FRESHPET DELI FRESH Dog Food

Freshpet’s Deli Fresh is exclusively available at Costco stores. With a score of 5.2, this line is considered a moderate to high risk food. The food is calculated to contain 15% carbohydrate and 45% protein on a dry matter basis. 

The carbohydrate content seems reasonable for a food in this category. But the Deli Fresh line does lose ingredient quality points for the addition of plant proteins such as pea protein to boost the protein content. Plant proteins are less complete in their amino acid profile and are often high in pesticide residue. The food also suffers on the ingredient quality side for its fish oil. While it’s beneficial to add a source of omega-3 fats to dog foods, fish oil doesn’t name the species of fish used and is considered a low quality ingredient. Like all Freshpet foods, the ingredient quality score also suffers from excessive added vitamins and minerals. Vitamin premixes can be used to fortify low quality ingredients and can also cause dangerous toxicities, especially when too much copper and vitamin D are added. 

On the ingredient safety side, the Deli Fresh line loses a point for cooking. Moderate processing is preferred to ultra-processed foods like kibble, but cooking will still cause nutrient losses, especially when foods are cooked in bags or chubs. features known high pesticide foods in the top 5 ingredients including peas, potatoes and spinach. Chronic exposure to pesticides and herbicides has been associated with skin conditions, neurological conditions and cancer. The food also contains natural flavor, which is a low quality ingredient that can often be MSG or other low quality substances with little safety data. Rounding out the food safety side, Freshpet’s Deli Fresh line contains carrageenan, which is highly processed and is known to cause intestinal inflammation. 

The food is verified non GMO. However, Freshpet does not indicate whether their fish oil comes from farmed or wild caught fish. And finally, the omega6:omega-3 ratio is not reported, which is unfortunate since plant proteins are high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats. 

Deli Fresh is Freshpet’s second lowest rated line.