Rating: 
Blue Seal Dinner Classics canned dog food receives the Advisor’s second-lowest rating of two stars.
The Blue Seal Dinner Classics product line includes three canned dog foods… each meeting AAFCO nutrient profiles for growth and maintenance.
- Blue Seal Dinner Classics with Beef and Liver
- Blue Seal Dinner Classics with Chunky Chicken
- Blue Seal Dinner Classics with Beef Slices in Gravy
Blue Seal Dinner Classics with Chunky Chicken canned dog food was selected to represent the others in the line for this review.
Blue Seal Dinner Classics Chunky Chicken
Canned Dog Food
Estimated Dry Matter Nutrient Content
Ingredients: Sufficient water for processing, chicken, poultry by products, meat by products, textured soy protein product, guar gum, salt, sodium tripolyphosphate, potassium chloride, choline chloride, vitamins (vitamin E, A, B12, D3 supplements, thiamine mononitrate, biotin, riboflavin supplement), minerals (ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, copper proteinate, manganous sulfate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite), carrageenan, iron oxide
Fiber (estimated dry matter content) = 6.8%
Red items when present indicate controversial ingredients
The first ingredient in this dog food is water… which (of course) adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.
The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered “the clean combination of flesh and skin… derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken”.1
Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.
The third item lists poultry by-products… slaughterhouse waste. This item is obtained from from 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”.
With the sole exception of feathers, this stuff can include almost anything… feet, beaks, undeveloped eggs, etc.
What’s more, we consider poultry by-products lower in quality than a similar single-species item (like chicken by-products).
The fourth item is meat by-products. Sadly, meat by-products are simply another form of slaughterhouse waste.
Except (in this case) the waste comes from the unsavory remains of a butchered mammal.
With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this stuff can include heads, ovaries or developing fetuses.1
What’s worse, this particular item is anonymous. It doesn’t even specify the source animal. So, this meat can even come from almost anywhere… even diseased or dying livestock.
Although meat by-products can be high in protein, we do not consider a generic ingredient like this a quality item.
The fifth ingredient includes textured soy protein… a plant-based meat substitute containing as much as 70% protein. TSP (as it is commonly known) consists of inferior plant-based proteins lower in their nutritional and biological value.
The sixth ingredient is guar gum… a gelling or thickening agent found in many wet pet foods. Refined from dehusked guar beans, guar gum can add a notable amount of dietary fiber to any product.
And lastly, we note this product contains just one chelated mineral. These are minerals that have been chemically attached to protein… thus making them easier to absorb.
Normally, chelated minerals are a sign of a better quality dog food. However, we find it strange that only one solitary mineral (copper) is present here in this preferred form.
Blue Seal Dinner Classics Canned Dog Food
The Bottom Line
The ingredients found in these Blue Seal Dinner Classics dog food are certainly not what we’d consider the industry’s finest.
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 41%, a fat level of 32% and estimated carbohydrates of about 19%.
As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 41% and a mean fat level of 25%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 26% for the overall product line.
Near-average protein. Near-average fat. And near-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.
In addition, when you consider the protein-boosting effect of the plant-based textured soy protein, this looks like the profile of a wet food containing only a moderate amount of meat.
Bottom line?
Blue Seal Dinner Classics is a meat-based canned dog food using only a moderate amount of poultry and meat by-products as its main sources of animal protein… thus earning the brand two stars.
Not recommended.
Those looking for a wet food from the same company may wish to visit our review of Blue Seal Classics dry dog food.
A Final Word
This review is designed to help you make a more informed decision when buying dog food. However, our rating system is not intended to suggest feeding a particular product will result in specific health benefits for your pet.
For a better understanding of how we analyzed this product, please be sure to read our article, “The Problem with Dog Food Reviews”
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
04/14/2010 Original review
11/14/2010 Review updated
The Dog Food Advisor publishes independent reviews to help pet owners make better choices when shopping for dog food.