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BJ’s Raw Pet Food is a small, family-owned company. They are farmers that operate in Lancaster County, PA. Chris Glick is its president. They based their business on the work of Dr Ian Billinghurst. He’s often called the father of the BARF diet for dogs.
The company bases its recipes on a prey model raw diet. They include animal protein, organs, and bones. Some recipes also include vegetable or fruit blends. Their livestock and poultry are pasture raised and grass-fed. They come from small traditional farms. Most are in the surrounding community.
BJ’s Raw Pet Food butchers, processes, and freezes its products on its own farm.
Overall, BJ’s Raw Pet Food is an acceptable option for raw and freeze dried dog foods. Three lines score high in ingredient quality and safety. There are 2 lines of raw and a line of freeze dried dog foods that are all considered low risk.
The BJ’s Raw states it hasn’t submitted its foods for food trials, except for its Premium Mix recipe. These trials address AAFCO’s nutrient standards. AAFCO is a private organization with voluntary membership. It doesn’t regulate, test, approve, or certify pet food. Compliance isn’t required.
The Premium Mix freeze dried recipe has undergone feeding trials under AAFCO guidelines. This recipe is complete and balanced for all life stages. The company says its other recipes provide complete and balanced nutrition. They are for all life stages. They are comparable to a product substantiated using AAFCO feeding trials.
It’s noteworthy that there aren’t any added vitamins and minerals in any of the recipes. This speaks highly of the quality of the whole food ingredients. They don’t require synthetic supplements. Additionally, these are raw dog foods. There is light processing that does not affect the nutritional value.
BJ’s Blends is a prey model raw diet with 14 recipes made up of muscle meat, organs and bones. This line scores 10/10 for ingredient quality and ingredient safety.
BJ’s Raw Mix scores 9.7/10. There are 7 recipes that vary from prey model to prey model with added vegetable and/or fruit blends. It loses points for having higher fat and higher carbohydrates in 2 recipes. There are high pesticide and GMO ingredients in another recipe. There are no added grains or starches. Carbohydrates are from the whole food ingredients.
BJ’s Freeze Dried has a score of 9.7/10 for 3 recipes that have average protein of 53% and average carbohydrates of 3%. It loses points for having some vegetables that are high pesticide ingredients.
BJ’s Raw states it uses free range and ethically sourced animals. However, it doesn’t provide third party certification. This is common with small companies that support their local farmers. The company has its own farm where it maintains hands-on control. They butcher, process and freeze their own products.
It’s worth noting that BJ’s Raw doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. They are certainly not the only brand omitting this information. It’s our hope that more brands will pay more attention to these fat ratios. Omega-6 fats are inflammatory and AAFCO allows a very high ratio of 30:1.
Below, we list the average score for each type of food. Click on any line to view the individual food and scores.
BJ’s Raw Mix is a low risk food by our criteria. It averages 53% protein and 10% carbohydrate, as calculated on a dry matter basis. The foods have high ingredient scores. But, the Basic Mix and Puppy Mix have high carbs. And Bruce’s Mix has more fat than protein. The Premium Mix recipe also has high pesticide ingredients and uses one GMO crop. Six of the 7 recipes score 10/10 for ingredient safety.
BJ’s Raw Pet Food’s Raw Blend is a low risk food by our criteria. It averages 57% protein and 4% carbohydrate, as calculated on a dry matter basis. There are 14 recipes. They do not lose any points for ingredient quality or ingredient safety.
BJ’s Raw Pet Food’s Freeze Dried is a low risk food by our criteria. It averages 53% protein and 5% carbohydrate, as calculated. Two recipes lose a point for having high pesticide ingredients in the veggie mix. All three recipes score 10/10 for ingredient safety.
BJ’s Raw has had no recalls or voluntary withdrawals to date.
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