Europa 50/50 Grain Free Large Breed Puppy review

This food earns our Excellent band, a step above the Good band that holds the typical puppy dry food. Transparency reads Outstanding, protein and processing Good and nutritional balance Average, with value alongside the overall at Excellent. The salmon share and the declared calcium are what lift it, while the starch level and the moderate protein are what stop it climbing into the band above.

Ingredients, as declared: Salmon 60% (Freshly Prepared Salmon 38%, Dried Salmon 20%, Salmon Stock 2%), Sweet Potato (19%), Potato, Beet Pulp, Linseed, Minerals, Carrot, Peas (0.2%), Omega 3 Supplement, Vegetable Stock, Glucosamine (355 mg/kg), Methylsulfonylmethane (355 mg/kg), Chondroitin Sulphate (250 mg/kg), Nucleotides, Fructooligosaccharides (FOS, 96 mg/kg), Mannanoligosaccharides (MOS, 24 mg/kg)

Salmon at 60% arrives on the label already broken into parts, and the breakdown is the useful bit. Freshly prepared salmon at 38% is largely water before it is cooked. The dried salmon at 20% has none left to lose, so it contributes more finished protein than its place on the list implies.

Salmon is also the only animal in the recipe. Nothing else on the list names a species of meat or fish. That makes this a workable choice for a pup being raised on one protein, with the single caveat noted above about the omega 3 supplement.

Sweet potato at 19% is the plant side, with potato next. No cereal appears at all, so the grain free claim holds up. Beet pulp does the fibre and most dogs tolerate it well, with plant omega 3s coming from linseed. The carrot and the peas at 0.2% are garnish.

The joint additions are unusually generous for a growth food, with glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 355 mg/kg each and chondroitin sulphate at 250 mg/kg. Those are working inclusions rather than names on a list, and since large breeds carry the most joint risk while they grow, the emphasis makes sense on a bag aimed at them.

Calcium converts to 1.41% of dry matter, declared rather than left to guesswork. On a large breed puppy food that one line matters more than any other, because the calcium level through the fastest phase of growth shapes how the skeleton develops. This figure lands inside the range.

Against a declared 8.0% moisture the panel reads 25.0% protein, 13.0% fat, 2.0% fibre and 7.0% ash. On a dry matter basis that is 27.2%, 14.1%, 2.2% and 7.6%, with energy declared at 376 kcal per 100g. One label quirk is worth flagging: the front of the bag reads 50/50 while the ingredients declare salmon at 60%, so treat the printed list as the more precise account of the recipe.

£4.05 a kilo, sold in a 15kg bag.

A puppy's daily amount keeps moving. It climbs with age and then eases back as growth slows. Begin with what the bag's chart says, then adjust by how well your pup is covering their ribs.