The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co was founded in 2016 by owners Jacqueline Taylor and Amber Cordero. They produce small-batch freeze-dried and air-dried dog and cat foods. The company headquarters is in Pauanui Beach, New Zealand. It’s unclear whether the foods are manufactured in-house or by a third-party manufacturer.
For The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co dog food reviews we’ll look at each food line individually, based on the food ingredient quality and safety. There are 2 lines of 10 dog foods. Each dog food review was based on these criteria.
The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co Freeze Dried Dog Food Review
Score: 8.9/10
Package Ingredients For Woof Wild Goat Freeze Dried Recipe: Goat with ground bone, Lamb Green Tripe, Lamb Liver, Lamb Kidney, Bok Choy, Carrot, Blueberries, Cranberries, Kelp, New Zealand Green Mussel, Honey, Rosemary, Coconut Oil, Hoki Oil, Vitamin D3, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin B2 (Riboflavin), Vitamin B1 (Thiamine Mononitrate),
Using our evaluation criteria, New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co’s Freeze Dried line is considered a low risk dog food. Here are our concerns:
Ingredient Quality
Here’s where the Freeze Dried recipes lost points for ingredient quality:
Sugar: Manuka honey is an added sugar in this food. Sugar is often found in pet food to increase the palatability or as a preservative or humectant. While Manuka honey has some therapeutic benefits, if eaten every day, sugars can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes.
Excessive Minerals: Four of the recipes contain several added minerals. These are minimal additives but we’d prefer to see these nutrients from whole food sources.
High Fat (One Recipe): The Lamb recipe has the same percentage of fat as protein. It’s preferable for raw and freeze-dried foods to have lower fat than protein. A high fat diet can cause unwanted shifts in gut bacteria populations and can add unwanted toxins since toxins are stored in fat. Many fats are also high in omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause systemic, low-grade inflammation.
Moderate Carbohydrate (One Recipe): The Wild Brushtail recipe contains more than 19% carbohydrates as calculated, which is high for a freeze dried food.
Ingredient Safety
The Freeze Dried line loses no points for ingredient safety. Freeze dried foods are minimally processed and there are no high pesticide or GMO ingredients in the recipes.
While the recipes do contain kale and apples, which are ingredients known to be high in pesticide or herbicide residues, the company explains they’re working towards organic certification, so points were not deducted in this case.
Other Concerns
While there are no points lost, these are concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:
Coconut Oil: The foods contain coconut oil which some studies show can increase gut inflammation and permeability. It doesn’t cost points but it’s something to be aware of.
Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most 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: These foods don’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.
Benefits
In addition to minimal processing and no high pesticide or GMO ingredients as noted earlier, here are some benefits of the Freeze Dried line:
High Protein: The protein content for New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co’s Freeze Dried line averages a good 50.6%.
Low Carbohydrates: This food averages a fairly low 9% carbohydrate as calculated. This average was increased by the Wild Brushtail recipe which lost a point for 19% carbs, a high level for freeze dried food. 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 known GMO ingredients, which is good to see.
Read more New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co Dog Food Reviews
The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co. Air Dried Dog Food Review
Score: 8.8/10
Package Ingredients For Woof Wild Venison Air Dried Recipe: Venison, Lamb, Lamb Green Tripe, Lamb Heart, Lamb Liver, Lamb Kidney, Ground Lamb Bone, Bok Choy, Carrot, Blueberries, Cranberries, Kelp, New Zealand Green Mussel, Honey, Rosemary, Coconut Oil, Hoki Oil, Vitamin D3, Salt, Choline Chloride, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex
Using our evaluation criteria, New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co.’s Air Dried line is considered a low risk dog food. Here are our concerns:
Ingredient Quality
Here’s where the Air Dried recipes lost points for ingredient quality:
Sugar: Manuka honey is an added sugar in this food. Sugar is often found in pet food to increase the palatability or as a preservative or humectant. In this case, while Manuka honey does have some therapeutic benefits, if eaten every day, sugars can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes.
Excessive Minerals: The recipes contain several added minerals. These are minimal additives but we’d prefer to see these nutrients from whole food sources.
Ingredient Safety
The Air Dried line loses a point for moderate processing. Air drying uses heat which causes some loss of nutrients.
There are no high pesticide or GMO ingredients in the recipes. While the recipes do contain kale and apples which are ingredients known to be high in pesticide or herbicide residues, the company explains they’re working towards organic certification, so points were not deducted in this case.
Other Concerns
While there are no points lost, these are concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of dog food:
Coconut Oil: The foods contain coconut oil which some studies show can increase gut inflammation and permeability. It doesn’t cost points but it’s something to be aware of.
Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio: New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co. does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most 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: These foods don’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.
Benefits
Here are some benefits of these foods:
High Protein: The Air Dried line averages 46.7% protein which is a good level.
Low Carbohydrates: This food averages 11% carbohydrate as calculated, which is a decent level in an air dried food. Foods that are rich in carbohydrate 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 known GMO ingredients, which is good to see.
Read more New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co Dog Food Reviews
Is the New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co a Good Dog Food?
Overall, the New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co is considered a high quality food. However, the recipes lost points for including Manuka honey, which is an added sugar that dogs shouldn’t eat every day.
When evaluating ingredient quality and safety, scoring shows the 2 lines of 10 dog foods to be low risk foods.
Despite the high quality ingredients, a couple of the Freeze Dried recipes lost points for high fat or high carbohydrates.
All the foods lose points for containing several added minerals. Especially with minimally or lightly processed foods like these, we’d prefer to see all the nutrients coming from whole food ingredients.
As noted earlier, there are additional concerns with the dog food and marketing. These don’t affect the New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co dog food reviews score, but they’re worth mentioning:
Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish: These foods don’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.
Coconut Oil: The recipes contain coconut oil, which has been shown to cause undesirable changes in the gut lining.
The New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co. Recalls
To date there have been no recalls of the New Zealand Natural Pet Food Co.’s 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.
