Nutro: Facts, Recalls & Verified Foods
Nutro is made by Mars, Incorporated (Mars Petcare), founded 1926 — it scores green on 3 of 5 WSAVA-aligned criteria we track (0 red, 2 undisclosed), 2 FDA recalls on record, and 0 of the 84 Nutro foods we've verified carry an AAFCO feeding-trial statement.
· 84 Nutro food labels checked
The scorecard
WSAVA-aligned criteria
The World Small Animal Veterinary Association's nutrition guidelines suggest questions to ask any pet food maker before you buy. Here are this brand's answers, each with its source, or marked undisclosed when we could not confirm one.
3 of 5 criteria confirmed yes · 0 confirmed no · 2 undisclosed. Undisclosed is common, especially for smaller brands — it means we couldn't confirm an answer from a public source, not that the answer is unfavorable.
We could not confirm this from a public source.
source
Nutro FAQ (nutro.com/faqs) adds: 'We have two dry pet food manufacturing facilities for NUTRO products located in Henderson, North Carolina, and Victorville, California.' Some products are co-packed abroad (SO SIMPLE trays made in Thailand per the FAQ), so it is not exclusively self-owned, but dry food is made in Mars-owned US plants — primary answer 'owns' with minor co-pack exception.
source & quote
view source →
No feeding-trial AAFCO statement found on the 84 labels we’ve verified for this brand, and no company-wide claim was found either. Most pet foods are only "formulated to meet" AAFCO profiles (a paper calculation) rather than fed to real animals in trials — this is common, not necessarily a red flag.
covers: testing of the food (general; no detail on what is tested). Nutro FAQ.
source & quote
view source →
666 PubMed papers (animal/pet filtered) list Waltham Petcare Science Institute (Mars Petcare) in an author address; we checked 200 and 200 really name the company. A floor, not a total.
source
These five checks come from WSAVA's guidelines on selecting pet foods — not our own opinion score. WSAVA does not approve or list brands. See how all 50 brands we track answer WSAVA's questions → · Our methodology →
The company
Who makes Nutro
Ownership and history, each sourced independently — private-label and co-packed brands often hide the actual manufacturer behind the name on the bag.
Parent company
Mars, Incorporated (Mars Petcare)
source
view source →
Founded
1926
source
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Headquarters
Franklin, Tennessee, U.S.
source
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The cost
What Nutro costs, against everything else we have priced
The median Nutro dry food we have priced works out at $1.89 per 1,000 kcal, against $2.17 for the median dry food we have priced — so it sits about 1.2x below the market. Cost per 1,000 kcal is the only basis that survives different bag sizes and moisture levels; per pound this comparison would mean nothing. On composition the gap is usually smaller than the price gap implies: 26.7% dry-matter protein against a median of 32.2%.
Nutro foods by cost per 1,000 kcal
What Nutro actually puts in its food
The ingredients this brand reaches for most across its 84 verified foods, counted once per recipe. Each links to what the ingredient is, what the evidence says, and how common it is industry-wide.
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Mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin E)
In 63 of 84 Nutro foods (75%).
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Peas
In 49 of 84 Nutro foods (58%).
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Beet Pulp
In 48 of 84 Nutro foods (57%).
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Flaxseed (ALA omega-3)
In 46 of 84 Nutro foods (55%).
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Rosemary extract
In 46 of 84 Nutro foods (55%).
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Named Meat/Poultry Meal (e.g., Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal)
In 39 of 84 Nutro foods (46%).
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Brewers Rice
In 39 of 84 Nutro foods (46%).
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Potato
In 23 of 84 Nutro foods (27%).
The safety record
FDA recall history
From the FDA's Animal & Veterinary recall list, last checked 2026-10-19, plus older FDA notices we added by hand. Nutro recall page →
Nutro Natural Choice Complete Care and Nutro Max dry cat foods, best-by dates May 12 to Aug 22, 2010
Incorrect levels of zinc and potassium
Nutro wet dog food cans (Natural Choice, Max, Ultra) and wet cat food pouches and cans made by Menu Foods, part of the 2007 melamine recall
Possible melamine contamination; kidney failure reports
The FDA's online recall list is complete for recent years but leaves out many notices from before about 2023. We add older FDA recall notices by hand when we find them.
The labels
What we've verified from Nutro's labels
Computed directly from the official-label data we've extracted for this brand — never estimated.
Foods verified
84
84 dog
Feeding-trial validated
0
of 84 (0%)
Formulated to meet
0
AAFCO paper calculation
Label transparency
52%
avg. fields disclosed
The foods
Foods from Nutro we've verified
Every one links to its own Verified Label — guaranteed analysis, AAFCO statement, and (where priced) cost per day.