What is the controversy with Acana dog food

BALANCED RECIPESFOR ABALANCED BUDGET

When it comes to ACANA pet food, every ingredient that goes into our thoughtfully crafted recipes is important, and were dedicated to making quality dog and cat foods with the world's best ingredients. Our foods are crafted with quality fresh or raw animal ingredients balanced with whole fruit and vegetables. Our fresh ingredients use refrigeration as the sole method of preservation, and our raw ingredients are frozen at their peak freshness. ACANA premium dog foods and treats are protein-rich, nutritious and delicious, and use ingredients from a curated group of farmers, ranchers and fishers weve known and trusted for decades. Our recipes are ideal for dogs of all ages including puppies, adult dogs and senior dogs and are available in no grains ingredients added recipes, Wholesome Grains recipes, and Singles recipes for dogs with sensitivities. ACANA premium cat food recipes offer a variety of recipes and flavors rich with animal protein and nutrients, so your cat is getting everything they need to look and feel their best. With diets for kittens, adult cats and senior cats, theres the right food for every cat. The name "Acana" was inspired by the farmlands of Alberta, Canada. Through the years, it has become synonymous with quality. Today we craft our food in our world-class kitchens in Edmonton, Alberta and Auburn, Kentucky.

Acana Dog Food Review 2024: Recalls, Pros, and Cons

Our Final Verdict

We give Acana dog food a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars:

Acana offers a variety of dry dog food formulas, many of which are designed for a grain-free diet. This premium label comes at a competitive price while still utilizing a wide range of high-quality ingredients in its formulas.

Due to the FDAs scrutiny of grain-free diets as a whole, Acana has seen better days. With that said the brands continued research and introduction of grain-inclusive dog food is an excellent step toward balanced nutrition for all dogs.

At a Glance: The Best Acana Dog Food Recipes:

Although Acana recently released a grain-inclusive line of dog food, its grain-free, and limited-ingredient formulas remain its most popular. Here are a few of Acanas top recipes at the moment:

Acana Dog Food Reviewed

The Acana brand is built on providing high-quality dog food with fresh, biologically appropriate ingredients, something that every pet owner can get behind. It also promises to never outsource the production of its pet food to a third party, ensuring that everything that goes into your dogs kibble is carefully monitored by Acana itself.

Unfortunately, most dog food companies make similar claims but fall short in practice. So, does Acana actually live up to its wholesome brand image? Or is it all just marketing?

Who Makes Acana and Where Is It Produced?

Acana was one of two dog food labels owned and manufactured by Champion Pet Foods (the other being Orijen). Champion Pet Foods started in Canada but maintained a U.S. factory in Kentucky.

However, in November 2022, Mars Petcare, part of Mars, Incorporated, announced that they had acquired Champion Pet Foods. This business deal hopes to broaden food options for a wide range of pet owners.

Which Types of Dogs Is Acana Best Suited For?

Acana dog food uses high-quality ingredients with a focus on animal-based proteins, making it a great option for most healthy dogs. It also offers a few specialty recipes, such as its Puppy & Junior Formula or Light & Fit Formula.

While Acanas biologically appropriate original line of dog foods was built around a grain-free diet, the label now offers several grain-inclusive formulas. Though these recipes arent as popular as the brands grain-free offerings, grain-inclusive recipes are generally recommended for dogs without grain sensitivities. We encourage you to speak with your vet to determine which formulation is best for your pooch.

A Quick Look at Acana Dog Food

• Uses sustainable and local meat sources
• Made in the U.S.A.
• No history of product recalls
• Offers biologically appropriate recipes
• Manufactures grain-free and grain-inclusive formulas
• Excellent ingredient transparency

• History of class-action lawsuits
• Not available in all pet food retailers
• No wet food options

Recall & Class Action History

As of our dog food review, Acana has not been subject to any product recalls. The same was true for Champion Pet Foods as a whole. Mars Petcare did have some pet food recalls in 2012 and 2014; however, there have not been any recent recalls of Acana foods since they acquired the Champion.

