Salmon meal

PETLYTIC SCORE

Excellent

5/100 risk index

Salmon meal is one of the better ingredients you'll find in commercial pet food. Here's why it earns a high score, what to look for on the label, and which brands use it well.

THE HONEST ANSWER

Named fish protein providing omega-3 fatty acids and high-quality amino acids.

FDA PET STATUS

GRAS

FDA HUMAN STATUS

Not evaluated

EFSA STATUS

Not evaluated

NTP CARCINOGEN

Not listed

AAFCO DEFINITION

Clean flesh of fish, with or without bones.

What Salmon meal actually is

Named fish protein providing omega-3 fatty acids and high-quality amino acids.

Why it's still in pet food when human food has moved on

Two reasons: cost and regulatory inertia. Pet food regulation lags human food regulation by decades. Premium brands have largely moved away from it. The cheap ones still use it.

WHICH BRANDS STILL USE SALMON MEAL

We checked every brand in our database. Here's the partial list — the products with the highest sales volume that still include this ingredient.

BRAND	PRODUCT	CATEGORY	SCORE
Merrick	Merrick Classic Grain-Free Real Chicken & Sweet Potato Dry Dog Food 25 lb	dry dog	78
Merrick	Merrick Grain-Free Real Texas Beef & Sweet Potato Dry Dog Food 25 lb	dry dog	78
Nutrience	Nutrience SubZero Canadian Pacific Dry Dog Food 10 kg	dry dog	78
Nulo	Nulo Freestyle Grain-Free Adult Salmon & Peas Dry Dog Food 24 lb	dry dog	77
Canidae	Canidae PURE Grain-Free Adult Salmon & Sweet Potato Dry Dog Food 24 lb	dry dog	76
Kirkland Signature	Kirkland Signature Grain-Free Small Breed Adult Dog Food Salmon & Lentil	dry dog	74
Boreal	Boreal Grain-Free Wild Salmon Dry Cat Food 5.9 kg	dry cat	73
Nutro	Nutro Ultra Adult Dry Dog Food Chicken, Lamb & Salmon 30 lb	dry dog	70
Kirkland Signature	Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain Cat Food 18 lbs	dry cat	69
Kirkland Signature	Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain Small Breed Salmon & Lentil Dog Food 20 lbs	dry dog	68
Kirkland Signature	Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain Salmon Meal & Sweet Potato Dog Food 35 lbs	dry dog	68
Kirkland Signature	Kirkland Signature Nature's Domain Salmon and Sweet Potato Formula Dog Food 25 lbs	dry dog	68
Performatrin	Performatrin Adult Salmon & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food 17 lb	dry dog	66
Authority	Authority Grain-Free Adult Salmon & Sweet Potato Dry Dog Food 28 lb	dry dog	65
Carnilove	Salmon with mint	dry dog	54
Fruitables	Wildly Natural Cat Treats	treat cat	48
Wolf wild hills junior	Wolf of wilderness	dry dog	40
Dreamies	Dreamies Mix med Laks & Ost	dry dog	40
ultra premium	ultra premium grain free	dry dog	40
Wellness CORE	Adult Ocean Small Breed	dry dog	40

Want a Salmon meal-free food at a similar price point?

We can show you the top-scored foods in this category that don't contain it.

RELATED INGREDIENTS WORTH UNDERSTANDING

Chicken Meal

GOOD

Chicken By-Product Meal

ACCEPTABLE

Salmon Meal

GOOD