Purpose Pet Food is a brand founded to focus on nutrition as well as ethical values. The company states it works with specific suppliers. They must have a humanely raised label. Or, they must have humanely raised practices. This is good to know. However, they don’t provide certifications that support this. That would be helpful to know.
The company makes freeze-dried dog and cat foods and treats. Products sell direct to consumer on their website. They’re headquartered in Madison, New Jersey. For our Purpose dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety of each line of food. Our dog food reviews are based on these criteria.
IS PURPOSE A GOOD DOG FOOD?
Purpose freeze-dried dog foods are a low risk dog food by our criteria. There are no points lost for light processing. Freeze dried raw foods don’t have heat applied during processing. This preserves nutrients in raw ingredients.
There are 6 recipes. Recipes contain 95% meat (or fish). There is 5% produce. The produce is all organic. The company uses ingredients like grass fed beef. There is free range poultry, and cage-free rabbits. Salmon is wild-caught. It’s not clear if the whitefish or herring oil ingredients are farmed or wild caught. Wild caught fish is more nutritious and has a better fatty acid balance.
The company states it uses quality ingredients. That’s why it’s disappointing to see added vitamins and minerals. This can indicate lower quality ingredients. They need to be fortified to meet nutritional standards. It’s preferable to have vitamins come from whole food sources. Then they include the full spectrum of cofactors. That makes them safe and bioavailable.
None of the recipes lose any points for ingredient safety. But 2 recipes (Duck and Rabbit) lose a point for high carbohydrate levels. They’re calculated as 18% and 16% respectively. This is high for a freeze dried raw food. Overall carbs across all foods average just under 12%, with protein at 48%. Fat is lower than protein which is desirable in a freeze dried raw food.
The company uses a number of unsubstantiated marketing terms on its website. These include cage-free, humanely raised and farm-raised. They suggest ingredients are better quality. But they don’t present certifications. Without them, they are purely marketing terms. They have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.
Purpose Pet Food doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their recipes. This is true of most companies. It’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation.
Purpose Freeze-Dried
Score: 8.8/10
Ingredient List For Duck & Veggie Recipe: Duck, duck neck, duck gizzard, duck liver, organic broccoli, organic carrots, organic squash, organic blueberries, organic apples, organic apple cider vinegar, herring oil, potassium chloride, dried kelp, sodium chloride, zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, vitamin e supplement, niacin supplement, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, thiamine mononitrate, d-calcium pantothenate, sodium selenite, riboflavin supplement, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, vitamin b12 supplement, folic acid, vitamin d3 supplement.
Purpose Benefits
- Lightly processed
- Organic produce
- Wild caught salmon
Purpose Concerns
- Not indicated whether whitefish or herring oil is farmed or wild-caught
- Does not provide omega-6:omega-3 ratio
- Excessive added vitamins and minerals
- Unsubstantiated marketing terms
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
PURPOSE DOG FOOD RECALLS
To date, Purpose Pet Food has not had any recalls or voluntary withdrawals.
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. Dogs Naturally has 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.
