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Orijen Dog Food Reviews

Orijen Dog Food Reviews
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UPDATED REVIEW: In February 2023, Mars Petcare, part of Mars, Incorporated, completed the acquisition of Champion Petfoods. Champion Petfoods has two brands, Orijen and ACANA. Mars announced that Champion Petfoods will operate as an independent business unit within Mars Pet Nutrition.

Champion Petfoods was founded in 1985 and has pet food distribution to 90 countries. The US food is manufactured in Auburn, Kentucky, while the Canadian foods are manufactured in Alberta.

There is no information available that the sourcing of ingredients has changed since the acquisition by Mars Petcare. Ingredients are sourced regionally, with homegrown botanicals. The website claims their animal proteins are fresh, not frozen – and not dried. These petfoods appear to be made in their own factories. 

The Orijen brand is a premium line. Orijen offers mainly dry foods, but rounds it out with wet and freeze-dried foods. On average, Orijen’s dry foods score higher than most premium foods.
For our Orijen dog food reviews we’ll look at each food line individually, based on the food ingredient quality and safety. There are 4 lines of 22 dog foods. Each dog food review was based on these criteria.

Orijen Dry Dog Food Review

Score: 6.4/10

Package Ingredients For Original Dry Dog Food Recipe: Chicken, turkey, flounder, whole mackerel, chicken liver, turkey giblets (liver|heart|gizzard), whole herring, eggs, dehydrated chicken, dehydrated turkey, dehydrated chicken liver, dehydrated egg, dehydrated mackerel, whole red lentils, whole pinto beans, chicken fat, whole green lentils, whole navy beans, whole chickpeas, lentil fiber, natural chicken flavor, whole peas, pollock oil, pea starch, chicken heart, whole pumpkin, whole butternut squash, collard greens, whole apples, whole pears, whole cranberries, dried kelp, salt, zinc proteinate, mixed tocopherols (preservative), vitamin E supplement, freeze-dried chicken, freeze-dried turkey, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, copper proteinate, dried chicory root, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, althea root, rosehips, juniper berries, citric acid (preservative), rosemary extract, dried lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, dried lactobacillus casei fermentation product.

Using our evaluation criteria, Orijen Dry Dog Food is considered a moderate risk dog food. Here are our concerns:

Ingredient Quality

Orijen Dry Dog Food scores quite well on ingredient quality, losing a point for carbohydrates that average 20%, as calculated, which is fairly low for kibble. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. 

Unlike most kibbles, Orijen Dry doesn’t contain a lot of added vitamins or minerals, which indicates higher ingredient quality. Most of the recipes have a handful of added minerals with one or two added vitamins and this is fairly typical for most Orijen lines.

Added Vitamins: When vitamins come from whole food sources, they include the full spectrum of cofactors, which makes them safe and bioavailable. While a couple of added vitamins are acceptable, five or more implies the food is of poor nutritional value. 

Ingredient Safety

Many pet food ingredients are unsafe or are grown using unsafe chemicals. Here are some of the issues with the Orijen Dry Dog Food line:

Ultra-Processed: Like all kibbles, Orijen Dry Dog Food loses points for being ultra-processed. Most kibbles undergo four heating steps. This makes them deficient in food-based nutrients and enzymes, and they can also be high in toxic chemicals like acrylamides, heterocyclic amines and PBDEs. Research shows that ultra-processed foods are linked to an increase in all-cause mortality in humans.

High Pesticide/Herbicide Foods: The recipes in the Orijen Dry Dog Food line contain ingredients known to carry a large pesticide/herbicide residue. However, they do not appear in the top 5 ingredients. Peas, chickpeas,  and/or lentils (unless organic) are crops that are spray-dried with Roundup, leaving them with more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases.  

Seed Oil: The Six Fish recipe scores lower than the other Orijen classic recipes since it contains seed oil, which is ultra processed, rich in omega-6 fats and can cause gut inflammation. 

Natural Flavor: Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

Other Concerns

Here are some other concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:

Ingredient Splitting: There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories (like peas and pea starch, for example) to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable animal protein ingredients higher on the list. 

Glam Ingredients: Some recipes contain glam ingredients, which is the practice of including healthy-sounding ingredients like fruit and vegetables to appeal to consumers. However when they appear below the salt on the ingredient list, it means they’re present in tiny quantities that likely won’t benefit your dog. Some recipes in this line appear to have glam ingredients (very near the bottom of the ingredient panel), but they don’t show salt on the ingredient list.

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: Orijen does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Farmed vs Wild Caught Fish: While the company states they use “wild-caught or sustainably farmed” fish, they don’t identify specific fish ingredients as wild caught or farmed. Wild caught fish is more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance (even compared to sustainably farmed fish).

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

High Protein: Lower protein is expected in processed food yet the protein content for Orijen Dry Dog Food averages just under 38% which is a good level for kibble.

