Essential Foods

Essential Foods Essential The Beginning Pate review

Name: Essential Foods Essential The Beginning Pate
Brand: Essential Foods

76/100Excellent

WetPuppy

A duck-led loaf for growing pups, and most of the tin is meat. Calcium is printed and sits comfortably for growth, which is the figure a large-breed owner wants to see. It sits in our Excellent band.

Where to buy: coming soon

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Our view

Likely to suit

Puppies being raised on duck, which leads at 26%
Owners who judge a tin by its animal content
A pup that will finish large, with calcium at 0.91% of dry matter, inside the growth range
Hesitant young eaters. A soft loaf is easy to take and to warm through
Families who keep grain out

Worth watching

Chicken in three forms, so not for a chicken-avoiding pup
Salmon oil puts fish into the recipe, which matters on a strict exclusion diet
Lignocellulose, a purified plant fibre there for bulk

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

How this scores

How we score

76/100Excellent

Protein and processingExcellent

Nutritional balanceOutstanding

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueExcellent

The details

Dog fit

Listed for puppies of every size, with calcium declared for the big ones. Follow the chart on the tin and let the waistline have the final say.

Food type

Wet

Life stage

Puppy

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Duck

The score, in context

Essential The Beginning Pate 76.0

All one Excellent. Typical wet food: Excellent.

It clears the typical wet puppy food in a strong category, on the shape of the recipe and no single flourish.

What's in it

Duck meat26%
Chicken meat18%
Chicken hearts, chicken gizzards12%, 9%Organ meat is dense in what a young body builds with.
Apples, pea flour2% eachThe only real starch. No cereal sits under the meat.
Salmon oil1%Marine omegas for a growing coat and brain, and the reason fish shows in the allergens.
Cranberry, blueberry, goji berry, blackberry1% eachSeasoning on top of the meat.
LignocellulosePurified plant fibre to firm the loaf. Harmless, and the one entry we would happily see swapped.
Calcium carbonateWhere the calcium top-up comes from.
Kelp, green tea, marigold, ginger, spirulina0.2% each

A short panel printed in full: vitamins A and D3 with zinc, iron, manganese and iodine.

Named ingredients

Duck meat (26%), chicken meat (18%), chicken hearts (12%), chicken gizzards (9%), apples (2%), pea flour (2%), salmon oil (1%), cranberry (1%), blueberry (1%), goji berry (1%), blackberry (1%), lignocellulose, calcium carbonate, kelp (0.2%), green tea (0.2%), marigold (0.2%), ginger (0.2%), spirulina (0.2%).

Against the range

Duck, chicken meat, hearts and gizzards bring the animal content to 65%, and apple and pea flour at 2% each are the only real starch. Protein converts to 43.2% of dry matter and the carbohydrate estimate to 10.9%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

110 kcal/100g

Protein

9.5%

Fat

Fibre

0.8%

Ash

2.3%

Moisture

78%

Dry weight

Protein

43.2%

Fat

31.8%

Fibre

3.6%

Ash

10.5%

Carbs

10.9%

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

65%

Added water

15%

Carbs

Veg

2.4%

Oils

Other

14.6%

Pricing & size