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Which Bil-Jac Recipes Get Our Best Ratings?

Bil-Jac Grain Free Dog Food receives the Advisor’s mid-tier rating of 3 stars.

The Bil-Jac Grain Free product line lists one dry dog food, a recipe claimed to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles for adult maintenance.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Label and nutrient data below are calculated using dry matter basis.

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Ingredient Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken. Although it is a quality item, raw chicken contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

It’s important to note that a number of the following ingredients included in this recipe are each a type of pea product:

• Pea starch
• Pea flour
• Pea fiber

Although they’re a mixture of quality plant ingredients, there’s an important issue to consider here. And that’s the recipe design practice known as ingredient splitting.

You see, if we were to combine all these individual items together and report them as one, that newer combination would almost certainly occupy a higher position on the list — possibly making peas (not meat) the predominant ingredient in this recipe.

Pea starch is a paste-like, gluten-free carbohydrate extract probably used here as a binder for making kibble. Aside from its energy content (calories), pea starch is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

Pea flour is a powder made from roasted yellow peas. Pea flour contains as much as 25% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.

And pea fiber is a mixture of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber derived from pea hulls. Aside from the usual benefits of fiber, this agricultural by-product provides no other nutritional value to a dog.

The fourth ingredient is beet pulp. Beet pulp is a controversial ingredient, a high fiber by-product of sugar beet processing.

Some denounce beet pulp as an inexpensive filler while others cite its outstanding intestinal health and blood sugar benefits.

We only call your attention here to the controversy and believe the inclusion of beet pulp in reasonable amounts in most dog foods is entirely acceptable.

The fifth ingredient is brewers yeast, which can be a controversial item. Although it’s a by-product of the beer making process, this ingredient is rich in minerals and other healthy nutrients.

Fans believe yeast repels fleas and supports the immune system.

Critics argue yeast ingredients can be linked to allergies. This may be true, but (like all allergies) only if your particular dog is allergic to the yeast itself.

In addition, a vocal minority insists yeast can increase the risk of developing the life-threatening condition known as bloat. However, this is a claim we’ve not been able to scientifically verify.

In any case, unless your dog is specifically allergic to it, yeast can still be considered a nutritious additive.

What’s more noteworthy here is that brewers yeast contains about 48% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The sixth ingredient is pea fiber, mentioned above.

The seventh ingredient is menhaden fish meal. Because it is considered a meat concentrate, fish meal contains almost 300% more protein than fresh fish itself.

Menhaden are small ocean fish related to herring. They’re rich in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. What’s more, in their mid-depth habitat, menhaden are not exposed to mercury contamination as can be typical with deep water species.

This item is typically obtained from the “clean, dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish and fish cuttings” of commercial fish operations.¹

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this Bil-Jac product.

With 4 notable exceptions…

First, we find no mention of probiotics, friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing to help with digestion.

Next, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

In addition, this recipe includes sodium selenite, a controversial form of the mineral selenium. Sodium selenite appears to be nutritionally inferior to the more natural source of selenium found in selenium yeast.

And lastly, this food is preserved with BHA, a suspected cancer-causing agent.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Bil-Jac Grain Free Dog Food looks like an average dry product.

But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 33%, a fat level of 17% and estimated carbohydrates of about 42%.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 50%.

Which means this Bil-Jac product line contains…

Above-average protein. Near-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the pea flour and brewers yeast, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a notable amount of meat.

We like this product. However, it’s unfortunate the company chose to include BHA in its recipe. Without this controversial ingredient, we may have been compelled to award this line a higher rating.

Our Rating of Bil-Jac Grain Free Dog Food

Bil-Jac Grain Free is a dry dog food using a notable amount of named meat as its dominant source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 3 stars.

Recommended.

However, BHA phobics may wish to ignore our rating and look elsewhere for another product.

Bil-Jac Dog Food Recall History

The following automated list (if present) includes all dog food recalls related to Bil-Jac through November.

• Bil-Jac Dog Food Recall (8/24/2012)

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls since 2009 here.

Get Free Recall Alerts

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More Bil-Jac Reviews

The following Bil-Jac dog food reviews are also posted on this website:

• Bil-Jac Dog Food Review (Cooked Frozen)
• Bil-Jac Dog Food Review (Dry)
• Bil-Jac Farmer’s Bounty Dog Food Review (Dry)
• Bil-Jac Pate Platters Dog Food Review (Canned)
• Bil-Jac Picky No More Dog Food Review (Dry)
• Bil-Jac Stews Dog Food Review (Tubs)