Butchers Tripe Mix (GB label) review

This tin reads Outstanding on our scoring, a notch above the Excellent band the typical adult wet food occupies.

The tin says it plainly: beef at 42%, of which tripe and tripe broth account for 39% and liver 3%, then chicken at 41.5%, and no cereal behind them. Nutritional balance and transparency both read Outstanding, with protein and processing Excellent. Protein converts to 42.5% of dry matter and fat to 30.0%, and the estimated carbohydrate lands at 16.5% of dry matter where the category typically runs 15.8%. Taken at the ingredient list, this is a meat led, cereal free tin whichever label it wears.

Ingredients, as declared: British & Irish Farmed Beef & Chicken; Beef 42% (Tripe & Tripe Broth 39%, Liver 3%) and Chicken 41.5%, Salmon Oil, Plant Fibres, Vitamins & Minerals, Chicory Root, MOS.

The combined opening line is the only awkward thing about this list, and it is a wording choice rather than a gap. Every animal still gets a percentage, and the tripe and the liver are broken out inside the beef figure, which is more detail than most cans in this part of the shelf bother with.

Dog food prizes tripe, the stomach of a grazing animal, for two reasons. It is rich in protein and fat, and it smells like dinner to a dog in a way that leaner meats do not. At 39% including its broth, it is the backbone of this recipe rather than a garnish. Liver at 3% adds the concentrated trace nutrients that organ meat is valued for.

Chicken at 41.5% brings the recipe back into balance, so this is not the all red meat tin the tripe name suggests. What follows is short: salmon oil with no percentage against it, plant fibres of unstated origin, then chicory root and MOS, a pair of prebiotics at trace level.

The analysis is on the rich side for a canned food, with protein at 42.5% of dry matter, fat at 30.0% and energy of 98 kcal per 100g. Doses are printed for the whole added panel: 1250 I.U. of vitamin A per kilo, 250 I.U. of vitamin D3, 13mg of vitamin E, 20mg of zinc, 2.5mg of manganese and 0.5mg of iodine. Calcium goes undeclared.

The can holds 400g and comes as a single, a 6 pack or an 18 pack.

A 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat roughly 857 grams a day on our estimate, a shade over two cans. That works from maintenance energy of about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75). The label's chart for a dog of 10 to 20 kg gives 600 to 1000 grams a day.