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Step Up Dry Food Adult: Beef With Lamb review

Name: Step Up Dry Food Adult: Beef With Lamb
Brand: Step Up

51.9/100Good

DryAdult

Flavour

A plain, unfussy kibble for every day, with all three recipes in our Good band. The meat is concentrated meal and partly named by family, which is what holds the range at that level. Everything else is set out plainly, with percentages against the grains, the peas and the extras, and a fully dosed vitamin and mineral panel underneath.

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Our view

Likely to suit

Multi-dog homes. The three recipes swap only the meat
Grain-tolerant dogs, with rice, whole barley and oats behind the meat
A prebiotic in every bag, as dried chicory closes each list
Stiffening joints, on the chicken with fish recipe, which declares glucosamine and chondroitin
Households avoiding wheat: none appears in the range
Big eaters, since the 14kg bag is what the range is built around

Worth watching

Salmon oil in all three, so no version is fish-free
Poultry names a family and not a bird, which rules the range out for a dog with a specific poultry problem
Carbohydrate runs high, from 48.9% to 53.2% of dry matter against 46.2% for a typical adult dry food

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

How this scores

How we score

51.9/100Good

Protein and processingAverage

Nutritional balancePoor

TransparencyOutstanding

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs of every size. Weigh the first few meals against the label's table and let the waistline settle the amount.

Food type

Dry

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Beef

The score, in context

Chicken 55.3
Chicken 53.7
Beef 51.9

All three Good. Typical dry food: Good.

The three finish close together, so the animal on the front can make the choice.

What's in it

Meat and Bone Meal16%Beef is 8% inside it. The bone meal itself can come from any animal.
RiceEasy on most dogs.
Whole Barley16%Keeps its bran, with fibre and micronutrients.
MaizeThe everyday filler of the group.
Dried Peas8%A real ingredient at this level, though their plant protein flatters the protein figure a little.
Poultry Meal, Poultry Fat, Poultry GravyFat is 5%. Poultry is a family word that covers goose and duck as much as chicken.
Lamb Meal4%The second red meat.
Whole Grain Oats, Beet PulpOats are 4%.
Dried Apple, Dried Sweet Potato, Minerals1% eachHonestly labelled garnishes.
Salmon Oil, Dried ChicoryA little salmon oil goes a long way for the coat; chicory is rich in inulin for the gut bacteria.

Vitamins A, D3 and E with zinc, iron, manganese, copper, iodine and selenium, as sulphates, oxides and sodium selenite.

Calcium converts to 2.56% of dry matter, a level suited to a settled adult and not to a growing dog.

Named ingredients

Meat and Bone Meal (16% incl. Beef 8%), Rice, Whole Barley (16%), Maize, Dried Peas (8%), Poultry Meal, Poultry Fat (5%), Lamb Meal (4%), Whole Grain Oats (4%), Poultry Gravy, Beet Pulp, Dried Apple (1% equivalent to 6.5% Apple), Dried Sweet Potato (1% equivalent to 3% Sweet Potato), Minerals, Salmon Oil (0.5%), Dried Chicory

Against the range

Lead meal: Meat and bone meal, 16%; Poultry meal at 18.5% on the other two.
Second animal: Lamb meal, 4%; Fish meal or turkey meal.
Calcium, dry matter: 2.56%; Comfortably the highest of the three.
Carbohydrate, dry matter: 48.9%; The lowest in the range; the others are 50.5% and 53.2%.

Two red meats and the lowest carbohydrate, with the vaguest lead entry in the range.

Three recipes on one construction. A concentrated meat meal leads each, then rice, whole barley at 16% and maize, with dried peas at 8% or 9% and whole grain oats at 4%. All of the meat is meal and none of it fresh, and part of it is named only by family: poultry meal, poultry fat and poultry gravy.

The tail is the same everywhere: dried apple, dried sweet potato, salmon oil at 0.5% and dried chicory. There is no wheat in the range. What changes is the lead meal, the second animal and the fat level, and only the chicken with fish recipe adds joint support.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

363 kcal/100g

Protein

22%

Fat

11%

Fibre

3.5%

Ash

9.5%

Moisture

10%

Dry weight

Protein

24.4%

Fat

12.2%

Fibre

3.9%

Ash

10.6%

Carbs

48.9%

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

32.8%

Added water

Carbs

56%

Veg

1.3%

Oils

5.5%

Other

0.4%

Pricing & size