Freshpet Dog Food Review (Rolls)

The Freshpet product range is made up of 10 recipes with ratings varying from 4 to 5 stars. The average rating of the whole range is 5 stars.

The table below shows each recipe in this range including our rating and the AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Freshpet Chunky Beef Recipe with Carrots, Peas and Brown Rice was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient is this dog food is beef. Beef is defined as “the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle” and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.¹

The second ingredient is chicken, another quality addition.

Both beef and chicken are naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The third ingredient is beef liver, an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The fourth ingredient is beef broth. Broths are of only modest nutritional value. Yet because they add both flavor and moisture to a dog food, they are a common component in many canned products.

The fifth ingredient includes carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The sixth ingredient lists peas. Peas are a quality source of carbohydrates. And like all legumes, they’re rich in natural fiber.

However, peas contain about 25% protein, a factor that must be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.

The seventh ingredient includes eggs. Eggs are easy to digest and have an exceptionally high biological value.

The eighth ingredient is brown rice, a complex carbohydrate that (once cooked) can be fairly easy to digest. However, aside from its natural energy content, rice is of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The ninth ingredient is rice bran, a healthy by-product of milling whole grain rice. The bran is the fiber-rich outer layer of the grain containing starch, protein, fat as well as vitamins and minerals.

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 Freshpet product.

With four notable exceptions…

First, we find soy flour, a high-protein by-product of soybean processing.

Although soy flour contains about 51% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

And less costly plant-based products like this can notably boost the total protein reported on the label — a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

Next, carrageenan is a gelatin-like thickening agent extracted from seaweed. Although carrageenan has been used as a food additive for hundreds of years, there appears to be some recent controversy regarding its long term biological safety.

The article, The Carrageenan Controversy, published in Scientific American, does a good job of addressing this topic.

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 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.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Freshpet looks like an above-average refrigerated product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 46%, a fat level of 27% and estimated carbohydrates of about 19%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 45.2% and a mean fat level of 30.7%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 16.1% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 69%.

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

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the peas and soy flour, this looks like the profile of a rolled dog food containing a significant amount of meat.

However, with 51% of the total calories in our example coming from fat versus just 35% from protein, some recipes may not be suitable for animals on a low fat diet.

Freshpet Dog Food Recall History

The following automated list (if present) includes all dog food recalls related to Freshpet through November 2024.

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

Our Rating of Freshpet Refrigerated Rolls Dog Food

Freshpet refrigerated rolls includes both grain-inclusive and grain-free dog foods using a significant amount of named meats as its dominant source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 5 stars.

Highly Recommended

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