Unrated

PRODUCT HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED

Harmony Farms canned dog food receives the Advisor’s second-highest tier rating of 4 stars.

The Harmony Farms product line includes six canned dog foods, each claimed to meet AAFCO nutrient profiles for adult maintenance.

The following is a list of recipes available at the time of this review:

• Harmony Farms Roast Lamb Dinner
• Harmony Farms Hearty Beef Dinner
• Harmony Farms Roast Venison Dinner
• Harmony Farms Healthy Salmon Dinner
• Harmony Farms Country Chicken Dinner
• Harmony Farms Homestyle Turkey Dinner

Harmony Farms Hearty Beef Dinner Dog Food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.

The first item in this 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

Beef is naturally rich in all ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The second ingredient includes beef broth. Broths are nutritionally empty. But because they add moisture to a dog food they are a common finding in many canned products.

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

The fourth item 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 fifth ingredient lists barley. Barley is a starchy carbohydrate supplying fiber and other healthy nutrients. Unlike grains with a higher glycemic index, barley can help support more stable blood sugar levels.

The sixth item mentions carrots. Carrots are rich in beta-carotene, minerals and dietary fiber.

The seventh ingredient lists sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are a gluten-free source of complex carbohydrates in a dog food. They are naturally rich in dietary fiber and beta carotene.

The eighth ingredient is potato. Potatoes can be considered a gluten-free source of digestible carbohydrates. Yet with the exception of perhaps their caloric content, potatoes are of only modest nutritional value to a dog.

The next ingredient lists peas. Peas are a quality source of carbohydrates. Plus (like all legumes) they’re rich in natural fiber.

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

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

The eleventh ingredient is guar gum, a gelling or thickening agent found in many wet pet foods. Refined from dehusked guar beans, guar gum can add a notable amount of dietary fiber to any product.

The twelfth ingredient is chicken meal. Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

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 product.

With two notable exceptions…

First, this food also 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.

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

Harmony Farms Canned Dog Food
The Bottom Line

Judging by its ingredients alone, Harmony Farms canned dog food looks like an above-average wet 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 39%, a fat level of 27% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 26%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 39% and a mean fat level of 27%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 26% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 70%.

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

Even when you consider the slight protein-boosting effect of the peas, this looks like the profile of a canned food containing a moderate amount of meat.

Bottom line?

Harmony Farms is a meat-based canned dog food using a moderate amount of named meats as its main sources of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4 stars.

However, the company does not appear to provide a customer service phone number and does not respond to our emails.

Not recommended.

Those looking for a good kibble from the same company may wish to visit our review of Harmony Farms dry dog food.

Notes and Updates

06/10/2010 Original review
01/10/2011 Review updated