Griffiths' Original review

On our bands this reads Good, where the middle of the adult dry shelf also sits, and it gets there by an unusual route. Protein converts to 26.1% of dry matter, which is fair going, and estimated carbohydrate to 49.6% against 46.2% for the typical adult dry food. What the recipe gives up is detail below the top line. The vitamins and minerals are grouped in the ingredients list rather than itemised there, and no plant matter appears beyond the maize and the beet pulp. What it buys back is a named, country sourced meat at a large declared share. Protein and processing reads Average, nutritional balance Poor and transparency Excellent.

Ingredients, as declared: Whole British Maize, Dried British & Irish Beef (37.0%), Free Range Poultry Fat, Beet Pulp, Calcium Carbonate, Vitamins & Minerals.

Whole British maize opens the list, and whole is the operative word. The whole grain keeps its germ and its fibre rather than being stripped back to pure starch, and once it has been cooked most dogs handle maize perfectly well. It is also why estimated carbohydrate reaches 49.6% of dry matter here.

Dried British and Irish beef at 37.0% is the star of the label. Dried means the water went before mixing, so the finished kibble holds close to that full 37.0%. Few plain foods declare a dried meat anywhere near that high. Naming the countries the beef comes from is a level of detail most labels never bother with, and beef itself is a digestible, well liked meat for dogs.

The added fat is free range poultry fat. Animal fat is what a dog is built to run on, and the free range note is a nice touch. Poultry stands for chicken, turkey, duck or goose without saying which. The single meat impression the front of the bag gives does not quite survive the ingredients list.

Beet pulp is the fibre, the standard choice where firm stools are the aim, and calcium carbonate tops the calcium up. Between the bone that travels with a dried meat and that added carbonate, ash lands at 11.8% of dry matter, higher than most dry foods run, while the calcium figure itself is not printed.

The trace elements are dosed per kilo: iron at 75mg, zinc at 70mg as the oxide plus a further 30mg as an amino acid chelate. Manganese comes in at 40mg, copper at 7mg, iodine at 2.5mg and selenium at 0.2mg. Splitting the zinc between two forms is a thoughtful move, since the chelated share is generally absorbed more readily than the oxide. Each of vitamins A, D3 and E carries a figure of its own as well, with vitamin E at 250mg per kilo.

£1.87 a kilo, sold in 3kg and 15kg bags.

On a maintenance estimate of about 840 kcal (110 × bodyweight^0.75), a 15kg adult in moderate condition eats roughly 242 grams a day, which comes to £0.45. The label asks 150 to 250 grams for a dog between 10kg and 20kg, so the two agree closely and the waistline can arbitrate.