In the past, Champion Pet Foods has been the target of a few class-action lawsuits throughout its operations. In these lawsuits, consumers claim that Acana and Orijen dog foods contain heavy metals and BPA. However, in March 2022, the district court dismissed heavy metal fraud-by-omission claims.

Reviews of the 3 Best Acana Dog Food Recipes

Since the ingredients and nutritional breakdowns of Acana dog foods are so important to the brand, lets take a closer look at three of its most popular recipes:

1. Acana Kentucky Farmlands With Wholesome Grains Dry Dog Food

As you can guess from the name, the Kentucky Farmlands with Wholesome Grains recipe is one of the formulas offered in Acanas new grain-inclusive line. While this formula does feature grains, it is still gluten-free.

This formula is made with 70% animal-based ingredients, half of which are used in a fresh or raw form. In order, these animal protein sources include chicken, turkey, duck, and eggs. Along with muscle meat, Acana also uses the organs, cartilage, and other sources of key canine nutrition.

As always, we want you to be as informed as possible when choosing a new food for your pup. You can read the Amazon customer dog food reviews for this product here.

• Grain-inclusive formula
• High in animal protein
• Made in the U.S.A.
• Formulated with live probiotics
• Gluten-free
• Uses raw and fresh ingredients when possible

• Some dogs wont eat it
• Kibble is too large for some dogs

2. Acana Meadowland Dry Dog Food

The Acana Meadowland Dry Dog Food is one of the most popular grain-free recipes from its Regionals product line. Acanas Regionals line is designed around different areas and ingredients local to its Kentucky-based U.S. factorythe Regionals recipes manufactured and sold in Canada are slightly different in honor of the ingredients local to the Alberta factory.

Within the Meadowlands recipe, 70% of the ingredients are from animal sources. In order from highest to lowest concentration, these sources are chicken, turkey, freshwater catfish, eggs, and rainbow trout. Since Acana relies on whole animal sources for its products, your dog will also benefit from nutrients found in the organs, cartilage, and more.

To learn what other dog owners have to say about this formula, you can find the Amazon reviews here.

• High in meat-based protein
• Made in the U.S.A.
• Contains live probiotics
• Suitable for dogs with grain sensitivities
• Wide variety of fruit and vegetables
• Half of animal ingredients are raw or fresh

• Relies heavily on lentils
• Not ideal for dogs not requiring a grain-free diet

3. Acana Singles Limited Ingredient Diet Duck & Pear Formula Dry Dog Food

Since Acanas target market includes many dogs with food sensitivities and allergies, it makes sense that the brand would offer a specialized limited-ingredient line of food. The Singles Limited Ingredient Diet Duck & Pear Formula is one of these recipes, providing protein from a single animal source: free-run duck.

While 60% of this formula is comprised of duck (half of which is raw or fresh), this food also relies heavily on pea protein. Unfortunately, many dogs with food sensitivities have trouble digesting pea protein and other plant-based ingredients in this recipe, making it less-than-ideal as a true limited-ingredient food.

If youre curious about what other dogs and their owners think of this limited-ingredient formula, you can read the Amazon reviews here.

• Animal protein comes from a single source
• Made in the U.S.A.
• Suitable for dogs with grain sensitivities
• Formulated with probiotics for digestion
• No wheat, potatoes, rice, or tapioca
• Includes muscle, cartilage, and organs

• Includes pea protein
• Not ideal for a true limited-ingredient diet

What Other Users Are Saying

As with any purchase that affects your dogs health and well-being, the more information at your disposal, the better. Here are comments from other reviewers who have taken a deep dive into Acana and its product lines:

Dog Food Network: With all fresh ingredients and Kentucky-based state-of-the-art kitchens, Acana dog food is proving itself as a reliable brand for healthy dog food for all types of breeds.

Woof Whiskers: ACANA has, arguably, some of the highest quality ingredients in the entire industry, striving to get their products from field to factory in less than 48 hours.

Dog Food Insider: [The Duck & Pear Formula is] one of Acanas Singles, with a single source of protein in this case, duck. The food may have a single source of meat protein but it is far from being a limited ingredient formula.

