Disclosure: When you buy through links on this site, we may earn a commission.
Disclosure: Watchdog Labs is free to use. When you buy through links on this site, we may earn a commission.
Please be aware that Hill’s is voluntarily recalling some canned dog food due to potentially elevated levels of Vitamin D. More information here.
ALPO Prime Cuts Savory Beef Flavor is a lower-end dog food at a low price. This product has 10 controversial ingredients, which includes artificial colors and flavors. The food has a high amount of carbs, compared to its protein and fat and uses relatively low-quality meat and fats. Nestlé Purina, which owns the ALPO brand, has more than the average number of recalls. But on a good note, they were overall pretty transparent when answering our questions.
Read the Full Review BelowLearn what makes a great dog food and get expert advice on how to choose the best food for your dog.
Learn MoreThis dog food review was created by experts who love dogs. Find out more about our team and mission.
About Watchdog LabsThe food has high carbs and low protein and fats, making it less nutritionally balanced compared to other dog foods we evaluated. Carbohydrates are cheap so they keep the food’s cost low and they are nutritionally useful to dogs in the right amounts. However, very high amounts of carbs can reduce the much-needed meat-based protein and fat content.
To evaluate dog foods, we first calculate out the moisture. This is called the “dry matter basis” and shows you only the solid ingredients in the food. These estimated “dry matter” numbers are different from the food label, but a better way to understand the real nutritional value of the food. We also calculate the carbs. Find out more
Min. Protein 20.45%
Min. Fat 9.66%
Min. Carbs 61.93%
Max. Fiber 6.25%
Max. Ash 7.95%
Max. Moisture 0.00%
Min. Protein: 18.0%
Min Fat: 8.5%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 5.5%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 12.0%
383 Calories per Cup
This product has an average amount of calories. It’s important to understand how many calories you are feeding to prevent under or overfeeding. Average calorie foods like this are typically best for fairly active dogs who need a moderate amount of daily calories. Based on your dog's current weight and activity level you may want to feed more or less than the recommended amount. It's helpful to know that weight loss foods often have fewer than 340 calories per cup, weight maintenance foods typically range from 340-380 calories, and high-activity dog foods are usually over 400 calories.
Grain-Free Dog Foods
This is a grain-free dog food. The FDA is investigating a potential connection between grain-free diets and canine heart disease. There is not enough evidence yet to affect our ratings but we've created an article for you explaining the topic.
Learn MoreGround Yellow Corn, Meat and Bone Meal, Soybean Meal, Beef Tallow Preserved with Mixed-Tocopherols (Form of Vitamin E), Corn Gluten Meal, Egg and Chicken Flavor, Animal Digest, Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Red 40, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Yellow 5, Manganese Sulfate, Blue 2, L-Lysine Monohydrochloride, Niacin, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper sulfate, Calcium Pantothenate, Garlic Oil, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement, Calcium Iodate, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of Vitamin K Activity), Folic Acid, Biotin, Sodium Selenite.
The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This product has a staggering 10 total controversial ingredients and 4 of them are found in the first five ingredients. This is concerning because the first 5 ingredients make up most of the product. Let’s take a closer look.
Top 5 Ingredients
Dog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. So when looking at dog food label, take a close look at the first 5 ingredients. They make up about 80% of the total weight.
Controversial Ingredients
Country of Origin
ALPO Prime Cuts Savory Beef is made in the United States. That’s a good thing, because the dog food laws and regulations in the USA are higher than many other countries.
Meat & Fat Quality
The meat quality in this food is relatively low. That’s because it includes unnamed animal ingredients like Meat and Bone Meal and Animal Digest. Both of these don’t make it clear which animal they are sourced from, not good. Beef Tallow is also included as a fat source, which shows it comes from beef - much better.
Artificial Preservatives
This product contains no controversial preservatives. It’s good to know that not all artificial preservatives are bad. That’s because they serve an important purpose, which is to prevent food from spoiling. However, we consider 11 artificial preservatives controversial because of their potential link to cancer and other serious health conditions.
Artificial Colors
ALPO Prime Cuts uses three artificial colors. All of them are unnecessary in dog food and a potential health concern.
Artificial Flavors
Besides colors, ALPO Prime Cuts also uses an artificial flavor, called “Egg and Chicken Flavor.” The food would be much better without it.
Purina, the company that owns ALPO, has an above-average number of recalls. Take a look right below to see details on recent recalls.
We love dog food brands that are committed to transparent business practices. If you make quality dog food you should be willing to openly talk about how it’s sourced and produced. That’s why we reached out to pet food companies, asking questions about all their brands and products. Each company had three weeks to reply to our messages.
How Easy Was it to Reach the Company?
ALPO is owned by the multinational company Nestlé Purina. It required two emails over two weeks to get the answers below. Like most large companies, many of the customer service answers will read like well crafted marketing messages.
Does ALPO (Nestlé Purina) have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?
At Nestlé Purina, we have over 500 nutritionists, veterinarians and scientists who work daily to formulate and make quality changes to our products. We also staff quality control specialists at all of our manufacturing plants that run over 100 quality and safety checks during the manufacturing of our formulas.
This lengthy answer did not answer the specific question that was asked. In addition, the names of the professionals could not be provided.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?
(see the previous answers)
Do you test your products using AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?
All of our products are manufactured following stringent guidelines approved by the USDA and AAFCO, and our Purina® Pro Plan® brand Pet Food products have undergone the AAFCO feeding studies for quality, safety, digestibility and palatability.
Since this representative is responding on behalf of a family of brands, they have referenced a few of the other brands that do the feeding trials, but was not explicitly clear on the specific ALPO brand.
What country are your products manufactured?
The vast majority of our products are manufactured in the US, at Nestlé Purina owned facilities, with ingredients sourced from the US as well.
Vast majority does not mean “all” which is less clear than it could have been.
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?
Unfortunately, we do not offer public access to our manufacturing plants at this time, and apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?
We also staff quality control specialists at all of our manufacturing plants that run over 100 quality and safety checks during the manufacturing of our formulas.
This is good, but not as not as clear as it could be.
Does ALPO (Nestlé Purina) own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?
Yes.
Do any parts of your product come from China?
A very small number of ingredients are sourced from China, however, these are mainly vitamins and minerals, such as taurine and Vitamin B12, that are not readily available in the US in the quantities we need.
Sourcing quality ingredients at scale is a significant challenge that many large companies will cite. This means that companies like Nestlé who are supplying massive distribution channels will often use a variety of sourcing options, including China.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1242073/
https://oehha.ca.gov/proposition-65/proposition-65-list
https://petfood.aafco.org/Nutritional-Labeling
https://petfood.aafco.org/Labeling-Labeling-Requirements
https://petfood.aafco.org/Calorie-Content
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/ResourcesforYou/ucm047120.htm
http://dels.nas.edu/resources/static-assets/banr/miscellaneous/dog_nutrition_final_fix.pdf
http://www.acvn.org/nutrition-resources/
https://www.fda.gov/AnimalVeterinary/Products/AnimalFoodFeeds/PetFood/ucm2006475.htm
https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=FDA-2011-N-0922-0489
https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/
https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/safety-loophole-for-chemicals-in-food-report.pdf
https://ntp.niehs.nih.gov/pubhealth/roc/index-1.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8493816
Linda P Case, MS; Daniel P Carey, DVM; and Diane A Hirakawa, PhD, Canine and Feline Nutrition A Resource for Companion Animal Professionals, Mosby-Year Book, Inc.