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Please be aware that Hill’s is voluntarily recalling some canned dog food due to potentially elevated levels of Vitamin D. More information here.
SPORTMiX Wholesomes Chicken Meal & Rice Formula is a low-priced with exceptional quality. This product has no controversial ingredients, including no artificial preservatives, colors or flavors. It has a somewhat high amount of carbs, compared to its protein and fat content, but the meat and fat quality in the food is excellent. SPORTMiX has a below-average number of recalls and was very transparent when answering our questions. Watchdog Labs highly recommends this product.
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This food has a fair amount of protein fat but is somewhat high in carbs, which is lowering the fat content slightly and making it less nutritionally balanced compared to other dog foods we evaluated. Carbohydrates are cheap so they keep the food’s cost low. They are nutritionally useful to dogs in the right amounts, however, 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 28.89%
Min. Fat 17.78%
Min. Carbs 45.56%
Max. Fiber 4.44%
Max. Ash 7.78%
Max. Moisture 0.00%
Min. Protein: 26.0%
Min Fat: 16.0%
Min Carbs: N/A
Max Fiber: 4.0%
Max Ash: N/A
Max. Moisture: 10.0%
370 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.
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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.
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Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Chicken Fat (Preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Dried Beet Pulp, Flaxseed, Dried Egg Product, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Choline Chloride, Dl-Methionine, Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Copper sulfate, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Manganese Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Copper Proteinate, Calcium Iodate, Cobalt Carbonate, Folic Acid, Sodium Selenite, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement.
The average dog food we reviewed has 39 total ingredients, with 1 controversial ingredient. This food has 0 total controversial ingredients, excellent!
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.
Controversial Ingredients
We did not find a single controversial ingredient in this food, this is how it should be.
Country of Origin
This dog food is made in the USA - that’s fantastic, because of the high food manufacturing rules and regulations here.
Meat & Fat Quality
Chicken Meal and Chicken Fat are the major meat and fat sources in this product. Both clearly show which animal they come from, very good and transparent.
Artificial Preservatives
SPORTMiX Wholesomes Chicken Meal & Rice Formula has 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.
SPORTMiX has a below-average number of 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?
SportMix is owned by Midwestern Pet Foods (Nunn Milling Company) and they responded to the first email in the first day, which is exceptional. It did require a series of back and forth emails to obtain the clarity in the emails below.
Does SportMix have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?
Our board-certified nutritionist (who is an independent contractor for our company) formulates our formulas. He has a Ph.D., P.A.S., D.A.C.A.N., C.N.S, P.F.S., and 38 years’ experience developing multiple major food & treat brands.
Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?
See the previous answer.
Do you test your products using AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?
We follow AAFCO nutritional profiles and follow these nutritional tests with digestive and palatability studies to confirm efficacy of the products. All of our formulas which are designed to provide complete and balanced nutrition, meet all AAFCO nutritional requirements.
(Follow up email response)
We do complete feeding trials when new formulas are released.
When checking the label, it would seem some products do not have the feeding trials completed. It could be assumed that the representative was suggesting that all new products go through the trials.
What country are your products manufactured?
All of our dry kibbles and treats are manufactured in our company owned manufacturing facilities in Monmouth Illinois, Waverly New York, Chickasha Oklahoma, and Evansville IN.
Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?
Our plant(s) can be visited upon written request and subject availability.
What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?
Midwestern Pet Foods has quality control personnel and laboratories at each plant to test incoming ingredients and finished products. This ranges from managing guarantees, to testing things like degree of cook and microbial confirmation for release. All of our plants are FSMA-ready and follow the GMP regulations as put out through FSMA and the FDA. Additionally, all of our safety technicians follow all OSHA and state regulations.
No response was provided.
Does SportMix (Midwestern Pet Food) own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?
Company Owned.
Do any parts of your product come from China?
We source all ingredients from US suppliers if ingredients are available, grown or produced in the US. All ingredients in Earthborn Holistic dry pet food are grown or produced in the US except for lamb meal which comes from Australia or New Zealand, tapioca which comes from Vietnam and Thailand, flaxseed which comes from Canada and krill meal which comes from Antarctica. Our products and ingredients are ethoxyquin-free. Our vitamin premixes are formulated, sourced and blended in the United States by a US company in a human grade facility. Certain subparts of the vitamin premixes are only available overseas. Our US supplier assures us that they make every effort to source from reputable non-Chinese vendors. All these ingredients are thoroughly tested and undergo many quality checks to insure safety and that specifications are met. But even with these checks in place, it is difficult if not impossible to say that some subpart of some vitamin ingredient may originate in China. We feel that it is unethical to claim, like some manufacturers do, that even though our vitamins and minerals are formulated, sourced and blended by a US company in the United States that there could not be a trace or subpart of a vitamin that comes from China. We at Midwestern Pet Foods strive to provide correct, truthful information.
This was one of the most complete answers received for this question. Other company responses also reference the misnaming of Chinese sourced ingredients and the loopholes that are exist.
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.
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