Smallbatch is a family-owned company founded in 2005 in San Francisco. The company has grown in size but still claims to maintain its original principles of using humanely-raised meats and organic veggies.
The food is manufactured in 3rd party facilities. A few years ago this resulted in the company’s raw foods being high pressure pasteurized without their knowledge. The situation has now been rectified and Smallbatch foods are not subjected to HPP now. The company states they’re closely involved in all food production, especially the raw and lightly cooked foods, where they are on site at the production facility.
Smallbatch offers three food lines: Raw, Freeze Dried and LIghtly Cooked.
For our Smallbatch dog food reviews we’ll look at each food line individually, based on the food ingredient quality and safety. There are 3 lines containing 16 dog food recipes. Each dog food review was based on these criteria.
Smallbatch Raw Dog Food Review
Score: 10/10
Package ingredients for Raw Chickenbatch Patties: chicken, skinless chicken necks, chicken backs, chicken livers, chicken hearts, chicken gizzards, organic carrots, organic yams, organic broccoli, organic squash, salmon oil, organic kale, organic collards, organic apple cider vinegar, organic kelp*, organic bee pollen, organic parsley, organic wheat grass, organic bilberry, organic garlic, organic rosemary, organic basil, vitamin e supplement
Using our evaluation criteria, Smallbatch Raw is considered a very low risk dog food.
Ingredient Safety and Ingredient Quality
Smallbatch Raw loses no points for Ingredient Safety or Ingredient Quality.
The company is committed to quality, and uses certified organic produce, so Ingredient Safety is not compromised by the risk of high pesticide residues.. They source animal proteins from suppliers who feed GMO-free food.
The quality of the ingredients is supported by the fact that they don’t need to add any vitamins or minerals to meet nutritional standards.The nutrients come from whole food ingredients in the recipes.
Concerns
No points were deducted, but 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 Smallbatch does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most dog foods, it’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.
Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish: The company doesn’t specify whether the salmon oil used in some recipes is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance.
Benefits
Here are some benefits of these foods:
Minimal Processing: Frozen raw foods don’t have heat applied during minimal processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.
High Protein: The protein content for Smallbatch Raw is good, at 52% on a dry matter basis, and the fat percentage is less than protein, which is desirable in a raw food.
Minimal Carbohydrates: This food averages 4% carbohydrate (as calculated on a dry matter basis) which is a minimal amount. Foods that are high 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 Smallbatch Dog Food Reviews.
Smallbatch Freeze Dried Dog Food Review
Score: 10/10
Package ingredients for Freezedried Beefbatch: beef hearts, beef livers, beef kidneys, beef bones, organic yams, organic carrots, organic squash, organic broccoli, salmon oil, organic apple cider vinegar, organic kale, organic collards, mixed tocopherols, organic kelp*, organic parsley, organic bee pollen, organic wheat grass, organic bilberry, organic garlic, organic rosemary, organic basil, vitamin e supplement
Using our evaluation criteria, Smallbatch Freeze Dried is considered a very low risk dog food.
Ingredient Safety and Ingredient Quality
Smallbatch Freeze Dried Raw loses no points for Ingredient Safety or Ingredient Quality.
The company is committed to quality, and uses certified organic produce, , so Ingredient Safety is not compromised by the risk of high pesticide residues. They source animal proteins from suppliers who feed GMO-free food.
The quality of the ingredients is supported by the fact that they don’t need to add any vitamins or minerals to meet nutritional standards. The nutrients come from whole food ingredients in the recipes.
Concerns
While no points are lost for these concerns, these are some points to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:
Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: Smallbatch 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, which makes it a concern. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.
Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish: These foods don’t specify whether the salmon oil used in some recipes is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance.
Benefits
Here are some benefits of these foods:
Minimally Processed: Freeze dried raw foods don’t have heat applied during minimal processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.
High Protein: The protein content for Smallbatch Freeze Dried is good, at 50%, and the fat percentage is less than protein, which is desirable in a freeze dried food.
Minimal Carbohydrates: These foods have minimal carbohydrates, which is excellent. Dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates, which 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 Smallbatch Dog Food Reviews.
Smallbatch Lightly Cooked Dog Food Review
Score: 9.5/10
Package ingredients for Lightly Cooked Turkey Batch: turkey necks, turkey, turkey gizzards, turkey hearts, turkey livers, organic celery, organic butternut squash, organic bok choy, organic cauliflower, organic green beans, salmon oil, organic apple cider vinegar, organic kelp*, organic dandelion greens, organic cilantro, organic bee pollen, organic garlic, organic bilberry, organic wheat grass, organic oregano, organic thyme, natural vitamin e, zinc glycinate, copper glycinate, manganese glycinate
Using our evaluation criteria, Smallbatch Lightly Cooked is considered a low risk dog food.
Ingredient Quality
Smallbatch Lightly Cooked dog food loses no points for Ingredient Quality.
The quality of the ingredients is supported by the fact that they don’t need to add any vitamins or minerals to meet nutritional standards. The nutrients come from whole food ingredients in the recipes.
Ingredient Safety
Smallbatch Lightly Cooked food does lose an Ingredient Safety point for moderate processing, because it’s cooked. However, it’s worth noting that the “Lightly Cooked” description is accurate: these foods are cooked sous vide in a water bath at just 150F for 5 minutes. Although cooking usually causes some nutrient loss, it’s likely that this gentle method means the loss of nutrients in this food is low.
The company uses certified organic produce in its recipes. so Ingredient Safety is not compromised by the risk of high pesticide residues. They source animal proteins from suppliers who feed GMO-free food.
Concerns
Although no points were deducted, these concerns are points 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 Smallbatch 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.
Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish: These foods don’t specify whether the salmon oil used in some recipes is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance.
Benefits
Here are some benefits of these foods:
High Protein: Smallbatch Lightly Cooked dog foods average a good protein level of over 50% on a dry matter basis which is good to see. The fat content is also less than protein, which is desirable in a fresh food like this.
Minimal Carbohydrates: This food averages 3.7% carbohydrate (as calculated on a dry matter basis) which is excellent. Dogs have no nutritional need for carbohydrates, which 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 Smallbatch Dog Food Reviews.
Is Smallbatch a Good Dog Food?
Overall, Smallbatch is a very good dog food. Smallbatch foods all have overall scores of 10/10, except for the Lightly Cooked line which loses an ingredient safety point for processing because it’s cooked, so the overall score of that food is 9.5.
It’s clear that the company is committed to quality. They use certified organic, non-GMO produce. While it’s very difficult to get a non-GMO certification for animal proteins, Smallbatch does source their animal proteins from suppliers who feed non-GMO feeds. In the case of rabbit, they source from France which doesn’t allow GMO crops.
However, they describe their meats as “humanely-raised and harvested,” which are marketing descriptions that don’t have any legal meaning under pet food standards.
The quality of ingredients is supported by the fact that they don’t add any vitamins or minerals to meet nutritional standards. The nutrients come from the whole food ingredients in the foods.
Smallbatch Recalls
Smallbatch has had two dog food recalls.
In March 2016, Raw Duckbatch Sliders were recalled due to potential contamination with Salmonella and Listeria.
In May 2017, the FDA recalled two batches of raw Chicken dog and cat food for potential Salmonella contamination.
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.
