Rating: 
Alpo dry dog food receives the Advisor’s lowest rating of one star.
Currently, the Alpo product line includes just two dry dog foods. We found no AAFCO nutritional adequacy statements for these dog foods on the Alpo website.
- Alpo Come ‘n Get It Mixed Grill Dog Food
- Alpo Prime Cuts Savory Beef Flavor Dog Food
Alpo Come ‘n Get It Mixed Grill dog food was chosen to represent both products in the line for this review.
Alpo Come 'n Get It Mixed Grill
Dry Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Ground yellow corn, beef and bone meal (source of beef flavor), corn germ meal, soybean meal, animal fat (preserved with BHA), digest of chicken by-products (source of chicken flavor), pork and bone meal, poultry by-product meal, salt, iron oxide, glandular meal (source of liver flavor), cheese meal (source of cheese flavor), choline chloride, zinc, sulfate, ferrous sulfate, vitamin E supplement, copper sulfate, vitamin A acetate, manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement (vitamin B2), vitamin B12 supplement, thiamin mononitrate (vitamin B1), vitamin D3 supplement, potassium iodide, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), sodium selenite, folic acid, biotin
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 6.3%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
The first ingredient in this dog food is corn. Now, contrary to what you may have heard, corn isn’t necessarily a bad ingredient.
On the other hand, although there’s no way to know for sure here, the corn used in making many pet foods can be similar to the kind used to make feed for livestock.
And that can sometimes be problematic.
What’s more, corn is commonly linked to canine food allergies1.
For these reasons, we rarely consider corn a preferred component in any dog food.
The second ingredient lists beef and bone meal… a dry rendered product from (beef) tissues, including bone, exclusive of blood, hair, hoof, horn, hide trimmings, manure, stomach and rumen contents”.2
Beef and bone meal has a lower digestibility than most other meat meals.
Scientists believe this decreased protein quality may be due to the ingredient’s higher ash and lower essential amino acid content.3
On the brighter side, beef and bone meals are meat concentrates and contain nearly 300% more protein than fresh meat.
In any case, beef and bone meal is not considered a better quality dog food ingredient.
The third ingredient is corn germ meal… a meal made from ground corn germ after much of the oil has been removed. Corn germ meal is a protein-rich by-product left over after milling corn meal, hominy grits and other corn products.
The fourth item is soybean meal. Soybean meal is actually a useful by-product. It’s what remains of soybeans after all the oil has been removed.
Soybean meal contains 48% protein. However, compared to meat, this is an inferior plant-based protein. So, we must allow for this boosting effect as we judge the meat content of this food.
The fifth ingredient is animal fat. Animal fat is a generic by-product of “rendering”… the same high-temperature process used to make meat meals.
Since there’s no mention of a specific animal, this stuff could come from almost anywhere… restaurant grease, slaughterhouse waste, diseased cattle… even euthanized pets.
And to make matters worse, this fat is preserved with BHA… a suspected carcinogen (cancer-causing agent).
We do not consider this generic item a quality ingredient.
The sixth ingredient is a digest of chicken by-products. A digest is a chemically hydrolyzed brew of slaughterhouse waste. Animal digests are usually sprayed onto the surface of a dry dog food to improve its taste.
The seventh ingredient lists pork and bone meal. This is an item similar to the beef and bone meal already discussed.
The eighth ingredient lists poultry by-product meal… another high-protein meat concentrate.
Unfortunately, this item is obtained from slaughterhouse waste… what’s left of slaughtered poultry after all the prime cuts have been removed.
In a nutshell, poultry by-products are those unsavory and inedible leftovers deemed “unfit for human consumption”.
This stuff can contain almost anything… feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs… you name it.
And this item is generic. It doesn’t even specify the source animal.
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 have much of an effect on the overall rating of this product.
With three notable exceptions…
First, glandular meal is an ingredient obtained by drying liver and other glandular tissues from slaughtered mammals.4
Next, we find no evidence of probiotics… friendly bacteria applied to the surface of the kibble after processing.
And finally, the minerals here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Non-chelated minerals are usually associated with lower quality dog foods.
Alpo Dry Dog Food… the Bottom Line
Judging by its ingredients alone, Alpo dry dog food appears to be a below-average kibble.
But ingredient quality by itself cannot tell the whole story. We still need to estimate the product’s meat content before determining a final rating.
The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 24%, a fat level of 10% and an estimated carbohydrate content of 58%.
As a pair, the two products feature an average protein content of 24% and an average fat level of 10%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate portion size of 58% for the overall product line.
Below-average protein and fat. And above-average carbohydrates… when compared to a typical dry dog food.
Yet when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the corn germ and soybean meals, this looks like the profile of a kibble containing only a modest amount of meat.
What more, it’s hard to ignore the notable abundance of Red Flag ingredients.
Bottom line?
Alpo dry dog food is primarily a corn-based kibble using only a modest amount of beef and bone meal as its main source of animal protein… thus earning the brand one star.
Not recommended.
Those looking for a comparable wet product from the same company may wish to visit our review of Alpo Chop House canned dog food.
A Final Word
Remember, no dog food can possibly be appropriate for every life stage, lifestyle or health condition. So, choose wisely. And when in doubt consult a veterinarian for help.
Have an opinion about this dog food… or maybe the review itself? Please know… we welcome your comments.
Notes and Updates
12/26/2009 Original review
07/31/2010 Review updated
- White, S., Update on food allergy in the dog and cat, World Small Animal Veterinary Association, Vancouver, 2001 ↩
- Adapted by the Dog Food Advisor and based upon the official definition for beef published by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, 2008 Edition ↩
- Shirley RB and Parsons CM, , Effect of Ash Content on Protein Quality of Meat and Bone Meal, Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Poultry Science, 2001 80: 626-632 ↩
- Association of American Feed Control Officials, 2008 Edition ↩
