Taste of the Wild Ancient Grains: Reviewed – Pros, Cons, and Recalls – AZ Animals

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“Taste of the Wild Ancient Grains is a dry dog food that is high in carbohydrates and protein, making it ideal for dogs who are tolerant of grains and require a protein-rich dog food.”
The Taste of the Wild is a family-owned brand of dog food. It is affordable and made in the United States. Taste of the Wild manufactures both dog and cat foods. We will focus on their ancient grain recipes for dogs in this article, though.
Taste of the Wild is a fast-growing mainstream brand of dog food. Diamond Pet Foods, established in 1970, owns and manufactures the brand. This brand aims to provide dogs with high-quality food that contains ingredients your dog’s inner wolf craves while being complete and nutritionally balanced.
Overall, the brand seems to offer dogs a fairly decent dry food that contains a high level of protein and carbohydrates, and a moderate amount of fats.
Let’s take a look at what Taste of the Wild ancient grains has to offer your canine companion.
Taste of the Wild ancient grains dog food is made in the United States in America, in six different facilities, two of which are in California. The other four facilities are located in Missouri, Arkansas, South Carolina, and Kansas.
The ingredients used to create each formula of the Taste of the Wild dog foods are sourced both locally and globally. Further, the company promises quality assurance for each of their pet foods by only working with supplies after a strict vetting process. They also run each batch of pet food through safety and quality protocols.
The safety protocols include a mycotoxin and microbial test, along with an oxidative and ingredient nutritional test.
Most of the ingredients in the Taste of the Wild ancient grain dog food look good, but there are some controversial ingredients in the recipe. The ingredient list for each of the ancient grain recipes starts off with either salmon, lamb, buffalo, or duck as the main ingredient, followed by the byproducts of those ingredients labeled with the word ‘meal’.
Byproducts in dog food are usually leftovers from the human food industry. Manufacturers then use those leftovers in dog foods. It is common and normal for many dog brands to include this in their food. This means that the majority of the recipe contains animal-based protein as the main ingredient, followed by grain sorghum, millet, and cracked pearled barley.
Now, these types of grains are not necessary for dog food. They are in this range of dog food because they are part of their ancient grain recipes. Although most of the protein comes from meat and byproducts, there are also plant proteins in the recipe to boost the protein level. That protein makes up around 14% of the food.
Next on the ingredient list is salmon oil, which is great for your dog’s skin and coat health. Fruits follow that, and they seem to be the source of some of the vitamins that are available in the food. Taste of the Wild has also included naturally occurring microorganisms in the food, which is great for digestion.
There are certain ingredients in this dog food that are allergens. Those include corn, gluten, soy, and dairy products that some dogs might be allergic to. Some controversial ingredients in this dog food include canola oil and tomato pomace. Canola oil is a lower-quality oil that manufacturers add to dog foods, with olive or fish oil as better alternatives.
Tomato pomace is the waste from tomatoes during the manufacturing process, including peels, seeds, and leftover residue. It is unclear why Taste of the Wild has included tomato pomace in the recipe, and some dog owners might want to avoid it. It may provide soluble fiber and antioxidants for dogs, though.
Taste of the Wild ancient grain recipes best suits dogs who do not have any allergies to grains and that they can digest well. It is not suitable for dogs who have allergies to corn, soy, gluten, or dairy products, as this dog food contains them.
Dogs who do well on a protein-rich diet that is high in carbohydrates will benefit from this food. Further, you can choose from four different flavors to find which recipe your dog likes best. Those flavors are salmon, buffalo, duck, or lamb.
If your dog is prone to obesity or is already overweight, then this dog food is not worth feeding. Since it is high in carbohydrates, it may contribute to weight gain, especially if your dog is not getting the right of amount of exercise to burn off the calories that they are eating. However, the high carbohydrate content from the grains is great for active dogs who can use carbs as fuel.
Knowing that the food you feed your dog is safe and trusted is important, which is why looking at the recall history of the brand is important. Taste of the Wild has had one big recall in 2012, and several lawsuits over the years, with most of them being recent.
In May 2012, the food was recalled after concerns about salmonella contamination. The Taste of the Wild Food was recalled due to an outbreak of salmonella poisoning in dogs and humans that led to a lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed against Diamond Pet Foods, which owns the Taste of the Wild brand.
In August 2018, there were allegedly heavy metals, acrylamide, pesticides, and bisphenol A (BPA) found in Taste of the Wild dog food, which led to a lawsuit.
In February 2019, a heart disease investigation showed that Taste of the Wild was listed as one of the 16 foods that were linked to heart disease in dogs, but none of the 16 brands have been recalled. However, it is something to consider as a pet owner.
Within the same year in 2019, another controversy over the Taste of the Wild brand occurred. This was due to the food testing positive for arsenic, pesticides, lead, and toxic materials in the food.
Any of the four Taste of the Wild ancient grain recipes can be purchased by online retailers such as Chewy, or it can be purchased in one of your local pet stores that stock this brand of dog food.
The Taste of the Wild ancient grain dog food is listed as an affordable dog food, and you get your money’s worth. Although the quality of the dog food is not the best, it is considered affordable for the value of the food. In comparison to other similar brands of dog food, Taste of the Wild is similarly and moderately priced.
Taste of the Wild is a decent brand of dog food, but their ancient grain recipes aren’t of the highest quality. The food seems to contain a lot of allergens and byproducts which don’t offer dogs much in terms of nutrition. As a commercial dog food, Taste of the Wild ancient grains fits in the middle, making it not totally poor quality, but also not the best.
The guaranteed analysis for the Taste of the Wild ancient grain dog food recipes is as follows:
Both Taste of the Wild ancient grains and Orijen amazing grains are grain-based dog foods. This means that the majority of the food is high in grains, with both foods being high in protein. Taste of the Wild ancient grain’s recipes have between 30% to 32% protein, and Orijen has 43% protein.
The first five ingredients in the Origen amazing grains dog food are sourced from animals, making the food high in animal-based protein. The first two to three ingredients of the Taste of the Wild ancient grain recipe consist of the animal protein source along with the byproducts, making Orijen higher in animal-based proteins.
When it comes to the number of grains in the food, the Orijen dog food has oat groats and millets high in the ingredients list, while Taste of the Wild has barley, grain sorghum, and millet. Both foods are high in carbohydrates, but Taste of the Wild has more at around 38%, while Orijen has 28%.
This means that Orijen is higher in protein but lower in carbohydrates (which is still high), making it the better option out of the two dry dog foods.
Taste of the Wild ancient grains is a range of dog food recipes that are available in four different flavors and contain a hefty amount of carbohydrates and a decent amount of protein. This food is high in byproducts and grains, while also containing a few allergens, but the ingredients balance themselves out creating dog food of moderately good quality.
This dry dog food is suitable for dogs who need food rich in carbohydrates and protein, usually if they are very active. It is not suitable for dogs who are prone to obesity since it is high in carbohydrates, nor will it be suitable for dogs who are allergic to corn, dairy, gluten, or soy products.
We love that the recipes contain plenty of supplements that can benefit your dog’s health while having animal-based meat as the main ingredient. In comparison to other dry dog foods, Taste of the Wild sits in the middle.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team.
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