Badlands Ranch just debuted its first dog food in 2022. The company produces a single air-dried dog food called Superfood Complete. The company is a small, boutique brand, founded by actress and animal activist Katherine Heigl, and named after her family ranch in Utah. Through this company, the Heigl family supports its non-profit foundation and makes an annual pledge to animal rescue as well as monthly donations of food to animals in need.
For our Badlands Ranch dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety. Our dog food review is based on these criteria.
Badlands Ranch Superfood Complete
Score: 8/10
Package Ingredients For Badlands Superfood Complete Beef Recipe: Beef, beef liver, beef heart, salmon, flaxseed, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots, calcium carbonate, broccoli, chia seeds, blueberry, ginger, salt, turmeric, lions mane mushroom (hericium erinaceus), zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, selenium yeast, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, folic acid, calcium iodate, vitamin D3 supplements, mixed tocopherols.
With a score of 8/10, Badlands Ranch dog food is considered a low risk dog food according to our evaluation criteria.
Ingredient Quality
There are only 2 concerns when it comes to ingredient quality:
High In Carbohydrates: Carbohydrates in this single recipe are 24% as calculated, which is high for an air-dried food. There are some starchy ingredients such as sweet potato and pumpkin. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut balance.
Excessive Added Vitamins and Minerals: This brand loses ingredient quality points for excessive added vitamins and minerals. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from added nutrients.
Ingredient Safety
There is only one issue when it comes to ingredient safety.
Moderately Processed: This recipe loses a point for being air dried. Air drying uses some heat, which can cause a loss in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, amino acids and phytonutrients.
Read more Badlands Ranch Dog Food Reviews
Is Badlands Ranch A Good Dog Food?
Overall, Badlands Ranch is considered a low risk dog food. It’s a moderately processed food that doesn’t use high pesticide or GMO ingredients. The carbs are higher than we expect to see in an air dried food but they’re from starchy produce, not from grains. It also has a decent protein level of 35%, although we’d like to see it higher.
There are some added vitamins and minerals but not as many as you’ll find in a standard pre-mix. Still, it would be good to see a food of this quality obtain all of its nutrients from the ingredients.
Other Concerns
There are a few things worth noting, but they don’t affect the score.
Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish: Salmon is used but the company doesn’t specify whether the fish is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance.
Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: This omission is true of most foods. However it is a concern because omega-6 fatty acids are pro-inflammatory, and AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.
Badland Ranch Dog Food Recalls
To date, there have been no recalls of Badland Ranch dog foods.
Evaluation Criteria
We evaluate and score dog foods based on two criteria:
Are the Ingredients High Quality?
Here are some common low quality ingredients or markers we look for:
- Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
- Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
- Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
- Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
- Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
- Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?
How Safe Are the Ingredients?
Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:
- How processed is the food?
- Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
- Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
- Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
- Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?
Each food is objectively evaluated by these criteria and a score is assigned using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. We’ve partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to make sure dog owners have unbiased, objective criteria to help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.
