Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken Lamb, Brown Rice & Pearled Barley Recipe

The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This dry dog food has 1 controversial ingredient.

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.

• Lamb
  Lamb is generally a healthy dog food ingredient that adds protein, fat and other healthy nutrients to the dog food. 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).

• Lamb Meal
  Lamb is generally a healthy dog food ingredient. Meat meals are the result of cooking. Water is removed from meats to create a protein-rich meal powder. Meat meals contain about four times the protein meats do, so generally, they're a good source of nutrients.

• Brown Rice
  Brown rice is whole-grain rice with the inedible outer hull removed. It provides calories, complex carbohydrates and a few other nutrients to dogs. We generally consider it a quality dog food ingredient.

• Pearled Barley
  Barley is a type of grass and a cereal grain. It is a source of calories and several nutrients, including protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, niacin and various minerals. Barley provides carbs, energy, fiber and other healthy nutrients for dogs. Pearled means that the barley has been ground into finer pieces. Barley is generally a healthy dog food ingredient.

• Oatmeal
  Oats are a cereal grain and a source of carbs, protein, dietary fiber, several B vitamins and dietary minerals like manganese. They are a high-quality dog food ingredient that can potentially help with colon health. Oatmeal are oats that have been ground or cut.

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‍Controversial Ingredients

1. Ocean Fish Meal
2. Fish meals are made by cooking fish. Water is removed from meats to create a protein-rich meal powder. Meat meals contain about four times the protein meats do, so generally, they're a good source of nutrients. While fish is generally nutritious, this ingredient doesn't identify the species it comes from making it questionable and intransparent. This includes the potential that rancid, dead, dying, disabled or diseased meat sources could have been used. For that reason we do not consider this a high-quality ingredient.

‍Country of Origin

This dog food is made in the United States - that’s fantastic because of the strict food manufacturing rules and regulations here.

Meat & Fat Quality

The major sources of meat and fats in this dog food are Lamb, Lamb Meal, Chicken Fat, Salmon Oil, Almond Oil and Sesame Oil. All of them are transparent dog food ingredients because they show you which plants or animals they are made of. Ocean Fish Meal, a more mysterious ingredient, can also be found on the ingredients list. Which fish does this come from, inquiring minds want to know.

Artificial Preservatives

Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken uses 0  controversial artificial preservatives, excellent. 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

The lack of preservatives is matched by no artificial colors, well done.

Artificial Flavors

No artificial flavors are used either. This product manages to ace all three “artificial ingredient” checks - that’s how it should be.