Vital Essentials Dog Food Reviews

Vital Essentials Dog Foods are made at their own facilities in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Vital Essentials brand was launched in 2009. The family-owned parent company, Carnivore Meat Company, was established in 2012. 

Vital Essentials makes single protein raw frozen and freeze dried foods, treats and snacks for dogs and cats. All the products are made in-house, and the company controls the whole process, from sourcing to packaging and storage. Products contain no added hormones, antibiotics, fillers, flavorings, artificial preservative, colors, synthetic vitamins, minerals, or rendered by-products, and they’re all Certified Gluten Free® and grain free.

Carnivore Meat Company claims to be the only pet food manufacturer in the world with the EU Certified and GFSI-FSSC 22000 (ISO) Certified. The company developed its strict food safety program with Kansas State University and has received “Superior” ratings from FDA audits. 

The company states they are “… proud to source U.S.A. farm-raised, pasture-fed, free-run, and wild-caught ingredients” but it’s not clear if every animal protein ingredient meets these descriptions.

For our Vital Essentials dog food reviews we’ll look at each food line individually, based on the food ingredient quality and safety. Each dog food review was based on these criteria.

Package Ingredients For Vital Essentials Frozen Raw Grain Free Turkey Recipe: Turkey, turkey heart, turkey liver, herring oil, vitamin E supplement, iron amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate

Vital Essentials Frozen Raw dog foods don’t have added produce, with the main ingredients being muscle meat, organs and bones. Using our evaluation criteria, Vital Essentials Frozen Raw is considered a low risk dog food. 

Ingredient Safety 

The recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Safety, thanks to minimal processing. Carbohydrates are very lowl, and the recipes contain no produce, so there’s no concern about pesticide or herbicide residues, or GMO ingredients. 

Ingredient Quality

The Frozen Raw dog food recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Quality.The foods have no added vitamins, and fewer than 5 added minerals. This indicates better quality ingredients that meet nutritional standards without those additions. 

Vital Essentials Frozen Raw foods also have less fat than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. 

Concerns

Here are some concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of this dog food:

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio

Vital Essentials does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most dog foods, it’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish

These foods don’t specify whether herring oil in the recipes is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods (also noted earlier):

Minimally Processed

Raw foods don’t have heat applied during processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.

High Protein

The protein content for Vital Essentials Frozen Raw recipes averages is 54% on a dry matter basis, which is a good level. There’s also less fat than protein, which is desirable in raw dog foods, as some manufacturers use fattier cuts of meat that are cheaper. 

Low Carbohydrates

This line averages 8% carbohydrates as calculated on a dry matter basis, which is a low level as you’d expect in raw food, 

Low Fat

The recipes contain less fat than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. Some raw foods use higher fat meats because they’re cheaper. 

Read more  Vital Essentials Dog Food Reviews

Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Grain Free Dog Food Review

Package Ingredients For Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Grain Free Beef Recipe: Beef, beef liver, beef lung, beef kidney, beef stomach, herring oil, mixed tocopherols (preservative), vitamin E supplement, iron amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, manganese amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate

Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Grain Free dog foods come in several sizes – Mini Nibs, Nibblets, Mini Patties and Patties, all with the same recipes, so we’ve evaluated them together. Using our evaluation criteria, Vital Essentials Freeze Dried Grain Free dog food is considered a low risk dog food. 

Ingredient Safety 

Most of the Freeze Dried recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Safety, thanks to minimal processing. Carbohydrates are very low, except for Turkey, which loses a point for having carbs of 15% as calculated. The recipes contain no produce, so there’s no concern about pesticide or herbicide residues, or GMO ingredients. 

Ingredient Quality

The Freeze Dried dog food recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Quality. The foods have no added vitamins, and fewer than 5 added minerals. This indicates better quality ingredients that meet nutritional standards without those additions. 

Vital Essentials Freeze Dried foods also have less fat than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. 

Concerns

Here are some concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of this dog food:

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio

Vital Essentials does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, it’s a concern because AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish

These foods don’t specify whether the herring oil or salmon in the recipes are farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

Lightly Processed

Freeze dried raw foods don’t have heat applied during processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.

High Protein

The protein content for Vital Essentials Freeze Dried dog food is about 44% which is good. There’s also less fat than protein, which is desirable in raw dog foods, as some manufacturers use fattier cuts of meat that are cheaper. 

