Rachael Ray Nutrish Natural Hearty Beef Stew Natural Grain-Free

The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This product has 2 controversial ingredients, more details on them further below.

Top 5 Ingredients

Dog food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. So when looking at a dog food label, take a close look at the first 5 ingredients. They make up about 80% of the total weight.

• Chicken Broth
  Chicken broth is often used as a healthy natural flavor or instead of water when making dog food. It makes dogs more likely to eat the food and adds moisture but doesn't provide a lot of nutritional value. Chicken Broth is generally a healthy dog food ingredient.

• Beef
  Beef is the culinary name for cuts of meat from cattle, particularly skeletal muscle. In dog food, beef can also include muscle tissues from the tongue, heart, diaphragm or esophagus. Beef is rich in protein and nutrients like niacin, vitamin B12, creatine, iron and zinc. Beef is generally a healthy dog food ingredient. Whole meat contains about 75% water which is cooked off during the making of dog food. This leaves only a fraction of the protein content in the final product. We recommend looking for dog foods that also include meat meals (pre-cooked meat powder that contains four times the amount of protein).

• Chicken
  Chicken is a nutritious meat that provides protein, fat and other nutrients to dogs. Raw meat contains about 75% water which is cooked off during the making of dog food. This leaves only a fraction of the protein content in the final product's weight. We recommend looking for dog foods that also include meat meals in the first five ingredients (pre-cooked meat powder that contains four times the amount of protein). However, chicken is generally a healthy dog food ingredient.

• Dried Egg Product
  Dried Egg Product are shell-free eggs that have had their moisture removed. While it provides nutrients like protein, it can be made from food-industry waste products such as eggs that failed to hatch. In other words, quality can vary. Because there are better protein sources (like whole eggs or meat) we do not consider this a high-quality dog food ingredient.

• Egg White
  Eggs are a high-quality protein source that offers excellent amino acid availability to dogs. They also provide healthy nutrients like vitamin A, calcium and iron. We consider this a healthy dog food ingredient.

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‍Controversial Ingredients

1. Caramel (Color)
2. A concentrated form of caramel used in pet food to change the color of the food. It contains 4-methylimidazole (4-MIE), which has been shown to potentially produce cancer in animals.

1. Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (Source of vitamin K activity)
2. A synthetic version of Vitamin K (known as Menadione) which is added due to the lack or loss of Vitamin K in the food processing. Menadione supplements are banned by the FDA because of their potential toxicity in human use and can be found as 10+ different names on a label. While low amounts have been found to be safe, the consistent repetitive nature of a dogs diet results in the long-term exposure that should be considered.

‍Country of Origin

Rachael Ray Nutrish is made in the USA. This is very good, because of the high quality standards for dog food manufacturing in the United States.

Meat & Fat Quality

Beef and Chicken are the main meat sources in this dog food. Both a transparent in that they show which species they come from. The same cannot be said for the added oil, simply called Fish Oil, which doesn’t make it clear what fish was used.

Artificial Preservatives

This product contains no controversial artificial preservatives. Here’s what you should know: 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

No artificial colors are used, either, very good.

Artificial Flavors

Last but not least, this dog food doesn’t include artificial flavors. All three “artificial” ingredients get a checkmark here - well done.