glance, it sounds great and seems to tick many boxes: glossy coat, healthy digestion, healthy immune system, healthy teeth and bones.
However…
Cereals
The first ingredient is Cereals (Rice) which says it all!
They use a high carb food as their main ingredient. White rice, which is the one they use, is simply brown rice that has been milled and polished to remove outer bran, germ and aleurone layers.
Unfortunately, these layers contain the vast majority of the grain’s nutrients and once removed the remaining white rice is almost entirely starch.
Meat and Animal Derivatives
This could be from any part of the animal, so you can forget that it is taken from a nice cut of meat!
Meat meal is made from the parts of animals that are not consumed by humans. This could be up to half of the original animal and generally includes residual meat, offal, connective tissues and in some cases bones.
Derivatives of Vegetable
The origin of these derivatives could be from anything and could contain more cereals.
It’s defined as “derivatives resulting from the treatment of vegetable products, in particular cereals, vegetables, legumes and oil seed”, and so it can refer to an extremely wide range of ingredients, from some of the best to some of the worst.
Protein Content
The 21% protein content does not come from the meat content.
As meat is an expensive ingredient, many lower grade dog foods cut costs by substituting meat with cheaper protein sources like soya meal, maize gluten, potato protein, vegetable protein and so on.
Proteins from non-meat sources are harder for the dog’s body to digest and use and they have a higher chance of causing dietary intolerance.
Next time we’ll be looking at another high street brand, James Well Beloved, but more on that in a couple of days.
