Products ranked by Chowmark's 0–100 safety score — built from FDA recall data, AAFCO standards, and ingredient quality. No brand sponsorships.
Every product in this list earned its rank through the same five-factor algorithm — no brand payments, no sponsored placements, no editorial relationships. The Chowmark Score is a 0–100 composite built from publicly available data: AAFCO nutritional standards, FDA and CFIA recall databases, ingredient quality classifications, peer-reviewed veterinary research, and label transparency metrics.
The five factors and their weights are: Nutritional Adequacy (30%) — whether the product meets AAFCO minimum standards for its stated life stage; Ingredient Quality (30%) — the proportion of named, whole-protein sources versus fillers, by-products, and flagged additives; Safety & Recall History (20%) — FDA and CFIA recall count and recency, weighted more heavily for Class I (health hazard) events; Evidence Base (10%) — peer-reviewed studies or WSAVA-endorsed feeding trials; and Label Transparency (10%) — guaranteed analysis completeness, named ingredient specificity, and manufacturer contact information.
The rankings are a starting point, not a prescription. A score of 82 does not mean a product is right for every dog — a pet with a chicken allergy should avoid high-scoring chicken-based foods regardless of their rank. Similarly, a product scoring 74 may be the right choice if it is the only affordable option that meets your pet's specific dietary needs.
For each product in the list, clicking through to the product page shows the full score breakdown — how each of the five factors contributed to the final number, the complete ingredient list with quality flags, any recall history, and where to buy it in your region. If you want to compare two products directly, use the comparison tool.
Marketing spend and product quality are independent variables. Some of the most heavily advertised pet food brands in North America score below 50 on the Chowmark algorithm — not because they are dangerous, but because they use palatability additives, vague protein sources, or have accumulated recalls that a smaller brand with the same record would have been delisted for.
Conversely, several smaller brands with limited retail distribution score in the Excellent tier because they use named whole proteins, carry WSAVA-endorsed research, and have never been recalled. The rankings surface these products alongside the household names so you can make a genuinely informed comparison.
Recall data is pulled from the FDA's official enforcement report API and the CFIA recall database on a four-hour polling cycle. Ingredient data is sourced from Open Pet Food Facts and cross-referenced against the AAFCO 2024 ingredient definitions. Scores are recomputed weekly or immediately following a new recall event affecting a product in the database.
The database currently covers 300+ brands and 1,000+ products across the US and Canada. If a product you feed your pet is not listed, you can submit it for scoring.