Oma’s Pride Dog Food Reviews

Oma’s Pride produces 3 lines of minimally processed dog foods. There are 2 raw lines and a freeze-dried line. The company offers 9 recipes. They are low risk by our criteria.

All 3 lines have high levels of average protein. This is what is expected in raw foods. Most recipes have negligible levels of carbohydrates. They don’t use grains, corn or soy in their recipes.

These are low risk foods but there are several concerns. They are minimally processed. They are made with whole food ingredients. This improves the score. 

However, the Complete Raw recipes have added vitamins and minerals. The same is true for Complete Freeze-Dried. This is unfortunate to see in minimally processed foods. Both lines use kale. This is a high herbicide/pesticide ingredient.

There are a few recipes that have high fat levels. This comes from the meat and not added fat. A high fat diet can cause unwanted shifts in gut bacteria. This can add unwanted toxins since toxins are stored in fat. Animal fats, especially poultry, are high in omega-6 fatty acids. This can cause systemic, low-grade inflammation. 

Three Raw Complete recipes have rice hulls. Rice can contain arsenic. Also, rice hulls are a waste product of the human food industry. They’re often added for fiber. It’s concerning as these recipes have whole vegetables. They provide fiber.  

Oma’s Pride states it uses human-grade ingredients. This doesn’t apply to raw foods as raw foods are not human-grade. Additionally, human grade wasn’t a recognized term by AAFCO. AAFCO is the regulatory body for pet food. They establish guidelines for the industry. It was strictly a marketing term. AAFCO has new guidelines for makers of human-grade pet foods. Among them, companies must have documentation. They must show that every ingredient and process is human grade. There is a break-in period of several years.

The company uses meat protein that’s sourced and produced in the US. The lamb is grass-fed according to their website. They offer no certification. They use local sources that they’ve used for decades. They make their food in small batches. 

The company uses humanely-raised, GAP Certified poultry products. But they don’t specify the certification level. This is important to know. GAP focuses on animal welfare. Producers must meet 100 different standards to get a Step 1 GAP certification. But there are major differences between Level 1 and Level 5. Step 1 provides for minimal space, with no outdoor requirement. A Step 3 GAP certification stipulates outdoor access, and a GMO-free diet. Birds that spend their lifetime outdoors reach Step 5 certification.

Oma’s Pride doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. This is true of most companies. It’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation.

Dry foods are ultra processed. Canned foods are slightly less processed. Both involve several stages of heating. This causes a loss of nutrients. It results in lower scores.

Both lines of dry foods have average carbohydrates in excess of 40%. This is substantial for any type of dog food. The recipes include corn, oats, potatoes, legumes, barley, wheat and rice. Canned foods generally have lower carbohydrates but Authority Canned has an average of 32% carbohydrates. This is excessive for canned foods.

There is no information on the website about the sourcing or quality of ingredients. In fact, there are no low starch vegetables on the ingredient list for either line of kibble. Pumpkin and green beans are the only whole food vegetables listed in recipes for the canned foods. 

All of the recipes in the Authority lines have added vitamins and minerals, to balance them to AAFCO standards. This usually reflects poor quality or overly processed ingredients. It’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods that are more bioavailable to dogs. Both lines of dry food use cheaper plant proteins, inflammatory seed oils. They use unnamed fish oil. Unnamed sources are of much lower quality, and can be from rendered waste. You will want to see beef, salmon or chicken, not animal, fish or poultry.

Everyday Health Dry has corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup in 2 recipes. These are low quality ingredients that can cause unwanted gut changes, obesity and insulin spikes. 

Regarding ingredient safety, 15 of the 16 Everyday Health kibble recipes score 1/10. In addition to being ultra processed, concerns include use of high pesticide and GMO ingredients. Most have rice which has potential for arsenic contamination. And they use natural flavor, a low quality ingredient. The Solutions kibble is only marginally better regarding safety of ingredients. They have the same concerns. 

The canned foods score much better on ingredient safety due to slightly less processing. They have no high pesticide or GMO ingredients. But they do have rice and natural flavor in 2 recipes.

Authority doesn’t state the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their recipes. While this is true of most companies, it’s unfortunate since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. They also don’t mention whether fish ingredients are farmed or wild caught. Wild caught fish is more nutritious and has a better fatty acid profile.

The average score of each Authority line is listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores.