Harringtons Superfoods Grain Free Wet: Chicken review

The Salmon recipe is the stronger of the pair by a clear margin, reaching our Outstanding band while the Chicken settles in Good, and the two labels are not put together the same way. The two look almost identical on the shelf, and the gap comes down to what each label pins down. The Chicken names one animal and weighs it. The Salmon puts salmon and chicken together under one 70% figure without saying how they split, and its protein comes in a little lower at 30.0% of dry matter against 32.0%.

Transparency reads Outstanding on both trays, the Salmon reads Excellent for protein and processing where the Chicken reads Poor, and the Chicken takes Excellent for nutritional balance against the Salmon's Good. Our Excellent band holds the middle of the wet adult shelf, so the Chicken tray sits under that mark and nowhere near the bottom of the field. The two trays are the same food underneath.

Ingredients, as declared: 70% Freshly prepared Chicken, (including, 26% Homemade Chicken broth), 22%, Superfoods (12% Sweet Potato*, 3.6% Freshly prepared Pumpkin, 2% Freshly prepared Spinach, 2% Freshly prepared Green Beans, 2% Freshly prepared Blueberries, 0.4% Mushroom blend), Minerals, Salmon oil 0.2%, Botanical blend: Parsley, Basil, Green Tea, Rosehip (0.12%), Seaweed (0.08%), Chicory Extract (0.05%), Rosemary, (0.01%). *From 4% Dried Sweet Potato. From 0.1%, Dehydrated Mushroom Blend. Calories per 100g = 128 Kcal

Freshly prepared meat at 70% leads both labels, and both count 26% of the tray as broth made from the same animal. The broth is given a figure of its own on the label. That is more honest than calling it water, and it does mean the solid meat share is smaller than the headline first suggests.

The superfood block is the part worth reading. It comes to 22% of the tray, itemised as sweet potato at 12%, freshly prepared pumpkin at 3.6%, then spinach, green beans and blueberries at 2% each and a mushroom blend at 0.4%. The sweet potato arrives from 4% dried sweet potato, which the label says out loud rather than leaving you to work out.

Behind that sits a short tail. Salmon oil is at 0.2%, with a botanical blend of parsley, basil, green tea and rosehip at 0.12%. Seaweed at 0.08% covers iodine and trace minerals, chicory extract at 0.05% is the prebiotic, and rosemary closes at 0.01%. Green tea and rosemary both bring antioxidants, and rosemary extract is what keeps the fats from turning.

The analysis is rich for a wet food. Fat converts to 38.0% of dry matter on both trays, which is why they carry 128 kcal per 100g when much of the wet shelf sits nearer 97. Protein converts to 32.0% on the Chicken, 30.0% on the Salmon. Estimated carbohydrate lands at 17.6% and 19.6% of dry matter against 15.8% for the typical adult wet food, so the sweet potato is doing a normal job rather than an outsized one.

The additive panel is dosed entry by entry, with vitamins A, D3 and E ahead of zinc, iron, manganese, copper, iodine and selenium. Calcium converts to 2.0% of dry matter on both, a comfortable level for adult maintenance.

Freshly prepared chicken at 70%, of which 26% is homemade chicken broth, and the only animal on the label apart from the salmon oil at the end of it. Protein converts to 32.0% of dry matter, nutritional balance reads Excellent here and transparency Outstanding, with protein and processing the reading that holds it back at Poor.

Sold in a 400g tray, in packs of 8 and in a Superfoods Mixed pack of 16 that carries both recipes.

As a guide, a 15kg adult dog in moderate condition would eat around 656 grams a day of either tray, assuming about 840 kcal a day (110 × bodyweight^0.75, the standard maintenance estimate). The label's own guide for a dog of 10 to 20 kg runs from 500 to 860 grams on the Chicken and from 480 to 815 grams on the Salmon.