Essential Foods

Essential Foods Essential Balance review

Name: Essential Foods Essential Balance
Brand: Essential Foods

62.1/100Good

DryAdult

A turkey and rice kibble pitched gently, for dogs that do better on something calmer than a meat-heavy recipe. The animal side stays on one bird almost all the way down, gravy and fat included, which most makers do not bother with. It sits in our Good band.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Adults that suit a lower fat bowl, fat declared at 8%
One bird and no other animal named on the list
Dogs that digest rice and oats comfortably
An unsettled gut: FOS, chicory extract and yucca are each printed with a dose
A natural preservative, rosemary extract

Worth watching

Turkey carries no percentage, so its true share stays unknown
Carbohydrate at 56.3% of dry matter, above the 46.2% typical
The omega 3 oil gives no source, so the list alone will not clear a dog kept off fish

Written by our editorial team. Independent guidance, not veterinary advice.

How this scores

How we score

62.1/100Good

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceAverage

TransparencyExcellent

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adults of every size. The maker's chart puts a 15kg adult at about 205 grams a day; start there and let the waistline adjust it.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Turkey

The score, in context

Essential Balance 62.1

All one Good. Typical dry food: Good.

A solidly conventional bowl: the turkey and the dosed prebiotics pull up, the undeclared meat share and the starch pull back.

What's in it

Freshly prepared and dried turkeyBoth forms in one entry, with no number, so it could be weighted either way.
White rice, brown riceWhite is quick to digest; brown keeps its bran.
OatsMore fibre and a spread of minerals.
Whole linseedPlant omega 3.
Turkey gravy, turkey fatStill the same bird, where most makers reach for a generic animal fat.
Beet pulp, alfalfa, minerals, vitamins
ESSENTIAL the OMEGA 3 OILThe maker's own name, no source declared.
Natural seaweedA broad mineral source, iodine among it.
FOS, chicory extract, yucca extract960 mg/kg, 0.05%, 190 mg/kgPrebiotics dosed properly.
Dandelion

Trace minerals in sulphate form, each printed: zinc and iron at 50 mg, manganese at 35 mg, copper at 12 mg and iodine at 1 mg per kilo.

The omega 3 oil has no declared source, so a fish free claim cannot be checked from the label.

Named ingredients

Freshly prepared and dried turkey, white rice, brown rice, oats, whole linseed, turkey gravy, turkey fat, beet pulp, alfalfa, minerals, vitamins, ESSENTIAL the OMEGA 3 OIL, natural seaweed, Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 960 mg/kg), Chicory Extract (0.05%), Yucca Extract (190 mg/kg), Dandelion.

Against the range

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

330 kcal/100g

Protein

22%

Fat

Fibre

Ash

Moisture

8.5%

Dry weight

Protein

24%

Fat

8.7%

Fibre

4.4%

Ash

6.6%

Carbs

56.3%

As-fed composition

Estimated breakdown of the finished product by ingredient category, from the declared ingredient list and ingoing weights. These are estimates, not measurements.

Meat

41.5%

Carbs

51.9%

Veg

0.9%

Oils

1.6%

Other

4.1%

Pricing & size