"Fresh" food is...frozen?
And the best of 2025
We hope you all had a great holiday break with your friends and family. If you were able to make something nice for your furry friends, extra brownie points! Regular readers know that it doesn’t take much to give your pups a nutritious treat. A piece of steak, some berries, or a boiled egg all make great additions to any canine diet.
Today we want to share our thoughts on fresh food providers. Just like with kibble manufacturers, every company has different standards. Furthermore, because there are few regulations on canine “fresh food”, this term can be applied to many products. Unfortunately regulators are always years behind. We want to help you understand the tradeoffs of the different types of companies and help you to make an informed decision.
We always recommend homemade food as a first option. But just like with our own food, convenience, cost and time play into the equation. We understand the need for something quick and easy. Before we get into it, here are some of our top posts from the past year that you might have missed.
Is “fresh” pet food actually fresh?
It’s not feasible to distribute freshly made food direct to consumer. If you’re a home cook you know that the food you make has a refrigerated shelf-life of under 5 days. So instead, companies sell frozen or pasteurized food and call it fresh.
Freshpet is sold in refrigerators. So while it stands out from the dried bags of kibble at the pet store, it’s not “fresh” food (see FDA definition below), nor is it freshly-cooked. It’s pasteurized and has a refrigerated shelf life (unopened) of several months.
Human food that is frozen or pasteurized is not allowed to be labeled as fresh. The FDA defines fresh as “not frozen, not heat-treated, and not preserved”. This limits the term to cover raw meat and fish, fresh produce and other unprocessed goods. In the pet world, “fresh food” isn’t a regulated term and can easily be misused and confusing for customers.
This is not to say that frozen or pasteurized food is bad. We cook all of our food, and have a freezer full of homemade meals for the dogs and ourselves. The problem with slippery slopes in labeling is that it can escalate from stretching the truth to straight up lying.
“Made with whole foods,” “All-natural” & “Real food”
Many brands claim to be made WITH whole foods, but this can be very misleading. For example, Kraft’s “mayo with olive oil” even features a design highlighting olives. From the front, it appears to be a solid choice for someone trying to lower their seed oil intake. However, the ingredients on the back reveal a blend of multiple, highly processed oils.
“Made with” is just a marketing trick. The same is true for your pup’s food. All a manufacturer has to do to claim “made with whole foods” is include at least one whole food, like oats. It doesn’t mean exclusively whole foods nor does it mean without preservatives and additives. In other words, this phrase is basically meaningless in helping you determine the quality of the food you’re buying.
Other terms that can be used deceptively include “all-natural” or “real food”. First, just because something is natural doesn’t mean that it’s good for you. After all, botulinum toxin is all-natural but is the most toxic substance known to science. Poisonous mushrooms are also natural, but ingesting them causes illness and sometimes even death. There are many natural additives that show up in “fresh” pet foods that aren’t great. Carrageenan, is a seaweed extract that acts as a stabilizer to improve texture. There is some evidence that it is pro-inflammatory. Though not dangerous per se, it serves no nutritional purpose and can upset sensitive stomachs.
Most importantly, AAFCO allows a carve out for dog food to be called all-natural when they include synthetic vitamins and minerals as long as there is a disclaimer. So in reality, most of the major “fresh food” providers that claim to be “all-natural” or “real foods” are not actually all-natural at all. Here are ingredient lists from two of the largest fresh food suppliers in the United States.
So despite claiming to be real food or all-natural, both of these companies’ formulations contain more synthetic ingredients (by number) than natural ones.
Synthetic vitamins and minerals aren’t necessarily bad. However there are a few caveats. First is contamination. Every additional synthetic ingredient is a risk for introducing contaminants and overages. We’ve covered the recalls of major dog food brands that killed dogs with too much synthetic vitamin D. Additionally, one recent study showed heavy metal contamination in most human prenatal vitamins. Though only 15% of the vitamins tested exceeded California proposition 65 levels, these products are made for the most vulnerable group of human consumers. Products made for animal feeds are subject to far lesser standards.
Furthermore, there is an increasing body of evidence to suggest that many forms of synthetic vitamins are inferior to natural forms; including vitamins E, A and folate. Folate is a particularly interesting example because there is a recently discovered gene in people (the TT variant of the MTHFR gene) that inhibits the processing of folic acid, the synthetic form of folate. Researchers estimate up to 20% of people may have this variant. Because dog genetics are studied far less that people, it’s likely that there are many unknowns in regards to canine nutrient absorption.
What does this mean for you
“Fresh” food providers may be a step up from kibble, but they are inferior to thoughtful homemade diets for the above reasons. They are also far more expensive due to logistics costs. Frozen food shipped straight to your door is likely the least ecologically sound choice. As it is mostly water and requires insulation and ice during shipping, 90% of what you’re paying for is to ship water around the country. If you want the best and most economical way to feed your pups, it starts at home.
That’s all for this week
All the best,
Joelle and R.A.