Merrick Limited Ingredient Dry DOG FOOD Review

With a score of 2.5/10, this is considered a high risk dog food. There are 5 recipes that have average protein of 23% and excessive average carbohydrates of 41% as calculated. 

This is a limited ingredient food that loses points for the extensive list of added vitamins and minerals plus amino acids DL-Methionine and Taurine. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. Ideally, these nutrients should come from whole food sources. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper, can also result from vitamin premixes. 

It’s also worth noting that the line contains sodium selenite as a source of selenium. Dogs need selenium, and it’s usually added in very small amounts. However some research suggests that sodium selenite may be associated with potential toxicity, so selenium yeast is the preferred form of this mineral.  

This line also loses ingredient quality points for excessively high carbohydrates derived from sweet potatoes, potatoes, rice, barley and oatmeal. These recipes also contain lower protein as can be seen in all 5 recipes. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of low quality foods as it’s often used to keep costs down. Large amounts of starch can increase insulin levels, cause obesity and negatively impact gut bacteria.  

The line also loses ingredient quality points for plant protein and seed oil. Plant proteins are a low cost substitute for quality animal protein. Animal sources of protein are preferred because they contain a wider array of amino acids and are more digestible. Seed oils like canola, safflower and sunflower are highly processed and are inflammatory as they’re rich in omega-6 fatty acids, which can cause systemic and gut inflammation. 

It doesn’t affect the score, but it’s good to see these foods include probiotics,  however they don’t guarantee the amount. 

The ingredient safety scores for this line are very low, with many concerns. Like all kibbles, the Limited Ingredient Dry line is ultra-processed. The individual ingredients in dry dog foods are heated several times during processing, which can cause a significant loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Processed foods are also linked to higher mortality rates in many species. 

Out of the 5 recipes, 3 lose an ingredient safety point for added menadione, a synthetic form of vitamin K that is not required in dog food and may be linked to immune system dysfunction, oxidative damage to cells, liver toxicity, and allergic reactions. 

There are a few recipes that use ingredients known for high pesticide or herbicide residues, like barley and oatmeal, in the top 5 ingredients. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. Foods with the largest reported amount of residue are penalized, including crops that are known to be spray-dried with glyphosate. There are also known GMO foods in the top 5 ingredients including potatoes. There are limited safety studies on genetically modified and Roundup Ready crops although they are lacking in nutrients compared to non-GMO foods. GMO crops also strip nutrients from soils, carry increased pesticide risk and may be involved in bee die-off.

The use of rice in several recipes costs ingredient safety points because of arsenic contamination. This is a significant concern with rice since it naturally absorbs arsenic which can contaminate the water it’s grown in. Arsenic is linked to chronic health issues. Finally, points are lost for natural flavor in each recipe. Natural flavor is often either MSG or animal digest, both low quality ingredients with limited safety studies.

Ingredient splitting also occurs in these recipes. This is a technique of splitting ingredients into sub-categories (like peas and pea protein, or potatoes and potato protein) to move certain ingredients higher or lower on the ingredient list. This is often used to disguise the amount of lower quality ingredients in the food, such as corn, potatoes or peas, and moves desirable ingredients, like proteins, higher.

These foods don’t specify whether the fish is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and doesn’t contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Merrick doesn’t 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.