Dry food · adult dogs · distributed by Merrick Pet Care
A formulated-to-meet, deboned-first dry food that's denser than 91% (you feed fewer cups). Cost-per-day isn't available yet — this SKU isn't price-matched.
THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE —data as JSON· reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-07-11
Your dogupdates every number on this page
40 lb
Joint, kidney, dental or heart concerns? Labels can't honestly answer those — that's vet territory. Why we don't checkmark them →
The evidence
The Verified Label
Every food on this site gets this exact panel — same fields, same order, sourced from the official label — so brands finally become comparable. Dots show where this food sits among all 494 dry foods we've verified.
Verified LabelThe standardized pet-food panel
VPFD № MERRIC verified 2026-07-11
Composition — dry-matter basis
why dry matter
Moisture hides the real recipe: kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%. Removing water puts every food on one scale, so these are the only nutrition numbers that can be compared across foods. As-fed label values shown small.
Protein28.4%label: 25% mintypical — the median dry food is 30%
Fat18.2%label: 16% minhigher than 79% of dry foods
FiberNot disclosedlabel max: —%no corpus anchor — value not disclosed
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimateNot disclosedneeds protein/fat/fiberanchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: none disclosedNot disclosedcalcium/phosphorusno ratio to anchor
Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog
Calorie density461 kcal/cup— kcal/kgdenser than 91% of dry foods (median 388) — you feed fewer cups
Daily serving2¼ cups
Cost per day—
4-lb bag lasts—
Cost per 1,000 kcal not available yet — this SKU isn't price-matched to a current retail listing. Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.
Standards & ingredients
AAFCO statement
what this means
Two kinds of AAFCO claims exist. Most foods are only "formulated to meet" nutrient profiles — a paper calculation. A smaller set carry the stronger claim: fed to real dogs in AAFCO-procedure trials ("Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate…").
Formulated to meet · maintenance
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Deboned lamb · chicken meal · brown rice · barley · oat meal
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyYes
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)None
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
When a fish-meal supplier adds ethoxyquin, U.S. rules don't require it on the finished label — so no label can prove its absence for recipes containing fish meal. We report this as a gap rather than guessing.
None — no fish meal in this recipe
Safety
FDA recalls — Merrick, since 2023None on record
ManufacturerMerrick Pet Care, Hereford, TX 79045 USA
Label transparency 6 of 15 standard fields
Green = verified favorable · amber = gap in the record · red = verified unfavorable · gray = not disclosed / neutral fact.
Source: official label source (official) · anchors: 494 verified dry dog foods (360 priced) · how to read this label
The fit
For your dog, specifically
Checked for a 40-lb adult with a sensitive stomach — the same published criteria our finder uses. Change your dog above and these update.
✓
Validated for adult dogsAAFCO statement covers adult maintenance.
✓
Passes our sensitive-stomach checksNamed animal protein first, and no unnamed by-products in the ingredient list.
·
Contains chickenNot selected as a concern for your dog — shown here for reference.
The source material
The full ingredient list
Every flag on the Verified Label is computed from this list. Ingredients are ordered by pre-cooking weight — the first five carry the most information.