Moderate Carbohydrates: This food averages 20% carbohydrate as calculated, which is quite good for a kibble. 

Read more Orijen Dog Food Reviews

Orijen Amazing Grains Dog Food Review

Score: 6.4/10

Package Ingredients For Amazing Grains Original Recipe: Chicken, turkey, chicken liver, whole herring, whole mackerel, dehydrated chicken, dehydrated chicken liver, oat groats, millet, chicken fat, eggs, flounder, turkey giblets (liver|heart|gizzard), dehydrated herring, dehydrated turkey, dehydrated egg, natural chicken flavor, whole oats, ground whole flaxseed, pollock oil, quinoa seed, chia seed, chicken hearts, inulin, vitamin E supplement, whole pumpkin, whole butternut squash, collard greens, whole apples, whole pears, whole cranberries, dried kelp, zinc proteinate, salt, mixed tocopherols (preservative), niacin, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, riboflavin, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, copper proteinate, turmeric, sarsaparilla root, althea root, rosehips, juniper berries, citric acid (preservative), rosemary extract, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Bifidobacterium animalis fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product

Using our evaluation criteria, Orijen Amazing Grains is considered a moderate risk dog food. Here are our concerns:

Ingredient Quality

Here are our concerns with ingredient quality for the Amazing Grains line:

Moderate Carbohydrates: Orijen Amazing Grains Dog Food scores quite well on ingredient quality, losing a point for carbohydrates that average 21%, as calculated, which is fairly low for kibble. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. 

Excessive Added Vitamins: This line loses an ingredient quality point for excessive added vitamins (plus a handful of minerals), unlike the company’s other lines. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed raw ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes.

Ingredient Safety

Many pet food ingredients are unsafe or are grown using unsafe chemicals. Here are some of the issues with the Orijen Amazing Grains line:

Ultra-Processed: Most kibbles undergo four heating steps, making them an ultra-processed food. They are deficient in food-based nutrients and enzymes, and can also be high in toxic chemicals like acrylamides, hetercyclic amines and PBDEs. Research shows that ultra-processed foods are linked to an increase in all-cause mortality in humans.

High Pesticide/Herbicide Foods: The recipes in the Amazing Grains line contain ingredients known to carry a large pesticide/herbicide residue. However, these don’t appear in the top 5 ingredients. Oats, millet, collard greens and apples (unless organic) are crops that are spray-dried with Roundup, leaving them with more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases.  

Natural Flavor: Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

Other Concerns

Here are some other concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:

Ingredient Splitting: There is ingredient splitting in these recipes. That’s the practice of splitting ingredients into subcategories to make them appear lower on the list. This can also move more desirable protein ingredients higher. 

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: It’s worth noting that Orijen does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Farmed vs Wild Caught Fish: While the company states they use “wild-caught or sustainably farmed” fish, they don’t identify specific fish ingredients as wild caught or farmed. Wild caught fish is more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance (even compared to sustainably farmed fish).

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

High Protein: Lower protein is expected in processed food yet the protein content for Orijen is about 38% which is a good level.

Moderate Carbohydrates: This line averages 21% carbohydrate as calculated, which is fairly low for a kibble. Foods that are rich in carbohydrate can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

Read more Orijen Dog Food Reviews

Orijen Canned Dog Food Review

Score: 7.3/10

Package Ingredients For Orijen Original Stew Recipe: Chicken, chicken bone broth, turkey bone broth, chicken liver, turkey, dried egg whites, dried egg product, chicken heart, herring, turkey liver, carrots, mackerel, natural flavor, salt, herring oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols), organic guar gum, turkey heart, broccoli, pumpkin, potassium chloride, minerals (zinc amino acid chelate, iron amino acid chelate, selenium yeast, copper amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, cobalt amino acid chelate, potassium iodide), blueberries, calcium carbonate, choline chloride, vitamins (thiamine mononitrate, vitamin E supplement, niacin supplement, D-calcium pantothenate, vitamin A supplement, riboflavin supplement, biotin, vitamin B12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin D3 supplement, folic acid), inulin, turmeric

Using our evaluation criteria, Orijen Canned Dog Food is considered a moderate risk dog food. Here are our concerns:

Ingredient Quality

Overall, there is one concern when it comes to ingredient quality:

Excessive Added Vitamins and Minerals: Unlike most Orijen dog foods, the Canned line loses ingredient quality points for excessive added vitamins and minerals. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed raw ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes.

Ingredient Safety

Many pet food ingredients are unsafe or are grown using unsafe chemicals. Here are some of the issues with Orijen’s Canned Dog Food line:

Highly Processed: Canned foods are heated before and during canning, which will cause significant losses in some active enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

Natural Flavor: Recipes in this line contain natural flavor, which is added to make processed food more palatable. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

Other Concerns

Here are some other concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: It’s worth noting that Orijen does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Farmed vs Wild Caught Fish: While the company states they use “wild-caught or sustainably farmed” fish, they don’t identify specific fish ingredients as wild caught or farmed. Wild caught fish is more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance (even compared to sustainably farmed fish).

