Blue Seal Dog Food 2022 Review, Ratings & Recalls
Is Blue Seal a good dog food?
In this review… Dog Food Care takes a closer look at Blue Seal Dog Food… and its most important sub-brands.
We’ll also cover…
- Is Blue Seal made in the United States?
- Has Blue Seal been recalled?
- Which flavors and recipes get our top ratings?
Which Blue Seal Dog Dog Food Sub-Brand is Right for You?
Here are Blue Seal’s 3 most popular sub-brands. Below, we’ll share what makes each one different. So you can choose the food that best suits your dog.
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
Best Overall  | Blue Seal Natural 26 Active Dry Dog Food
| 10 | Check Price |
 | NATIVE Performance Dog Food Level 1 Lamb Meal and Rice Formula
| 9.6 | Check Price |
 | ENTRUST Adult Lamb Meal, Rice & Pea Recipe Premium Dog Foo
| 9.4 | Check Price |
Best Overall
1. Blue Seal Classics Dry Dog Food
The Classics line is for those looking for traditional dry dog food to maintain their dog’s normal levels of activity.
- High-protein recipe maintains muscle strength for active dogs
- Enhanced with vitamins and minerals
- Available in 50lb. bag
- 2 recipes (ratings vary)
- Contains several mineral supplements including calcium carbonate and potassium chloride
- Chicken fat is a taste that dogs love
2. Blue Seal Native Performance Dry Dog Food
The Native Performance sub-brand is for those looking for a high-protein option to support their active dog’s very high energy levels. And, to mimic their dog’s ancestral diet for overall better health.
- Great blend of quality protein and fat
- Recipe is enhanced by antioxidants-rich nutrients, vitamins and minerals
- Prebiotics help the digestive track and support the immune system
- 5 recipes (ratings vary)
- Includes amino acids such as dl-methionine to support muscle growth in high-performance dogs
- Carbohydrates come from whole grain ingredients like brown rice and ground barley to maximize energy
3. Blue Seal EnTrust Dry Dog Food
The EnTrust sub-brand is for those looking for a high-protein option to support their active dog’s energy levels.
- Real lamb protein is rich in amino acids your dog needs for bone and muscle development
- Contains an advanced antioxidant package
- Rich in superfoods and prebiotics
- 8 recipes (ratings vary)
- The first ingredient is a meat concentrate such as chicken meal and lamb meal
- Biotin is a high-quality ingredient that promotes healthy tissue growth
Who Makes Blue Seal Dog Food?
Blue Seal is owned by Kent Nutrition Group, an animal nutrition company based out of Iowa. Blue Seal first began making animal feeds back in 1868. Then in 1988, it was bought by Kent as a way to serve more customers throughout the United States.
Today, you can find Blue Seal’s dog food available all over the internet, including on Amazon. In stores, you’ll most likely only find them in pet stores on the East Coast. That’s because they only sell at in-store locations that are near one of their manufacturing facilities in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York.
In addition to dog food, they also make food for horses, cats, and other farm animals. Their goal is to make the best dog food (and other animal food) with only the best in nutrition.
Has Blue Seal Dog Food Been Recalled?
After researching on the FDA and AVMA websites, it appears that Blue Seal is a recall-free brand. Except for one incident in 2007 when some of their wet dog foods were being produced by a company called Menu Foods. At the time, Menu was recalling other brands it was manufacturing for due to worries over high melamine contents.
However, despite the scare, none of the Blue Seal products that Menu was producing were ever recalled. You can keep an eye out for any potential Blue Seal recalls in the future by regularly checking up on our recall page.
Individual Recipe Ratings
The Blue Seal product line includes both grain-free and grain-inclusive formulas within each of their sub-brands. All of the formulas are dry, none of them are wet cans. These products can be found at many in-store locations on the East Coast.
However, it’s unlikely that you’ll find them in stores in other regions of the US. However, regardless of where you live, you can find all of Blue Seal’s products on Amazon. Below, I’ve compiled a list of the brand’s current product listings on Amazon along with their star ratings.
You can use these links to check prices and package sizes on Amazon.com.
