Europa Super Food 65/35: British Grass Fed Lamb review

Eight flavours spread across three of our bands, most of them in Excellent, the buffalo up in Outstanding and the lamb and the duck in Good. The typical adult dry food sits in our Good band, so most of this line is clear of it and the rest level with it. The strength is a 65% declared meat share, no cereal at all, and carbohydrate well under what a dry food usually carries. The buffalo is the strongest of the eight and the only one to reach our Outstanding band. Everywhere else, your dog's taste in meat can settle it.

Ingredients, as declared: Lamb 65% (Freshly Prepared British Grass Fed Lamb 35%, Lamb 30%), Mint*, Pomegranate*, Mulberry*, Broccoli*, Fennel*, Other Functional Ingredients (chart labels; the starred botanicals carry no printed percentages)

The 65/35 headline is built the same way every time: 35% freshly prepared meat from the named animal, then 30% of the same meat in its dried form. That second half matters more than it looks. Most of the water in freshly prepared meat goes off in the oven. Dried meat comes in near the weight it keeps. With the dried share set at 30%, these recipes are meat led in the bag as well as on the front of it.

The analysis backs the claim up. Protein converts to between 29.9% and 44.0% of dry matter depending on the animal, and estimated carbohydrate to between 20.7% and 38.6%, where the typical adult dry food runs at 46.2%. No wheat, rice, maize or other cereal appears in any recipe here.

The 35% that is not meat is where the labels turn vaguer. Seven of the eight give the plant side as a chart of named items with no percentages against them. Dill, spinach, kale and pomegranate turn up, and you can see what went in but not how much. The buffalo is the exception and prints a full conventional list from top to bottom.

That buffalo label also carries the range's supplement work, and all of it is dosed in print. Fructooligosaccharides at 192 mg/kg and mannanoligosaccharides at 48 mg/kg do the gut work. Glucosamine and methylsulfonylmethane at 170 mg/kg each and chondroitin sulphate at 125 mg/kg go to the joints.

Names like Angus beef, British grass fed lamb and free range chicken are provenance claims rather than nutritional ones. They tell you where the animal came from, which is pleasant to know and which this range has earned the right to say. The figure doing the actual work on every one of these bags is the 65%.

British grass fed lamb at 65%, from 35% freshly prepared lamb and 30% dried lamb, finished with mint, pomegranate, mulberry, broccoli and fennel. Ash is 12%, 13.0% of dry matter, the highest here, and calcium follows at 2.61% of dry matter, which points to a generous share of bone in the dried lamb. A healthy adult dog takes that in its stride, though a dog with a history of urinary stones is one to run past your vet first.

Per kilo, the buffalo is £4.05, the turkey £5.06, the lamb, the salmon and the salmon light are £5.67 each, and the beef is £9.17. Every flavour comes in a 15kg bag.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition eats between 216 and 239 grams a day of these recipes, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). Worked that way the daily figure runs from £0.94 on the buffalo and £1.10 on the turkey through £1.26 on the salmon. Then £1.32 on the lamb, £1.35 on the salmon light and £2.02 on the beef.