Open Farm RawMix Dry Dog Food

Open Farm RawMix Dry dog food is considered a high risk dog food with a score of 4.8/10. These recipes have average protein of 30%, which is decent for a kibble. Carbohydrates average 33% which is high but it’s average for most kibbles.

Open Farm RawMix Dry is a newer addition to the Open Farm lineup. Kibble combined with bone broth, freeze-dried raw coating and chunks of freeze-dried animal protein but they aren’t the main constituents of the food. For purposes of this review, RawMix Dry will be considered kibble.

It’s good to see a healthy list of whole food ingredients that include proteins and produce, but the potatoes, sweet potatoes, rice, barley and tapioca lead to high carbohydrates. Dogs have no nutritional requirement for carbohydrates but they are used for energy, texture and taste. Starch is also required for extrusion in dry foods. Excessive carbohydrate is an indicator of food quality as it can be used to reduce manufacturing cost. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

This line loses ingredient quality points because the recipes are supplemented with more than 5 vitamins and minerals. This can indicate lower quality or incomplete ingredients. Vitamin and mineral excesses, especially vitamin D and copper can also result from added vitamin premixes, so it’s preferable that most or all vitamins and minerals come from real foods. However, it’s good to see that selenium is added in the form of selenium yeast, the preferred form vs sodium selenite, which can be toxic.

These foods also include sunflower oil, which is an inflammatory seed. Safety concerns include foods with higher pesticide or herbicide residues, and rice that may contain arsenic.

Open Farm produces its own lines of bone broth so it’s assumed the fish bone broth is sourced in the same manner and made from salmon, herring, whitefish and menhaden fish bones used in other foods, leading to a better quality. Typically, companies use unnamed fish sources that are of questionable origins. 

On the ingredient safety side, it’s good to see that Open Farm uses non-GMO grains and produce but that doesn’t mean the foods are pesticide-free. Other crops appear to be conventionally farmed so there’s pesticide use, which affects ingredient safety so points are deducted. Unless organic, crops like barley can carry a high pesticide/herbicide residue, especially when spray-dried with Roundup. Glyphosate is an antibiotic that can kill beneficial gut bacteria and has been linked to cancer and other diseases. 

Natural flavor is used and ordinarily this is a concern but the ingredients are described on the website as derived from sustainably caught fish or from non-GMO yeast cultures, not low quality animal digest or MSG which is usually the case.

Like all kibbles, this line loses ingredient safety points because it is ultra-processed. Extruded foods are heated four separate times during production, which will cause major losses in some active enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. Studies show that ultra processed foods are linked to a higher rate of all-cause mortality in humans. 

Rice is in 3 recipes, and this is also cause for concern. As well as being a starch that contributes to high carbohydrates, there is also potential for arsenic contamination.

The recipes also contain glam ingredients. These are healthy sounding ingredients (like turmeric, squash, blueberries, spinach, kale and dandelion greens) that appear below the salt. This means they’re included in minute amounts that likely won’t benefit your dog.

Also, there’s salmon oil from Iceland in several of the recipes but it isn’t specified as wild-caught so it’s likely from farmed fish, which is less nutritious than wild-caught.

It’s noteworthy that the company has Animal Welfare Certified beef and chicken products raised under The Better Chicken Commitment program. 

All of the Open Farm recipes have the omega-3:omega-6 ratio posted on the website within the nutritional profile of each food. It’s hoped that all manufacturers will list this important information since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1.