Nom Nom Review

Nom Nom was founded in 2014 as a direct-to-consumer brand that makes “personalized” gently cooked foods for dogs at its own kitchen facilities in Nashville, Tennessee and the San Francisco Bay Area. However, Bloomberg and other sources reported in January 2022 that Mars had agreed to buy the company. Nom Nom will operate as an autonomous brand under the Royal Canin division

The foods are shipped cold and need to be frozen on arrival. The company has nutrition experts on staff, including two Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionists who developed an algorithm to tailor the food to each individual dog’s needs. Foods are pre-packaged per meal according to age, weight and activity level. There are 4 protein choices: Beef, Chicken, Pork and Turkey.

IS NOM NOM A Good DOG FOOD?

The 4 foods in this brand score an average of 4.6, making it a high risk dog food. 

When it comes to ingredient quality, the food loses a couple of points for its high carbohydrate content, which averages 35% (calculated on a dry matter basis, meaning that moisture is removed for comparison with dry foods). Protein averages less than carbs, at 34%.

The food loses quality points for the inclusion of excessive vitamins and minerals. Ideally nutrition should come from whole food sources and not added vitamins and minerals. This usually suggests poor quality ingredients that need fortifying to meet regulatory standards (even though the company claims their proprietary nutrient mix provides the same nutrients as those found naturally in whole foods.)

Other quality concerns include the addition of fish oil without specifying the species of fish or whether it’s from farmed or wild-caught fish. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild-caught and has a less favorable fatty acid balance. Another quality issue is the use of sunflower oil and canola oil, seed oils that are highly processed and potentially inflammatory. 

As a cooked food, Nom Nom loses ingredient safety points for being a moderately processed food. Heat used in cooking can deplete important nutrients. 

There are several other ingredient safety concerns. All 4 foods contain ingredients known to contain higher pesticide or herbicide residues in the top 5 ingredients. Two of the recipes also contain known GMO foods in the top 5 ingredients. And one recipe contains brown rice, which is a concern because of potential contamination with arsenic. Natural flavor is another concern, because it’s often animal digest or MSG. These are poor quality ingredients with limited safety studies. 

Lastly, the manufacturer doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern because AAFCO allows a highly inflammatory 30:1 ratio.

The average score of Nom Nom dog foods is listed below. Click on any food to view the individual food score.