Low Carbohydrates

The recipes average 8% carbohydrate as calculated, which is low as you’d expect in a freeze dried food, with the exception of the Turkey recipe noted earlier, which loses a point for carbs of 15% as calculated. Foods that are rich in carbohydrates can increase insulin levels, increase the risk of obesity and cause unwanted changes to the gut microbiome. 

Read more  Vital Essentials Dog Food Reviews

Package Ingredients For Vital Fusion Chicken Dinner Recipe: Chicken, chicken heart, chicken liver, organic apple, organic squash, organic carrot, blueberry, broccoli, herring oil, d-alpha tocopherol (source of Vitamin E), manganese amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate

Unlike the other Frozen Raw recipes which contain no produce, the Fusion line does have some produce, mostly organic. There are just two recipes, Beef and Chicken. 

Using our evaluation criteria, Vital Fusion Frozen Raw is considered a low risk dog food.

Ingredient Safety 

The recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Safety, thanks to minimal processing. Carbohydrates are minimal, and most of the produce is organic, minimizing any concern about pesticide or herbicide residues, or GMO ingredients. 

Ingredient Quality

The Fusion Frozen Raw dog food recipes don’t lose any points for Ingredient Quality. The foods have no added vitamins, and fewer than 5 added minerals. This indicates better quality ingredients that meet nutritional standards without those additions. 

Vital Essentials Fusion Frozen Raw foods also have less fat than protein, which is desirable in a raw food. 

Concerns

Here are some concerns to be aware of when evaluating the safety and quality of this dog food:

Does Not Provide Omega-6:Omega-3 Ratio

Vital Essentials does not state the omega6:omega-3 ratio in their foods. While this is true of most foods, it’s a concern because  AAFCO allows a very inflammatory limit of 30:1. Diets rich in omega-6 fats can cause chronic inflammation and disease.

Does Not State Farmed Vs Wild Caught Fish

These foods don’t specify whether herring oil is farmed or wild caught. Farmed fish is less nutritious than wild caught fish and does not contain the same healthy fatty acid balance. 

Benefits

Here are some benefits of these foods:

High Protein

The protein content for Vital Essentials Fusion Frozen Raw is 52% on a dry matter basis, which is good to see. There’s also less fat than protein, which is desirable in raw dog foods, as some manufacturers use fattier cuts of meat that are cheaper. 

Lightly Processed

Freeze dried raw foods don’t have heat applied during processing, so the nutrients in the raw ingredients are preserved.

Low Carbohydrates

This food has minimal carbohydrates (as calculated on a dry matter basis) despite containing some produce.  

Read more  Vital Essentials Dog Food Reviews

Is Vital Essentials A Good Dog Food?

When evaluating ingredient quality and safety, scoring shows Vital Essentials to be a good, low risk dog food. 

All foods scored a rating of 10 except the Freeze Dried Turkey Dinner Patties, which loses a point for Ingredient Safety because it contains 15% carbohydrates. The only foods with added carbohydrates are the Fusion Raw Frozen line which contains 10% (mostly organic) produce for added nutrients.

The foods in this line do contain a few added minerals which can sometimes be a red flag, but the foods contain only select chelated minerals, and fewer than 5. Chelated minerals are considered more absorbable than non-chelated. The minimal addition of only select minerals indicates higher-quality ingredients that need minimal supplementation.

Additional concerns are as noted earlier under each line of food.

Vital Essentials Dog Food Recalls

Finally there have been several Vital Essentials dog food recalls: 

• 2018: The company had two voluntary recalls. The first was in February, and involved 73 cases of its Freeze Dried Beef Nibblets Entrée due to possible salmonella contamination. The second was in April, involving two freeze-dried dog foods due to possible salmonella contamination. The foods were the Freeze Dried Beef Toppers and the Frozen Beef Chub Entrée.

Evaluation Criteria

We evaluate and score dog foods based on two criteria:

Are the Ingredients High Quality?

Here are some common low quality ingredients or markers we look for:

• Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
• Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
• Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
• Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
• Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
• Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?

How Safe Are the Ingredients?

Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:

• How processed is the food?
• Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
• Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
• Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
• Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?

Each food is objectively evaluated by these criteria and a score is assigned using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. We’ve partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to make sure dog owners have unbiased, objective criteria to help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.