- Blue Seal Classics Krunchies (5 stars)
- Blue Seal Classics Natural 26 (4.6 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Adult Lamb Meal, Rice & Pea Recipe (5 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Weight Control Chicken Meal & Barley Recipe (3.1 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Adult Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe (no ratings yet)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Large Breed Puppy Chicken Meal & Barley Recipe (5 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Grain-Free Chicken Meal, Pea & Sweet Potato Recipe (5 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Active Chicken Meal & Barley Recipe (5 stars)
- Blue Seal EnTrust Adult Chicken Meal & Barley Recipe (3.6 stars)
- Blue Seal Senior Chicken Meal & Barley Recipe (5 stars)
- Blue Seal Native Level 1 (4.8 stars)
- Blue Seal Native Level 2 (4.6 stars)
- Blue Seal Native Level 3 (4.3 stars)
- Blue Seal Native Level 4 (4.5 stars)
- Blue Seal Native Puppy (4.6 stars)
Recipe Ingredient Analysis
The EnTrust Grain-Free Chicken Meal, Pea & Sweet Potato recipe was selected to act as a representative product for our recipe content analysis. This recipe’s ingredients are organized based on their overall weight in the formula.
These weights include each ingredient’s water content. The first ingredient in this formula is chicken meal. Chicken meal is a type of chicken meat concentrate. Unlike whole meats, meat concentrates have a very low moisture content.
That makes their protein concentrations much higher than traditional meats. So, we can consider this first ingredient to be super high quality because it significantly increases the overall protein concentration of the entire formula. The second ingredient is ground peas.
Peas are a plant-based source of protein. While they are a good source of protein and also fiber, you don’t want to have too many peas in your dog’s diet. That’s because dog food brands often use it as a cheaper substitute for more expensive animal protein.
And, animal protein is best for dogs at the end of the day. Moreover, while you don’t need to worry about peas necessarily being harmful, just know that they’re not the most high-quality ingredient in dog food. Especially when they’re this high up on the ingredient list.
Additionally, peas are a good source of vitamins including vitamin A. Third on the ingredient list is chicken fat. Dogs tend to love the taste of chicken fat and dog owners should love its nutritional value. Chicken fat is rendered from chickens by boiling the meat then skimming the fat off of the surface of the water.
It is high in healthy linoleic acid, a great source of omega-6 fatty acids. Fourth on the ingredient list is pea starch. It has a similar nutritional value to that of starchy vegetables like potatoes. Pea starch works as a thickening agent thanks to its high concentration of amylose.
It isn’t necessarily highly nutritious, but it does help create a good consistency in your dog’s food. The fifth ingredient is lentils. Link peas, lentils are another source of plant-based protein. Not only that, but they’re also high in minerals like iron.
Sixth on the ingredient list is pea protein concentrate. Somewhat of a controversial ingredient, the pea protein is what’s leftover after removing the starchy part of the vegetable. While it has a protein concentration higher than that of most meat sources of protein, it has a lower biological value than meat.
So, it does help boost the amount of protein in the pet food but isn’t as nutritious for your dog as a meat source of protein. Next on the ingredients list is dried beet pulp, another somewhat controversial ingredient. It is a by-product of regular whole beets.
While it is high in fiber and is sometimes seen as good for digestive health, others cite it as being used as merely a filler ingredient. We don’t consider it to be particularly bad in this dog food. But, at the same time, we recognize that other ingredients would be far more nutritious for your dog than beet pulp.
The eighth ingredient is sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are excellent for both dogs and humans. They’re considered a superfood since they contain so many vitamins and minerals that are good for the immune system. The ninth ingredient is fish meal.
It is derived from the ground-up tissues of whole fish. While it may not seem very appetizing, dogs tend to love it. Like chicken meal, fish meal is a meat concentrate. Therefore, it’s an excellent source of protein for your dog. Not only that, but it is high in omega-3 fatty acids, which promote better heart health, skin health, and a shinier coat.
Ground flaxseed is the tenth ingredient on the list. Flaxseed is high in protein, fiber, and omega fatty acids. They help your dog build muscles, boost energy levels, and support digestion among other things. We’ve covered the first ten ingredients in this dry dog food recipe.
While these are the most relevant ingredients and should be your top considerations when choosing food for your dog, it’s also important to consider some of the ingredients farther down the list.
Other Notable Ingredients
Following the main ingredients comes a number of supplemental ingredients. Once you get this far down on the ingredient list, the ingredients (other than the nutritional supplements) are not very likely to affect the macronutrient (fats, carbs, and proteins) levels of the food.
However, they can impact the food’s overall nutritional value. With some exceptions…For starters, this kibble contains several probiotic and prebiotic supplements. Two of which include lactobacillus acidophilus and enterococcus faecium.
Both pro and prebiotics are very important in a dog’s food. They help create a healthy gut environment by optimizing the levels of healthy bacteria. With the right amount of bacteria, your dog is better able to absorb the nutrients in its food.
A little further down on the ingredient list is blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries. Each of which is extremely rich in antioxidants. Dogs need antioxidants to protect themselves from free radicals. Free radicals can cause damage to healthy animal cells and lead to several diseases such as cancer.
