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Smallbatch Dog Food Review

Smallbatch is a family-owned company founded in 2005 in San Francisco. The company has grown in size but still claims to maintain its original principles of using humanely-raised meats and organic veggies.

The food is manufactured in 3rd party facilities. A few years ago this resulted in the company’s raw foods being high pressure pasteurized without their knowledge. The situation has now been rectified and Smallbatch foods are not subjected to HPP now. The company states they’re closely involved in all food production, especially the raw and lightly cooked foods, where they are on site at the production facility.  

 Smallbatch offers three food lines: Raw, Freeze Dried and LIghtly Cooked. The average score of each Smallbatch ls line is listed below. Click on any line to view the individual foods and scores. 

 

IS SMallbatch A GOOD DOG FOOD?

Smallbatch foods all have overall scores of 10, except for the Lightly Cooked line which loses an ingredient safety point for processing because it’s cooked, so the overall score of that food is 9.5.
 
The company prides itself on sourcing quality ingredients. Meats are said to be “humanely-raised and harvested,” with beef and lamb that are pasture-raised and poultry and rabbit that are free-range. However, these are marketing descriptions that doesn’t have any legal meaning under pet food standards. They do use certified organic (and non-GMO) produce.  
 
When questioned about non-GMO proteins, the company confirms that most of their animal protein suppliers feed GMO-free food (and rabbit is sourced from France where there’s a strict ban on GMO crops). But the company notes that Department of Agriculture regulations make it difficult to make non-GMO claims about animal proteins on their labeling.
 
The ingredient quality is supported by the fact that they don’t need use added vitamins and minerals to meet AAFCO nutritional standards. Their ingredients are all whole-food ingredients, with no added vitamins except vitamin E as a preservative. 
 
The company doesn’t state whether their added salmon oil is wild-caught or farmed. Wild-caught fish is more nutritious and has a better fatty acid balance, which is important if the purpose of salmon oil is to add omega-3 fatty acids. 
 
It’s also worth noting that the company doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio. AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1 so this is an unfortunate omission by a company that’s committed to quality. 

Raw

10
4 color scale
Average Score
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Small Batch Rabbit Recipe Raw Dog Food
10
4 color scale
Average Score
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Smallbatch Raw Dog Food rates a 10 for all 7 foods in the line, with no points deducted for light processing or ingredient quality or safety. The is line averages over 52% protein on a dry matter basis (with the moisture removed), and the fat percentage is less than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. The  foods are very low in carbohydrate, averaging 4% on a dry matter basis.

The quality of ingredients is high, with organic, non-GMO produce, and no added vitamin or mineral premix.  

Smallbatch does source quality ingredients but the label uses unsubstantiated descriptions like “humanely raised and harvested” for their animal protein sources. These are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.  

The company doesn’t state whether the salmon oil is from farmed or wild-caught fish. They also don’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFC) allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. 

Raw Benefits

Raw Concerns

Freeze Dried

10
4 color scale
Average Score
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Small Batch Chicken Freeze-Dried Dog Food
10
4 color scale
Average Score
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Smallbatch Freeze Dried Dog Food rates a 10 for all 6 foods in the line, with no points deducted for light processing or ingredient quality or safety. This line averages over 50% protein and the fat percentage is less than protein, which is desirable in a freeze dried food. The  foods are very low in carbohydrate.

Freeze-dried raw foods maintain ingredient quality during processing and don’t suffer nutrient loss from freeze-drying. This makes freeze-dried foods a highly convenient alternative to raw frozen foods. The quality of ingredients is high, with organic, non-GMO produce, and no added vitamin or mineral premix.  

Smallbatch does source quality ingredients but the label uses unsubstantiated descriptions like “humanely raised and harvested” for their animal protein sources. These are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards.  

The company doesn’t state whether the salmon oil is from farmed or wild-caught fish. They also don’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFC) allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. 

Freeze Dried Benefits

Freeze Dried Concerns

Lightly Cooked

9.5
4 color scale
Average Score
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Small Batch Lightly Cooked Turkey Recipe Dog Food
9.5
4 color scale
Average Score
Click here for full review

 

Smallbatch Lightly Dog Food is rated 9.5 overall for the 3 foods in the line. Because the food is cooked, it loses an ingredient safety point for moderate processing.  It’s worth noting that the “Lightly Cooked” description is accurate: these foods are cooked sous vide in a water bath at just 150F for 5 minutes. Although cooking usually causes some nutrient loss, it’s likely that this method means the loss of nutrients in this food is low. 

The foods are very low in carbohydrate, with average protein of 55% on a dry matter basis (meaning with moisture removed).  The foods all have a lower percentage of fat than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. There are no added vitamins or minerals (except vitamin E as a preservative). This suggests indicates higher quality ingredients because the nutrients comes from whole foods.. 

Smallbatch does source quality ingredients, but the label does use unsubstantiated descriptions like “humanely raised and harvested” to describe their animal protein sources. These are purely marketing terms that have no legal meaning under pet food regulatory standards. 

The company doesn’t state whether the oil is from farmed or wild-caught salmon. Wild-caught fish is more nutritious than farmed and has a better fatty acid balance. The food does not provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio, which is a concern since AAFCO allows a very inflammatory ratio of 30:1. 

Lightly Cooked Benefits

Lightly Cooked Concerns

SMALLBATCH DOG FOOD RECALls

Smallbatch has had two food recalls. The first was in March 2016 involving its Raw Duckbatch Sliders due to potential contamination with Salmonella and Listeria. The second was required by the FDA in May 2017 and involved two batches of raw Chicken dog and cat food for potential Salmonella contamination. 

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