With an average score of 9.4/10, Primal Canine Frozen Raw dog food is considered a low risk dog food. 

All of the Primal frozen raw dog foods – Raw Frozen Patties, Raw Frozen Nuggets, and Raw Frozen Pronto – share the same recipe, so they are all included in this review of Primal’s Canine Raw Frozen dog foods. 

The recipes have a good level of average protein of 49% on a dry matter basis. 

The Raw Frozen dog food recipes lose no points for ingredient safety, thanks to the use of certified organic produce, which removes the risk of pesticide residue and GMO ingredients. The lack of added vitamins and minerals indicates high quality ingredients that don’t need added nutrients to meet AAFCO minimum nutritional requirements. Vitamin E is added as a preservative.  

Ingredient quality in the Pork and Venison recipes is affected by higher carbohydrates (19.5% and 18.5% respectively). This carbohydrate content is less than you’d see in a dry food but high for raw. The carbs are mainly from the organic produce but the recipes also contain quinoa, a higher protein grain. Foods that are high in carbohydrates can raise insulin and cause obesity. Some studies also show that high carbohydrate content can cause changes in gut bacteria.

While they didn’t lose points for fat content, it’s worth noting that the Beef, Lamb and Quail dog food recipes contain borderline fat content that’s about as high as the protein. It’s preferable for raw foods to have lower fat than protein. Animal protein is the most expensive ingredient and high fat diets can cause unwanted shifts in gut bacteria.

All the recipes except Turkey & Sardine lose ingredient quality points for unnamed fish oil. This is often a less expensive, low quality ingredient, and there’s no mention of whether the fish oil (or cod liver oil in some recipes) is wild caught or farmed. The company does state they use wild-caught sardines in the Turkey & Sardine recipe. Wild caught fish are more nutritious with a better fatty acid balance. 

All the recipes contain coconut oil, which doesn’t cost points, but is a concern as research shows coconut oil may be harmful to gut health.

Primal doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. They are certainly not the only brand omitting this information, but it’s our hope that more brands will pay more attention to these fats since omega-6 fats are inflammatory and AAFCO allows a very high ratio of 30:1.