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Orijen Dog Food Reviews

UPDATED REVIEW: In February 2023, Mars Petcare, part of Mars, Incorporated, completed the acquisition of Champion Petfoods. Champion Petfoods has two brands, Orijen and ACANA. Mars announced that Champion Petfoods will operate as an independent business unit within Mars Pet Nutrition.

Champion Petfoods was founded in 1985 and has pet food distribution to 90 countries. The US food is manufactured in Auburn, Kentucky, while the Canadian foods are manufactured in Alberta.

There is no information available that the sourcing of ingredients has changed since the acquisition by Mars Petcare. Ingredients are sourced regionally, with homegrown botanicals. The website claims their animal proteins are fresh, not frozen – and not dried. These petfoods appear to be made in their own factories.  

The Orijen brand is a premium line. While the ACANA brand contains meals, which are heated and dried animal proteins. Orijen meats and proteins are less processed. The Orijen line also contains fewer added vitamins and minerals than ACANA. 

Orijen offers mainly dry foods, but rounds it out with wet and freeze-dried foods. On average, Orijen’s dry foods score higher than most premium foods, thanks to a possibly higher ingredient quality. With that said, there are ingredients that are known to be high in pesticides, which puts a chink in its overall food safety score.

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

IS ORIJEN A GOOD DOG FOOD?

Orijen is manufactured in-house in both Canada and the US. It offers mainly ultra-processed kibble, but also has a freeze-dried and canned line totalling 22 recipes. 

The company prides itself on being a premium food and it is certainly better than many. Most notably, the food doesn’t typically contain a vitamin premix and is fortified with fewer minerals than most kibbles. It’s also notable that the carbohydrate content is low and the protein is high for a kibble, which is admirable. Orijen also adds probiotics to their foods and guarantees a minimum amount. 

When it comes to both ingredient quality and safety, Orijen scores higher than ACANA, its sister brand. However, natural flavor makes a frequent appearance, as do known high pesticide ingredients, although they are not found in the top 5 ingredients. Overall, Orijen dry dog foods are considered a moderate risk food, while the canned and freeze-dried lines are considered low risk.

Update October 2023:

With the change in ownership of any pet food company, there is a possibility of a change in recipes and ingredient standards of its foods. With this in mind and because of consumer scrutiny, we’ve done a comparison of all the ingredients from our 2021 data used for the initial Orijen review and ingredients listed on the company website in October 2023. 

Minimal changes were found in 2 lines:

  • Orijen Originals Dry
  • Orijen Freeze Dried

The updated scores and changes are detailed here as well as in the reviews of those brands.

Orijen Original Dry foods has as many as 8 additional vitamins added to each of its 8 dry recipes which caused the average score to drop from 6.9 to 6.4/10. It should be noted that 2 of the additional vitamins are B5 and B6, commonly obtained from meat and organs, despite having a lengthy list of animal, poultry and fish proteins and organs in these recipes. The Guaranteed Analysis and the protein and carbohydrate levels did not change. The ingredient list continues to list its first 10-12 ingredients as meat, poultry, fish and organs, followed by legumes as in the previous recipes. 

Orijen Freeze Dried has added 5 vitamins to its 3 recipes which caused a loss of points for adding 5 or more vitamins or minerals. This caused the average score to drop from 9.2 to 8.8/10. It should be noted that 2 of the additional vitamins are B5 and B6, commonly obtained from meat and organs, despite having a lengthy list of animal, poultry and fish proteins and organs in these recipes. The average protein content of these recipes remains the same at 38%, and the average carbohydrates are a bit higher at 12% (up from 10%) which is still an acceptable level for freeze dried dog food. The ingredient list continues to list 10-14 of the first ingredients as meat, poultry, fish and organs, followed by produce, as in the previous recipes

Orijen Dry Dog Food

6.7
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen Tundra Dry Dog Food
6.7
4 color scale
Average Score
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With an average score of 6.7, Orijen’s dry dog food line is considered moderate risk. On average, the foods average just under 38% protein and 20% carbohydrate, as calculated. Overall, these foods score fairly high for ingredient quality since they are relatively low in carbohydrate. However, as of October 2023, additional vitamins have been added despite having an extensive list of whole food ingredients. The food safety score takes a bit of a dive due to high pesticide/herbicide foods. But compared to Champion’s ACANA brand, the high pesticide ingredients don’t appear in the top 5 ingredients, thanks to the lower carbohydrate content. The dry dog food line rounds out its ingredient list with probiotics including Lactobacillus acidophilus, and they do guarantee a minimum amount on the Guaranteed Analysis.  

Orijen Dry Food Benefits

Orijen Dry Food Concerns

Orijen Amazing Grains

6.9
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen Amazing Grains Original Dry Dog Food
6.9
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen’s Amazing Grains line is considered a moderate risk food. This line averages about 38% protein and 21% carbohydrate, making it another low carbohydrate kibble.This line uses more added vitamins and minerals than other foods in the Orijen lineup, which reduces its ingredient quality score. The ingredient safety score is also reduced due to the oats, millet, collard greens and apple, which are high pesticide ingredients that make a frequent appearance, albeit not in the top 5 ingredients. The Wholesome Grains line also contains added vitamins, which may indicate lower quality ingredients. This food also contains probiotics and does guarantee a minimum amount.   

Wholesome Grains Benefits

Wholesome Grains Concerns

Orijen Canned Dog Food

7.8
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen Canned Dog Food
7.8
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen canned line is considered a low risk food. This food scores higher in food safety than Orijen’s dry foods because there is less processing and heating in canned foods. The canned line is calculated to average about 57% protein and less than 7% carbohydrate on a dry matter basis. The Orijen canned offerings contain a largish number of added vitamins and minerals, which is disappointing to see in a high protein/low carbohydrate food. When it comes to ingredient safety, Orijen’s canned line loses some points but unlike most of Orijen’s dry foods, there are no known high pesticide or GMO foods, mainly because this food is low in starch.

Orijen Canned Dog Food Benefits

Orijen Canned Dog Food Concerns

Orijen Freeze-Dried

8.8
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen Freeze-Dried Dog Food
8.8
4 color scale
Average Score
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Orijen’s Freeze-Dried line is considered a low risk food. It averages about 37% protein and 12% carbohydrate (as calculated on a dry matter basis). Orijen’s freeze-dried lineup scores well in ingredient quality score and features a wide variety of proteins with some added vitamins which costs points. The ingredient safety score is high because the food is freeze-dried, which is minimally processed and most of the enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients should be left intact. However, it does lose some ingredient safety points for using known high pesticide ingredients, although they are not in the top 5 ingredients. And while many Orijen foods contain natural flavor, it’s thankfully missing from the freeze-dried line.  

Orijen Freeze-Dried Benefits

Orijen Freeze-Dried

ORIJEN Dog Food Recalls

To date, Orijen dog food has not been recalled in Canada or the United States. 

It is worth nothing that their parent company, Champion Petfoods had two lawsuits filed against it.

In 2020, Animal Equality questioned Champion’s claim that the trout in the ACANA line was wild caught when it was identified by the AE organization as farmed fish. The suit was resolved with Champion Petfoods changing their marketing claims and promising better transparency in its fish sourcing. 

Also in 2020, the Organic Consumers Association sued Champion Petfoods for deceptive marketing under both the ACANA and Orijen brand names. The association alleged that statements such as “free-run” chicken were misleading. This case has also been resolved with Champion Petfoods making changes to their packaging and marketing. 

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