Home Freshpet Spring & Sprout

FRESHPET SPRING & SPROUT Dog Food

Average Score

2.5
4 color scale

Food scores are based on ingredient quality and safety. For more information, view our  evaluation criteria.

FRESHPET SPRING AND SPROUT PLANT-BASED PROTEIN & CAGE-FREE EGG RECIPE FOR DOGS

With a score of 2.5, Freshpet’s Spring & Sprout is considered a high to very high risk food. This food is the company’s vegetarian offering that claims to be planet-friendly. This is a curious claim as the food contains multiple ingredients that are known to be sprayed with glyphosate (Roundup), which is a large threat to the soils and waterways. 

The food is calculated to contain 27% carbohydrate and 54% protein on a dry matter basis, which seems strange since this is more protein than one would find in a mainly meat diet that doesn’t contain anywhere as much plant matter. Apart from the moderately high carbohydrate content, this doesn’t cost the food any ingredient quality or safety points, but it’s certainly worth noting.   

Apart from the high carbohydrate content, the ingredient quality score suffers a few dings. First, there are several sources of plant protein, which isn’t surprising in a vegetarian food. Spring & Sprout food also contains canola oil, which is a highly processed seed oil that’s also genetically modified – and heavily sprayed with pesticides. Spring & Sprout also contains two or more added amino acids, which reflects the incomplete amino acid array found in plant-based protein. Finally, the ingredient quality score takes another hit for the large number of added vitamins and minerals, which can reflect poor quality ingredients.

On the food safety side, Spring & Sprout gets a bit of a ding for being cooked. Minimal or no processing is preferred since heating foods causes losses in some active enzymes, amino acids and phytonutrients. There is a significant ingredient safety concern in the top 5 ingredients, with both peas (high pesticide crop) and soy (GMO and high pesticide) making an appearance. The food also loses food safety points for added natural flavors, which are often MSG and are typically low quality with limited safety studies. And finally, the food contains rice, which is high in arsenic.

It’s also worth noting that Freshpet uses ingredient splitting in this food. And finally, the omega6:omega-3 ratio is not reported, which is unfortunate since plant proteins are high in pro-inflammatory omega-6 fats. 

This is definitely Freshpet’s lowest rated food.

 

Spring & Sprout Benefits

Spring & Sprout Concerns

View All Spring & Sprout Dog Foods

FRESHPET SPRING AND SPROUT PLANT-BASED PROTEIN & CAGE-FREE EGG RECIPE FOR DOGS
Freshpet
FRESHPET SPRING AND SPROUT PLANT-BASED PROTEIN & CAGE-FREE EGG RECIPE FOR DOGS

This site uses cookies to help make your experience  more awesome.  By continuing you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use.