TreeHouse Puppies: For dog owners looking for a high-protein kibble made with natural and safe ingredients, Acana is without doubt a great choice.

DogFoodAdvisor: When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the multiple legumes, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a moderate amount of meat.

Conclusion Acana Dog Food

As a dog food brand, Acana offers several dry formulas made with high-quality ingredients and decent nutritional profiles. While Acana was originally a grain-free company, it has now released a line of grain-inclusive formulas, as well as following the FDAs statement on the potential health risks of a grain-free diet.

After our dog food review, Acana offers well-rounded nutrition at a reasonable price. While Acana is not perfect, it is one of the best dog food options currently available on the market.

Acana Dog Food Review (Dry)

The Acana product line includes the 5 dry dog foods listed below.

Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Acana Free-Run Poultry Formula was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is chicken. Although it is a quality item, raw chicken contains up to 73% water. After cooking, most of that moisture is lost, reducing the meat content to just a fraction of its original weight.

After processing, this item would probably account for a smaller part of the total content of the finished product.

The second ingredient is turkey, another quality, raw item inclusive of water.

The third ingredient is chicken meal. Chicken meal is considered a meat concentrate and contains nearly 300% more protein than fresh chicken.

Its important to note that the next 6 out of 10 ingredients included in this recipe are each a type of legume:

• Green peas
• Red lentils
• Pinto beans
• Chickpeas
• Green lentils
• Yellow peas

Although theyre a mixture of quality plant ingredients, theres an important issue to consider here. And thats the recipe design practice known as ingredient splitting.

If we were to combine all these individual items together and report them as one, that newer combination would likely occupy a significantly higher position on the list.

In addition, legumes contain about 25% protein, a factor that must also be considered when judging the meat content of this dog food.

The seventh ingredient in this food is chicken liver, an organ meat sourced from a named animal and thus considered a beneficial component.

The eighth ingredient is chicken fat. Chicken fat is obtained from rendering chicken, a process similar to making soup in which the fat itself is skimmed from the surface of the liquid.

Chicken fat is high in linoleic acid, an omega-6 fatty acid essential for life. Although it doesnt sound very appetizing, chicken fat is actually a quality ingredient.

The ninth ingredient is catfish meal, yet another high protein meat concentrate.

Fish meal is typically obtained from the clean, dried, ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish and fish cuttings of commercial fish operations.¹

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this Champion Petfoods product.

With 4 notable exceptions

First, we find lentil fiber, a mixture of both soluble and insoluble dietary fiber derived from lentils. Aside from the usual benefits of fiber, this agricultural by-product provides no other nutritional value to a dog.

Next, fish oil is naturally rich in the prized EPA and DHA type of omega-3 fatty acids. These two high quality fats boast the highest bio-availability to dogs and humans.

Depending on its level of freshness and purity, fish oil should be considered a commendable addition.

In addition, chicory root is rich in inulin, a starch-like compound made up of repeating units of carbohydrates and found in certain roots and tubers.

Not only is inulin a natural source of soluble dietary fiber, its also a prebiotic used to promote the growth of healthy bacteria in a dogs digestive tract.

And lastly, this food contains chelated minerals, minerals that have been chemically attached to protein. This makes them easier to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually found in better dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Acana Dog Food looks like an above-average dry product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 33%, a fat level of 19% and estimated carbohydrates of about 40%.

As a group, Acana features an average protein content of 34% and a mean fat level of 18%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 40% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 53%.

Which means this Acana product line contains

Above-average protein. Above-average fat. And below-average carbs when compared to a typical dry dog food.

Even when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the multiple legumes, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing a notable amount of meat.

Champion Petfoods Dog Food Recall History

The following automated list (if present) includes all dog food recalls related to Champion Petfoods through April 2024.

No recalls noted.

You can view a complete list of all dog food recalls since 2009 here.

Our Rating of Acana Dry Dog Food

Acana is a grain-free dry dog food using a notable amount of named meat meals as its dominant source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 4 stars.

However, its unfortunate the company chose to include so much plant-based protein in its recipe. Otherwise, we would have been compelled to award this product a higher rating.