Four Foods, One Method

• 01 NutriSource Performance Chicken & Rice Swap Remove
• 02 NutriSource Choice Chicken Meal & Barley Swap Remove
• 03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove
• 04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove

Four Foods, One Method. Each row is one measure; the best figure in a row is marked.

	01 NutriSource Performance Chicken & Rice Swap Remove	02 NutriSource Choice Chicken Meal & Barley Swap Remove	03 Darwin's Natural Pet Products Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Swap Remove	04 TruDog Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Swap Remove
01 Protein, Dry Matter Higher Is Better 26-32% dm reads typical mainstream.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 33.3%	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 26.7%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 56.0% Best in this row	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 26.1%
02 Carbohydrate Load, Dry Matter Lower Is Better Estimated, 6% ash assumed. iEstimated, not measured. It is what is left of the guaranteed analysis once protein, fat, fiber and moisture are taken out, with ash assumed at 6%. That leftover is mostly starch but also carries sugars and the fiber a crude-fiber test misses, so read it as a close estimate rather than an exact figure. Measured as fed, the same basis as the bag.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 32% 29.0% as fed Best in this row	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 47% 42.0% as fed	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 12% 0.0% as fed	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 40% 4.8% as fed
03 Named Proteins In The First Five Count of named animal proteins. iThe count matches any named animal word in the opening five ingredients, so it also counts animal fats and flavourings as proteins. It is shown because it is one of the five measured lines, but it is too rough to call a winner on.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 3 of 5	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 1 of 5	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 3 of 5	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 0 of 5
04 Flagged Additives Level Lower Is Better Matched against the flag list.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice None	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley None	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None
05 Brand Recall History Lower Is Better Manufacturer, not recipe.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 1 None in the last 3 years	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 1 None in the last 3 years	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen None Best in this row	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based None Best in this row
Starch, As Fed iEstimated, not measured. It is what is left of the guaranteed analysis once protein, fat, fiber and moisture are taken out, with ash assumed at 6%. That leftover is mostly starch but also carries sugars and the fiber a crude-fiber test misses, so read it as a close estimate rather than an exact figure. Measured as fed, the same basis as the bag.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 29.0%	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 42.0%	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen 0.0%	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based 4.8%
Kcal / Cup	01 Performance Chicken & Rice 488	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley 394	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen --	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based --
Price / Lb Lowest Across Bag Sizes	01 Performance Chicken & Rice $2.10 40 lb bag, Amazon	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley $1.65 40 lb bag, Feeders Pet Supply	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
Cost / 1,000 Kcal Lower Is Cheaper To Feed What the same amount of energy costs, so a denser food is not penalized for a higher price per pound.	01 Performance Chicken & Rice $1.10	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley $0.96 Best in this row	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen -- No price on file.	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based -- No price on file.
First Five Ingredients	01 Performance Chicken & Rice Chicken, Chicken Meal, Brown Rice, Barley, Menhaden Fish Meal (A Source Of Fish Oil)	02 Choice Chicken Meal & Barley chicken meal, whole grain sorghum, barley, pea starch, dried yeast	03 Darwin’s Natural Pet Products Natural Selections Premium Beef Grain-Free Frozen Antibiotic-Free Meat (72.41%): Ground Lean Beef Meat, Beef Hearts, Beef Livers. Organic Vegetables (24.43%): Cabbage, Lettuce, Squash (seasonal)	04 Garden of Vegan Plant-Based Vegetable broth, chickpeas, potatoes, pea protein, carrots

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Every figure here is the food's own. Protein and carbohydrate are converted to dry matter so foods of different moisture can be set beside each other; starch is estimated from the guaranteed analysis with ash assumed at 6.0%, and the recall record belongs to the manufacturer rather than to the recipe. Two rows are printed but never marked: the named-protein count, because the detection behind it is too rough to call a winner on, and calories, because neither more nor fewer is better without knowing the dog.