Dog Food

　　Brand A：

　　First main ingredient: Maize flour (Maize flour),

　　Second main ingredient: Dehydrated poultry meat (dehydrated poultry meat)

　　Added preservative: Potassium sorbate (potassium sorbate)

　　Added antioxidants: Butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), propyl gallate (propyl gallate)

　　Brand B：

　　First main ingredient: Dried lamb meat (Dried Lamb Meat)

　　Second main ingredient: Ground rice (Ground Rice)

　　Added antioxidants: Vitamin E (tocopherols), extracted from natural sources.

　　Now, from the above points, we can make the following comparisons:

　　(1) First main ingredient：

　　Feed regulations require that the ingredient mentioned in the product name must be listed in order of proportion; the "first listed item" in the ingredient list is the "main ingredient" in this feed. Brand A's first main ingredient is maize flour, Brand B's first main ingredient is dried lamb meat — one is a cheap grain, the other is a top-grade meat product, so Brand B obviously wins.

　　(2) Ingredient analysis：

　　Even without comparing the ranking of the first ingredient, just by looking at the "ingredients"

　　Grains:

　　Brand A uses maize flour, a cheaper grain protein source that is less easily absorbed.

　　Brand B uses ground rice, which is a healthier grain and easily absorbed.

　　Meat:

　　Brand A uses dehydrated poultry meat, which may include bone and has lower quality than "Meat." Brand B uses dried pure lamb meat (Dried Lamb Meat), note it is "Meat" — pure meat! Not "Meal." Meat is the highest-grade meat ingredient!

　　Therefore, Brand B also wins this comparison!

　　(3) Preservatives and antioxidants：

　　Next, let's look at preservatives and antioxidants.

　　Brand A adds a bunch of scary chemicals, including BHA, propyl gallate, and artificial preservative potassium sorbate. Even if the amount is within the safe range, I personally feel it is not appropriate because chemicals like BHA need over 36 hours to be metabolized out of the body, but dogs usually do not eat only once every 36 hours, so these chemicals accumulate in the dog's body over the years...

　　Brand B contains no artificial preservatives and uses natural vitamin E as antioxidant (which costs more than chemical antioxidants).

　　Of course, Brand B wins again here.

　　In addition, I personally suspect Brand A's ingredient labeling is somewhat "technically deceptive." Take a closer look at Brand B — after the first main ingredient Dried Lamb Meat, it notes "(min 26%)" indicating that this ingredient accounts for at least 26% of the total feed ingredients.

　　But Brand A? No percentage marked, and looking closely at Brand A’s first three ingredients: "Maize flour, dehydrated poultry meat, maize..." Do you see the clue? The first ingredient is Maize flour and the third is maize — what's the difference? Aren’t they the same thing?

　　Why are they listed separately? This is the so-called "technical deception!" The trick is to separate "the same ingredient in different forms" to reduce the percentage for each listing. This way, they can make the meat ingredient appear first, making the feed grade appear higher. But no matter how Brand A splits it, it still cannot move meat ingredients to first place, and both the first and third ingredients are maize. Who knows how high the combined maize ratio is? Maize itself is low in lysine and needs to be supplemented, so feeds with excessive maize content require extra caution!

　　In summary of the above three major comparisons, Brand B can be said to win overwhelmingly! In short, when you buy dog food in the future, be sure to carefully study the ingredient list and labels!