Transparency in the Raw Feeding Space

I recently watched a video by Dr. Karen Becker in which she expressed her disappointment in the lack of transparency of some raw food brands. Dr. Becker encourages pet parents to contact raw food brands and request nutritional data on their recipes. However, she stated that most wouldn’t provide this information, claiming it was proprietary.

I’m not a member of Inside Scoop, and there may be some nuance behind this request that I don’t understand. However, given the information shared on social media, I have mixed feelings about Dr. Becker’s statement.

Are we starting unnecessary fires in the raw feeding community?

I’ve never asked a brand for its nutritional data because everything I need is on their website, and I’ve always trusted the brands I purchase to be honest. It would be interesting to review a breakdown of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and fats in the food as compared to the nutritional needs of a healthy adult dog.

But why do I need this information?

If a dog has sensitivities or health issues that preclude some foods, a brand can be ruled out after a cursory review of their ingredients panel. Of course, more complicated health issues may require more details.

If the food isn’t balanced, I need more information to know what to add to the bowl. For instance, I buy a lot of 80/10/10 grinds from local farms. If I knew how much of each ingredient was in the grind, I could use formulation software to determine what was missing.

For now, I do a lot of guesswork to get close enough.

I have a friend who successfully sued a small raw food company that was lying about its ingredients. She tested the food, proving that the company was selling chicken recipes but labeling the food as various other proteins. But was this an isolated incident, or could anyone looking for fresh food at an economical price be taken for a ride?

I often see people accusing a brand of lacking transparency when they don’t respond to a comment, provide proprietary information, or admit perceived wrongdoing. I’ve seen this with Darwin’s Pet, Viva Raw, and Wild Coast Raw. But is it true? Do they lack transparency?

I understand the frustration and suspicion - social media has allowed rumors to go haywire as pet parents get riled up about a perceived offense. We love our pets and just want answers. One of the reasons I scaled back on the commercial raw food I feed to my dogs is to avoid the frustration of learning that a food that works well for my dogs has a sketchy recall history, changed ingredients, or was sold to an investment group. While recalls don’t scare me, I’ll take my money elsewhere when a brand has repeated recalls and a terrible reputation with other raw feeders.

But does this smack of a lack of transparency? I don’t think so. There are many reasons a brand may not respond publicly (or in writing) to questions, including:

Proprietary Information—Despite what others may think, this is valid. Having random people contact you for details beyond what’s shared on your website and packaging can be suspicious. Not everyone has genuine concerns. Too many people are trying to expose wrongdoing.

Pet Parents Don’t Understand—It’s great that pet parents want to know the nutritional breakdown of the food they feed their pets. However, does the average pet parent understand how to read a nutritional panel? Would they know what to do with the information they receive?

Competition—A lot of money goes into formulating, producing, and marketing dog food. A brand may not share nutritional details because doing so would give competitors an advantage or diminish a brand’s perceived uniqueness.

While transparency is essential, once information is released, a brand has zero control over the narrative, so some may not be as open as we’d like.

I’ve been creating content in the raw feeding space for more than ten years, and it’s fantastic to see so many people take a vested interest in meeting their dog’s nutritional needs. There’s nothing wrong with requesting detailed nutritional data if this information will help you feed your dog better.

But I wonder how many people will request this information to help them feed their dogs, and how many will request it to prove that a brand lacks transparency, unwilling to let them hide behind the Proprietary Information explanation.

Approaching raw food brands as if they’re hiding something or doing something harmful may not provide the best results. Raw food brands are already defending themselves against the anti-raw community and government agencies that have been convinced that all raw is dangerous - now they have to protect themselves against others in the raw feeding community?

The more I think about this, the more I can see both points of view. On one hand, if someone needs these details for their dogs, they shouldn’t have to spend thousands of dollars to test foods. I think a brand should provide some nutritional data. However, looking at this from the brand’s side, I can understand the frustration of explaining nutritional data to someone who doesn’t know what they’re requesting and why.

Before I start questioning brands, I need to know what questions to ask and how to extrapolate the information I receive to best help my dogs. Many brands provide nutritional information in the form of an ingredients panel, the number of calories, and the guaranteed analysis.

Ingredients Panel—I use this to determine what’s in the food. I periodically review the ingredients for dogs with food sensitivities or to determine what may have caused a sudden shift in health or behavior. If a brand suddenly began adding canola oil to its recipes, I would stop feeding it immediately.

Number of Calories—I don’t feed my dogs based on calories, but many people do. Knowing the calories in a food will tell us how much to feed our dogs on a daily basis to avoid weight gain (or loss).

Guaranteed Analysis—When I look at the guaranteed analysis, I immediately see the percentage of carbohydrates. While my dogs don’t eat a carb-free diet, I try to keep carbs to a minimum.

In a perfect world, it would be nice to have a database of nutritional data from participating brands that allows us to search for foods by ingredients, nutrients, calories, etc. But I won’t hold my breath. The last time someone tried to create this type of database, I saw threats of lawsuits because of the perception being created that brands that didn’t participate had something to hide.

It’s a complicated topic, and I don’t have an answer.

What additional information would you like to know about your favorite raw food brands or before buying a new food?