This is for a friend that I am trying to get on raw.
She said this is a good food which the ingredents look ok to me but I needed a better opion
3 different flavors
So 3 different sets of ingredent
I copy and posted them off the web site
So they are in order
The food is Befor grain by merrick
The same for all 3
GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein (Not Less Than) 32.0%
Crude Fat (Not Less Than) 15.0%
Crude Fiber (Not Less Than) 3.0%
Moisture (Not Less Than) 11.0%


1.
Chicken Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Canola Oil, Sweet Potato Dehydrated, (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Yeast Culture, Natural Dried Chicken Liver, Dicalcium Phosphate, Lysine, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Acai Berry Freeze-Dried, Blueberry Dried, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Venison Broth, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Color (tumeric), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

2.
Salmon Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal, Canola Oil, Sweet Potato Dehydrated, Dried Egg, (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Yeast Culture, Natural Dried Chicken Liver, Dicalcium Phosphate, Lysine, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Acai Berry Freeze-Dried, Blueberry Dried, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Venison Broth, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Color (tumeric), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

3.
Buffalo Deboned, Chicken Meal, Potato Dehydrated, Turkey Meal,
Canola Oil, Sweet Potato Dehydrated, (preserved with mixed tocopherols – a source of Natural Vitamin E and Ascorbic Acid, a source of Vitamin C), Yeast Culture, Natural Dried Chicken Liver, Dicalcium Phosphate, Lysine, Guar Gum, Sea Salt, Alfalfa, Salmon Oil, Choline Chloride, Acai Berry Freeze-Dried, Blueberry Dried, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Dried Venison Broth, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Chondroitin Sulfate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Natural Venison Flavor, Chicory Root, Marigold Extract, Rosemary Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus Acidophilus, Natural Celery Flavor, Iron Amino Acid Complex, Vitamin E Supplement, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Natural Color (tumeric), Vitamin A Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Copper Amino Acid Complex, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin D3, Niacin, Lecithin, Riboflavin Supplement, Biotin, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Cobalt Amino Acid Complex, Folic Acid, Thiamine Mononitrate, Sodium Selenite.

I don't have any personal kibble experience, but one thing that stands out to me is any thing with "meal" in the ingredients--turkey meal, chicken meal.

Association of American Feed Control Officials define Meat Meal as follows.

 Quote:

AAFCO: The rendered product from mammal tissues, exclusive of any added blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents except in such amounts as may occur unavoidably in good processing practices.

The animal parts used can be obtained from any source, so there is no control over quality or contamination. Any kind of animal can be included: "4-D animals" (dead, diseased, disabled, or dying prior to slaughter), goats, pigs, horses, rats, misc. roadkill, animals euthanized at shelters and so on. It can also include pus, cancerous tissue, and decomposed (spoiled) tissue.

I do not believe that AAFCO is a very trustworthy group for evaluating animal food, as their group contains business insiders, but if this is their definition of an acceptable ingredient... Yuck!

Shannon

Merrick is not a brand I recommend,no matter what pet store people say when recommending it. There are ingredients that don't have any business being in dog food. For the same amount of money you can get a better food. I would try to help your friend find a better brand! Look into Innova, California Natural, or some of the other brands listed on the Leerburg list. http://www.leerburg.com/all-natural%20kibble.htm

Cameron, what's the problem ingredient in the Before Grain product?

Well, here is a list of recalls in Merrick specifically:
Petcurean/Merrick recall
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/pet-food-recall.htm
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/CVM_Updates/petcureanrc.htm
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/Documents/HHEGoNatural.pdf
http://www.recall-warnings.com/fda-c...rean10_03.html
http://www.haleys-legacy.org/
http://www.montairgoldens.com/recall.htm

Merrick treats recall
http://archives.foodsafetynetwork.ca...SAFETY%20ALERT
http://www.recalls.org/vet2003.html
http://www.inspection.gc.ca/english/...0020918e.shtml

Merrick canned problems
(most of the problems I have seen with their canned comes from testimonials from i-dog members - Lori (willowchow) seems to have seen the most problems)
http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/102754.html
(the above link is just one of several threads detailing their canned problems)

Hereford Bi-Products (owned by Garth Merrick, also co-owner of Merrick's Pet Foods)
http://www.cnjonline.com/engine.pl?s....html&id=10867
http://www.news-star.com/stories/032...v_whopay.shtml
http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/043097/thousand.htm
http://www.consumersunion.org/other/animal/animal3.htm
http://tammi.tamu.edu/carcasscompostasae032263b.pdf#search='hereford%20b iproducts'
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/showpos...09&postcount=2
http://forum.dog.com/discus/messages/46/144847.html
There seems to be a quality control issue there, and I would just rather deal with a company that doesn't have these issues continually popping up.

Sorry, I have had a list of links for a while now on Merrick for when some of my customers ask me that same question... it appears that a few of them are no longer working. But most are, and it shows a bit of a sad history of food related deaths linked to that company.
Also, Pet Curean is a Canadian company that used Merrick's factories to get around the beef ban in the US. One of the co-owners of Merrick is Mr. Garth, who has been looked into for the treatment of his cattle. There was also a question a few years ago that Merrick never really answered one way or another. They claim to use human grade ingredients in the Merrick line, but were rumored to have been using dead cattle from the Garth Ranch, some from a storm that killed several thousand head. There was never a response from Merrick on this. There have also been a bunch of recalls for foreign items in the food. Metal tabs from chicken wings, plastic nets, etc.
I don't know if there is any truth to the rumors about the dead cattle, but I wish there would have been an official statement about it. (It's not a crime, just not up to "human" grade standards) The recalls ARE public record though.
Also, even though Pet Curean is a different company than Merrick, the food was PROCESSED at the Merrick plants at the time of the recalls and pet deaths.

Wanted to add I would have deleted the old links that are outdated (I just cut and pasted the entire page from an email I sent a few months ago) but I couldn't go back and edit it.