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Grandma Lucy's Dog Food Ingredients

According to our research, Grandma Lucy's manufactures 26 dog food recipes using 81 unique ingredients. To evaluate the quality of ingredients used by Grandma Lucy's, we've studied all 81 ingredients. In this article, we'll share our findings on Grandma Lucy's ingredients.

Dog Food Recipes	26
Unique Ingredients	81
Artificial Colors	0
Animal By-Products	0
Anonymous Meats	0
Controversial	3
Harmful	0

First 5 Ingredients

Dog food ingredients in the United States are listed in descending order of pre-cooked weight. The first 5 ingredients typically constitute a significant portion of the recipe.

For Grandma Lucy's, these are the most common ingredients found within the first 5 dog food ingredients.

organic wheat flour
niacin
flax
carrot
celery

As you can see, the most common first ingredient in Grandma Lucy's is organic wheat flour. The most common 2nd ingredient is niacin, followed by flax, carrot, and celery.

Artificial Food Coloring Dyes

Grandma Lucy's does not use any artificial food coloring dyes. According to our records, none of the 26 Grandma Lucy's dog foods contain artificial food dyes.

Artificial food coloring dyes are unnecessary and potentially harmful ingredients. In general, we not not recommend feeding any pet foods that contain artificial dyes.

In 2010, the CSPI raised serious concerns regarding the safety of many artificial dyes. Most of the studies referenced by the CSPI involved prolonged or excessive consumption. Since most dogs consume the same foods throughout their lives, concerns raised by the CSPI are alarming to say the least.

To read more about Artificial Food Dyes, click here.

Animal By-Products

According to our records, Grandma Lucy's does not contain any animal by-products.

Animal by-products are basically the leftover parts of the the carcass after its been processed for meat. AAFCO defines by-products as the non-rendered, clean parts, other than meat, derived from slaughtered mammals.

Although by-products are still fairly nutritious ingredients, consumers have equated them with slaughterhouse waste. Therefore, most premium brands, including Grandma Lucy's have decided to remove by-products and instead use named organ meats (beef liver, chicken gizzards).

For further reading on the controversy over animal by-products, click here.

Anonymous Meat Ingredients

Anonymous meats are inexpensive low-quality ingredients that can come from practically any animal. These type of ingredients are often used to produce very inexpensive dog foods.

In general, we prefer ingredients which specify the animal source used to derive the ingredient. For example, ingredients such as duck fat are much better than animal fat or poultry fat.

In our analysis, we've looked through all 81 Grandma Lucy's ingredients. According to our data, Grandma Lucy's does not contain any anonymous animal-based ingredients.

Controversial Ingredients

In most cases, ingredients which are given the controversial classification can be substituted with higher-quality alternatives. You should evaluate each controversial ingredient independently to see if there is truly a valid cause for concern.

Keep in mind, certain sacrifices often must be made to produce dog foods at a reasonable price. In general, the more expensive the product, the fewer controversial ingredients you'll find.

In our analysis, we've identified 3 controversial ingredients inside Grandma Lucy's products. These controversial ingredients are listed below. Click on each ingredient for more information.

garlic

9 Recipes

Garlic in very small quantities can be an acceptable addition, however, garlic can also be toxic. Therefore many pet owners choose to completely avoid garlic.

The following recipes contain garlic:

organic wheat flour enriched with niacin

1 Recipes

Organic wheat enriched with niacin is produced by grinding uncooked wheat into a powder. In addition to dietary fiber, wheat flour provides various vitamins, minerals, and plant based protein.

Wheat is considered a controversial ingredient because of it's protein content. Plant based proteins degrade the overall protein quality in the product. In addition, many people believe wheat is one of the most common ingredients to cause food allergies or intolerance. However, grains such as wheat are typically low offenders in comparison to certain protein sources such as beef.

The following recipes contain organic wheat flour enriched with niacin:

Grandma Lucy's Organic Oven Baked Dog Treats Cranberry Recipe

organic wheat flour

5 Recipes

The following recipes contain organic wheat flour:

Potentially Harmful Ingredients

Harmful ingredients are those which have been linked to adverse health effects. In general, we do not recommend feeding any product which contains any harmful ingredients.

During our review, none of the Grandma Lucy's ingredients analyzed were classified as harmful by our system. The absence of harmful ingredients is indicative of a relatively premium dog food brand.