Waitrose

Waitrose Essential Chunks: Meat Selection in Jelly review

Name: Waitrose Essential Chunks: Meat Selection in Jelly
Brand: Waitrose

55.4/100Good

WetAdult

Flavour

The shop's everyday wet range, in cans and smaller packs, all written in category terms with just 4% tied to the animal on the front. Three of the four sit in our Good band and the Meaty Chunks in Gravy a step below in Average. That gap is about how little the labels declare.

Where to buy: coming soon

Live retailer links are coming soon. Once we have them from UK retailers, where to buy and the best price will appear here.

Our view

Likely to suit

Dogs that have eaten happily off this shelf for years
The week's shopping in one place, across jelly and gravy
A lighter dinner: the cans keep fat to 22.2% of dry matter
Small dogs, with 100g packs and nothing left over
Bored eaters, with beef, chicken, turkey and lamb across the range

Worth watching

Only 4% of the animal content is named, so no elimination diet
Unnamed cereals that can change between batches
Various sugars on three of the four
Carbohydrate at 25.0% of dry matter on the cans

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

How this scores

How we score

55.4/100Good

Protein and processingGood

Nutritional balanceExcellent

TransparencyAverage

ValueGood

The details

Dog fit

Listed for adult dogs. A 15kg dog eats about 1132 grams a day on the cans, so the small packs suit smaller dogs best.

Food type

Wet

Life stage

Adult

Breed size

Toy, Small, Medium, Large, Giant

Main protein

Beef

The score, in context

Meaty Chunks in Jelly 55.5
Meat Selection in Jelly 55.4
Variety Pack in Gravy 55.4
Meaty Chunks in Gravy 49.9

Four recipes across Good and Average. Typical wet food: Excellent.

The gap to the typical wet food is almost all in what the labels declare, not in the tin.

What's in it

Meat and animal derivatives36%A legal category covering any warm-blooded land animal. Only the named beef, turkey or chicken at 4% is fixed.
CerealsNo grain named, and free to change between batches.
MineralsNo dosed vitamin or trace element panel beside them.
Various sugarsFor taste. Near the end of the list, so a small share.

The energy figure is our estimate; the label does not print one.

Named ingredients

MEATY CHUNKS IN JELLY WITH BEEF, Meat and animal derivatives (36%, including 4% beef), cereals, minerals, various sugars, MEATY CHUNKS IN JELLY WITH TURKEY, Meat and animal derivatives (36%, including 4% turkey), cereals, minerals, various sugars, MEATY CHUNKS IN JELLY WITH CHICKEN, Meat and animal derivatives (36%, including 4% chicken), cereals, minerals, various sugars

Against the range

Animals named: Beef, turkey, chicken at 4% each; Lamb added on the 100g packs
Carbohydrate, dry matter: 25.0%; 6.2% on the Meaty Chunks in Jelly
Energy: 74 kcal per 100g; Among the lightest; up to 86.6 on the packs

A light everyday can, identical on analysis to the gravy variety pack.

Every recipe is written in category terms. Meat and animal derivatives runs at 36%, or 40% on the Meaty Chunks in Jelly, with only 4% tied to the animal on the front. Cereals go unnamed on three of the four and various sugars appear on the same three.

Minerals are listed throughout, with no dosed vitamin or trace element panel. Protein converts to between 38.9% and 47.2% of dry matter, fat to between 22.2% and 33.3%.

Nutritional analysis

Declared analysis

Energy

74.2 kcal/100g

Estimated using Modified Atwater factors*

Protein

Fat

Fibre

0.5%

Ash

Moisture

82%

Dry weight

Protein

38.9%

Fat

22.2%

Fibre

2.8%

Ash

11.1%

Carbs

25%

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

100%

Pricing & size