Zeal Dog Food Reviews

Zeal Canada offers 3 lines of air-dried dog food with 9 recipes. All lines are considered low risk.

Gently Air-Dried is a grain-free line with 5 recipes that each feature a single protein: salmon, beef, turkey, chicken or pork. A second line adds freeze-dried salmon and pumpkin to its Beef and Turkey recipes. The third line is a single Beef recipe with added hemp.

The company states the foods are air-dried at 80°C (which is 176F, sufficient to remove pathogens per the FDA, which says bacteria are killed at 165F). Air drying is considered moderate processing according to our criteria, and that contributes to the favorable score as there is a minimal loss of enzymes, vitamins, amino acids and phytonutrients. 

Each line offers acceptable levels of protein and carbohydrates. In fact, the company website and packaging state that these foods are 96% meat and organs.

It’s worth noting that 3 recipes (Gently Air-Dried Salmon, Gently Air-Dried Turkey and Gently Air-Dried Turkey With Salmon) are a bit higher in carbohydrates than we like to see in air-dried dog food so those recipes lost ingredient quality points.

There are some other concerns about ingredient quality. It’s unfortunate that all recipes include added vitamins or minerals rather than obtaining them from the ingredients. This isn’t the typical premix, but it’s preferable to have vitamins come from whole food sources that include the full spectrum of cofactors, which makes them safe and bioavailable. It’s good to see that there are no added amino acids, meaning those come from whole food ingredients.

Sunflower lecithin and lecithin are ingredients in several recipes. Sunflower lecithin is highly processed and comes from a seed oil. Other lecithin likely comes from soy, which is a known GMO, and is also highly processed. Both are likely spray-dried with glyphosate, an herbicide that poses a significant health risk to plants, animals and soils. Three recipes also include peas, another crop known for  high pesticide/herbicide residues.

Several recipes also include coconut oil, which is rich in saturated fats and lauric acid. Some studies show it can increase gut inflammation and permeability. It doesn’t cost points but it’s something to be aware of.

Zeal Canada states they use locally and naturally sourced ingredients. The company also states its foods were in development for over a year, and used feeding trials with more than 100 animals of different breeds and sizes.

Zeal Canada doesn’t provide the omega-6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. 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.

These foods miss scoring higher because of a few ingredient decisions. Air-dried dog foods are generally better quality than ultra-processed kibble or canned foods so it would be good to see this company opt for organic ingredients that would eliminate the risk of pesticide/herbicide residues and GMOs. Their recipes are based on whole foods as we like to see, but we’d prefer there were no added vitamins and minerals. 

The average score of Zeal Canada is listed below. Click on any food to view the individual food score.