New Pricey Marketing Spin from Mars Petcare – Truth about Pet Food

“Plant-first” pet foods costs pet owners a lot more money.

In a recent post from PetFoodProcessing.com a new pet food brand was announced from Mars Petcare. “Mars Petcare on June 29 introduced the latest additions to its dog food portfolio: KARMA™ plant-first formulas. While both formulas include traditional pet food proteins, including white fish and chicken, both whole-grain sorghum and brewers rice appear before the animal-based proteins on the product labels.”

The pet food label even includes the marketing pitch of plant-first…

“Plant-first” is described by PetFoodProcessing.com as:

“The formulas are designed to primarily incorporate whole grains and plant-based ingredients, combined with lean animal proteins and healthy fats, to create a nutritionally balanced and environmentally conscious diet for dogs.”

Is this dog food really different? Mars is advertising the Karma Plant First Dog Food as being unique, something different for pet owners that want to provide their pets with more plant-based nutrition. However, simply put, plant-first simply means ingredients are re-arranged listing grains before animal protein ingredients.

Pet food regulations require pet food ingredients to be listed on labels by pre-cooking weight – heaviest to lightest. But…pet owners are forced to trust ingredient listings are accurate because regulatory authorities do NOT validate pet food recipes to assure ingredient weights (as they are listed on labels). In fact, some manufacturers have REFUSED to disclose this information even to FDA.

From documents released by FDA regarding Beneful Dog Food, we know that after receiving numerous consumer complaints regarding Beneful the FDA performed inspections at multiple Purina pet food plants. Quoting the FDA report “Per a refusal from Nestle Purina Corporate Headquarters, the manufacturing facility was unable to provide the actual content or weights of individual ingredients that went into each batch of the implicated lots associated with previously reported consumer complaints.”

We can safely assume that other manufacturers refuse to provide FDA the weights of individual ingredients too (validating the ingredient list).

The listed ingredients of Karma Plant First Recipe With Chicken:

The first eight ingredients (all ingredients listed before flavor additive) of the Karma Plant First Recipe with Chicken are:

“Whole Grain Sorghum, Brewers Rice, Chicken Meal, Chicken Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), Chicken, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Split Peas, Whole Flaxseed.”

The cost for a 4 pound bag of this kibble is $19.99 ($5.00 per pound).

Another Mars Petcare brand – Nutro Natural Choice Adult Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe – has VERY similar first eight ingredients. Underlined ingredients match the Karma Plant First dog food:

“Chicken, Brewers Rice, Chicken Meal, Whole Grain Brown Rice, Whole Grain Barley, Whole Grain Sorghum, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Rice Bran.”

Five of the first eight ingredients in both dog foods are identical. But, the cost for the Nutro dog food, a non-“plant-first” pet food is significantly less. A 5 pound bag – is $12.94 ($2.58 per pound).

What does “plant-first” cost pet owners? Almost double.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here

The 2021 List
Susan’s List of pet foods trusted to give her own pets. Click Here to learn more.