Briantos Adult Grain-Free: Salmon & Potato review

The three versions sit close together in our Good band, level with the typical adult dry food. That is a construction story rather than a warning: the headline proteins are honestly declared, but unnamed poultry entries, cellulose and a starch-led midsection hold the labels back. For a grain-avoiding dog with no poultry issues, it remains a perfectly workable everyday choice.

Ingredients, as declared: 20% salmon protein (dried), 20% potato (dried), potato starch (dried), 14 % poultry protein (dried), poultry fat, beet pulp (de-sugared), 3% sweet potato (dried), cellulose, hydrolysed protein, peas (dried), fish oil, chicory (dried), brewer's yeast (dried), celery (dried), carrots (dried).

Each version opens with 20% of its named protein in dried form, and dried protein is concentrated, so that 20% contributes far more to the finished food than the same figure of fresh meat would. Protein converts to an identical 28.0% of dry matter across all three.

Beneath the headline sits the poultry layer: dried poultry protein, declared at 10.5% in the duck and 14% in the salmon, plus poultry fat in all three. Poultry is a family name covering several birds. The duck, lamb and salmon at the top are specific, but the recipe as a whole never can be, and that is what keeps it off the table for elimination feeding.

Dried potato at 20% and potato starch carry the starch, with sweet potato at 6% in the duck and 3% in the lamb and salmon. Estimated carbohydrate spans 43.7% to 46.1% of dry matter, in line with the 46.2% typical for adult dry food, so grain free here changes the type of starch without cutting the amount.

The fibre and extras row mixes the workmanlike with the pleasant. Desugared beet pulp and cellulose add bulk, dried chicory brings a touch of prebiotic inulin, brewer's yeast supplies B vitamins, and celery and carrot appear in trace amounts. Fish oil supplies the omega 3s and hydrolysed protein sharpens the taste.

Moisture is declared at a relatively high 18%, so the as-fed figures read softer than the dry-matter ones; our comparisons all use dry matter for exactly that reason.

Dried salmon protein at 20% with the poultry support declared at 14%. Between the fish lead and the fish oil, it is the natural pick of the three for an owner feeding with skin and coat in mind.

Per kilo, the duck is £2.83 in a 12kg bag, the lamb £3.59 and the salmon £4.49, both of those in 1kg bags.

Daily feeding for a 15kg adult dog runs from about 258 to 261 grams on our standard maintenance energy estimate, which works out at between £0.73 and £1.17 a day across the three versions.