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

High Protein: Lower protein is expected in processed food yet the protein content for Orijen Canned Dog Food is 57% on a dry matter basis, which is very high.

Low Carbohydrates: This food averages 7% carbohydrate (as calculated on a dry matter basis) which is excellent for a canned dog food. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

No GMO Ingredients: This isn’t a non-GMO verified line, however, there aren’t any ingredients with GMOs which is good to see. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. 

Read more Orijen Dog Food Reviews

Orijen Freeze Dried Dog Food Review

Score: 8.8/10

Package Ingredients For Orijen Original Freeze Dried Recipe: Chicken, chicken liver, turkey, whole herring, turkey giblets (liver, heart, gizzard), eggs, flounder, pea fiber, chicken hearts, whole pumpkin, collard greens, whole apples, whole carrots, whole pears, salt, zinc proteinate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, dried kelp, vitamin E supplement, mixed tocopherols (preservative), riboflavin, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, rosemary extract, citric acid (preservative).

Using our evaluation criteria, Orijen Freeze Dried is considered a low risk dog food. Here are our concerns:

Ingredient Quality

Added Vitamins and Minerals: This line 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 vitamin premixes.

Ingredient Safety

Many pet food ingredients are unsafe or are grown using unsafe chemicals, and this is one concern with Orijen’s Freeze Dried line:

High Pesticide/Herbicide Foods: The only ingredient safety concern is that this line includes some high pesticide ingredients. However, these are not listed among the top 5 ingredients. Pumpkin, carrots, and apples (unless organic) are crops that are spray-dried with Roundup, leaving them with more glyphosate/herbicide residue than other crops, even genetically modified ones. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases.  

Other Concerns

Here are some other concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: Orijen does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Farmed vs Wild Caught Fish: While the company states they use “wild-caught or sustainably farmed” fish, they don’t identify specific fish ingredients as wild caught or farmed. Wild caught fish is more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance (even compared to sustainably farmed fish).

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

Lightly Processed: Freeze dried raw foods don’t have heat applied during processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.

High Protein: The protein content for Orijen Freeze Dried is 37% which is a good level.

Low Carbohydrates: This food averages 10% carbohydrate as calculated, which is a good level. Foods that are rich in carbohydrate can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

Read more Orijen Dog Food Reviews

Is Orijen A Good Dog Food?

Update October 2023:

With the change in ownership of any pet food company, there is a possibility of a change in recipes and ingredient standards of its foods. With this in mind, we’ve done a comparison of all the ingredients from our 2021 data used for the initial Orijen review and ingredients listed on the company website in October 2023. 

Minimal changes were found in 2 lines:

  • Orijen Originals Dry had 8 added vitamins in some recipes to reduce its score from 6.9 to 6.4/10
  • Orijen Freeze Dried had 5 added vitamins to reduce its score from 9.2 to 8.8/10

The guaranteed analysis for the Original Dry foods did not change. There was a slight increase in carbohydrates in the Freeze Dried line to 12% (up from 10%) which is still an acceptable level for freeze dried dog food.

When evaluating ingredient quality and safety, our scoring shows Orijen’s 4 lines of 23 dog foods to be low to moderate risk foods. The Amazing Grains line is considered the highest risk due to high pesticide foods and added vitamins and minerals.

The canned dog foods, with less processing and very low carbohydrates, score a bit better. The freeze dried foods, however, rank best of all across both ingredient quality and ingredient safety. 

Most of the recipes lost points for containing known ingredients known to have high pesticide/herbicide residues. However, none of these were in the top 5 ingredients which is good to see. Others lost points for natural flavor and seed oils. Each line lost points for added vitamins.

Ingredient Splitting: This is a technique of splitting ingredients into sub-categories to move certain ingredients higher or lower on the ingredient list. This is often used to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food, such as corn, potatoes or peas, and moves desirable ingredients, like proteins, higher.

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. 

Farmed vs Wild Caught Fish: While the company states they use “wild-caught or sustainably farmed” fish, they don’t identify specific fish ingredients as wild caught or farmed. Wild caught fish is more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance (even compared to sustainably farmed fish).

Orijen Dog Food Recalls

To date, there have been no Orijen dog food recalls in Canada or the United States.

However, their parent company, Champion Petfoods, had two lawsuits filed against it.

  • In 2020: Animal Equality questioned Champion’s claim that the trout in the ACANA line was wild caught when it was identified by the AE organization as farmed fish. The suit was resolved with Champion Petfoods changing their marketing claims and promising better transparency in its fish sourcing.
  • Also in 2020: the Organic Consumers Association sued Champion Petfoods for deceptive marketing under both the ACANA and Orijen brand names. The association alleged that statements such as “free-run” chicken were misleading. This case has also been resolved with Champion Petfoods making changes to their packaging and marketing.

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.

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