You can protect your dog from these diseases caused by free radicals by feeding them food with ingredients containing antioxidants. Past the fruits and vegetables on the label is turmeric. Turmeric is a powerful herb that has several benefits for dogs including reducing inflammation, improving digestion, and boosting the immune system.
It’s a great ingredient to help your dog become much healthier overall. Lastly, fish oil is the final notable ingredient. While it’s very low on the list, that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’s one of the best sources of omega fatty acids, particularly DHA. Fish oil is probably one of the best possible ingredients you could add to dog food.
Nutrient Summary
This summary’s nutrient data is based on the product’s dry matter content. We use the Guaranteed Analysis panel to compare the protein, fat, fiber, and moisture content of pet food products. Due to the impact of moisture in these calculations, it’s difficult to compare wet and dry dog food products.
As such, this information should be primarily used in comparison to other dry, kibble-based products. The EnTrust Grain-Free Chicken Meal, Pea & Sweet Potato recipe has a dry matter protein reading of 38%, 19% fat, and estimated carbohydrates of about 32%.
That makes its protein higher than average, fat higher than average, and carbs lower than average when compared to other dry dog foods. The high protein content comes from both meat meals as well as plant sources of protein like peas and pea protein.
While we like that it is high in protein, some of the plant protein sources aren’t as healthy for dogs as animal proteins are. The fats come from ingredients like fish oil and flaxseed. Both of which we absolutely love that they were included in the formula.
For carbs, the sweet potatoes are awesome. They’re a superfood such that they provide a lot of energy and vitamins at the same time.
Our Rating of Blue Seal Dog Food
Dog Food Care finds Blue Seal to be an average, grain-inclusive kibble. Just about all of their formulas use meat meals and plant sources of protein more than they do real meats. While that keeps the formulas high in protein, the biological value of the formulas is reduced.
Additionally, some of the formulas contain questionable and somewhat controversial ingredients like starchy peas, legumes, and simple carbs. These ingredients aren’t necessarily bad but they’re also not very nutritious at the same time.
On a more positive note, most of the formulas have plenty of vitamins and minerals. From fruits, veggies, and supplements. Also, they offer formulas specifically for puppies, adults, and seniors, so you can pick a dog that best suits your dog’s age-related nutritional needs.
Overall, we here at Dog Food Care find Blue Seal to have an average-quality product line. Thus, giving it 3.5 stars.
What Do Others Say About Blue Seal?
You can read many online reviews of the Blue Seal products on Amazon. Customers give the Native Performance Level 1 formula 4.8 out of 5 stars. The average rating on Amazon for the entire range of Blue Seal products is about 4.5 stars.
Here’s an actual buyer review:
“This product has made such a difference in the health and longevity of our hunting dogs. We use the Native 4 for our younger dogs during hunting season so not to load them up with extra food, just extra protein. We use Native 1 in the ‘off-season’. We have used this product for 5 years and recommend it highly. Thank you, Amazon for making it available to be delivered to our door!”
Read more buyer reviews at Amazon.com.
Frequently Asked Questions About Blue Seal
1. Is Blue Seal Dog Food good for senior dogs?
Several of Blue Seal’s formulas are good for senior dogs, including one that is specifically designed to meet the needs of seniors. The Blue Seal Senior Chicken Meal & Barley recipe is made just for seniors. And, 8 of the other formulas in the brand were given an AAFCO rating as being good for All Life Stages. So, you have several choices to choose from for your senior dog.
2. Is Blue Seal Dog Food good for puppies?
Blue Seal has one formula that was created specifically for puppies. The Blue Seal EnTrust Large Breed Puppy Chicken Meal & Barley recipe was designed to meet the special needs of puppies. However, there are 8 other recipes in the brand that were given the AAFCO rating of All Life Stages. Therefore, while these formulas were designed more for adult dogs, they should work just as well for your puppy.
3. Is Blue Seal Considered a Healthy Dog Food?
Most of the ingredients in Blue Seal dog food are healthy. Some of those healthy ingredients include real meats, fruits, and vegetables. Plus, many different supplements are added to the formula to make it even more nutritious. Additionally, Blue Seal is pretty good at keeping out nonsense fillers, artificial flavors, and artificial colors.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, Dog Food Care considers Blue Seal to be an overall average dog food brand. While there are certainly some downsides to the food, we wouldn’t fully count it out as an option for your pup as it does contain several great ingredients, hasn’t been recalled, and is made right here in the USA. If you’re ready to give a new dog food a try, try Blue Seal!
Bonus tip: Does your dog ever eat so fast that they end up throwing up their food? If so, here are some tips on how to get even the fastest eaters so slow down!
