Benevo Adult Original review

An Average band result, a step below the band the typical adult dry food earns, which for a food with no meat at all is a creditable showing. Transparency reads Outstanding, with nutritional balance in our Good band and protein and processing at Poor. Our scoring weighs ingredients and declared nutrition without prejudice about where protein comes from. What keeps this one midfield is its reliance on soya and maize instead of a wider spread of named vegetables and pulses.

Ingredients, as declared: Soya, Maize, White Rice, Rapeseed Oil, Peas, Dried Beet Pulp, Brewer's Yeast, Yeast Hydrolysate, Dried Tomatoes, Minerals, Dried Chicory (a natural source of FOS and inulin) 0.5%, Yucca Extract (Schidigera).

Soya heads the list and does the protein heavy lifting, taking the food to 27% protein as fed, or 29.7% of dry matter, a level many meat-based kibbles do not reach. The honest caveat is that dogs extract plant protein less efficiently than animal protein, which is why the amino acid top-ups further down the label matter so much here.

Those top-ups are the recipe's spine: taurine and L-Carnitine at 1,500 mg apiece and added DL-methionine, covering what a meat eater gets automatically from its dinner. Their presence at proper declared doses is what separates a formulated vegan food from a well-meaning gamble.

Maize and white rice carry the starch, with estimated carbohydrate at 45.1% of dry matter, a touch under the 46.2% typical for adult dry food. Rapeseed oil supplies the fat, and energy is declared at 351 kcal per 100g rather than left for us to estimate, a small transparency point in the label's favour.

Peas, dried tomatoes and 0.5% chicory round things out, the chicory bringing inulin as a prebiotic for the gut, with beet pulp and brewer's yeast adding fibre and B vitamins. The blind spots are that generic Minerals entry and the absence of a declared calcium figure, which would complete the picture for careful owners.

£5.00 a kilo, offered in 1.8kg and 10kg bags.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition gets through roughly 239 grams a day, call it £1.20, judged against the standard maintenance requirement of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75).