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Nulo FreeStyle Salmon & Peas Recipe for Dogs package official product image via Amazon

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Nulo FreeStyle Salmon & Peas Recipe for Dogs

Dry food · adult dogs

A formulated-to-meet, deboned-first dry food that's cheaper per calorie than 34% of the dry foods we've priced and denser than 73% (you feed fewer cups) — $2.14 a day for your 40-lb adult dog.

THE FACTS, ONE SENTENCE — data as JSON · reference dog 40 lb · updated 2026-10-18

$88.99 · 26 lb $2.14/day as of 2026-10-18 Check price →
Tell us about your dogevery number on this page updates live ↓
40 lb
For a 40-lb adult: 2½ cupsper day $2.14per day 41 daysbag lasts passes 2 fit checks ↓

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 № NULO-F
verified 2026-10-18

Composition — dry-matter basis

why dry matter
Kibble is ~10% water, canned food ~78%, so as-fed numbers are on two different scales. As-fed values shown small. How the conversion works →
Protein 33.3%label: 30% min higher than 75% of dry foods
Fat 17.8%label: 16% min higher than 70% of dry foods
Fiber 5%label: 4.5% max typical — the median dry food is 5.4%
Est. carbohydrates ash not disclosed → 8% assumed, so this is an estimate ≈35%computed anchor available once more brands disclose ash
Calcium / Phosphorus extended guarantees: Ca 1% · P 0.9% · Ω-3 0.45% 1.11 : 1ratio, as fed within the AAFCO adult range (1:1 – 2:1)

Calories & cost — for your 40-lb adult dog

Calorie density 411 kcal/cup3475 kcal/kg denser than 73% of dry foods (median 388) — you feed fewer cups
Daily serving2½ cups
Cost per day$2.14
26-lb bag lasts41 days

Cost per 1,000 kcal: $2.17 — cheaper than 34% of the 360 dry foods we've priced (median $1.93). Serving math uses standard veterinary energy formulas — see the formula.

Standards & ingredients

AAFCO statement
what this means
Two claims exist: formulated to meet a profile, or fed to real dogs in an AAFCO trial. Which is stronger, and how rare it is →
Formulated to meet · maintenance
First five ingredients (by pre-cooking weight)Deboned Salmon · Turkey Meal · Menhaden Fish Meal · Whole Peas · Sweet Potato
Named animal protein first; named meals onlyYes
Legumes in first 10 (FDA DCM inquiry)4 (whole peas, chickpeas, lentils, pea fiber)
BHA / BHT preservativesNone on label
Carrageenan (thickener)None
Ethoxyquin
why unknown
A preservative added by a fish-meal supplier need not appear on the finished label, so no label can prove its absence. Why we show gaps →
Can't be determined from label

Safety

FDA recalls — Nulo, since 2023None on record
ManufacturerNot confirmed from label
Label transparency 11 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)· price: Amazon, 2026-10-18 · 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 above is computed from this list. Why order is by pre-cooking weight, and how splitting bends it →

Deboned Salmon, Turkey Meal, Menhaden Fish Meal, Whole Peas, Sweet Potato, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid), Chickpeas, Lentils, Deboned Turkey, Pea Fiber, Natural Flavor, Dried Tomatoes, Yeast Culture, Salt, Potassium Chloride, DL-Methionine, Choline Chloride, Dried Chicory Root, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Dried Apples, Dried Blueberries, Dried Carrots, Zinc Proteinate, Zinc Sulfate, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Iron Proteinate, Niacin Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Manganese Proteinate, Thiamine Mononitrate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Dried Bacillus coagulans Fermentation Product, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Manganous Oxide, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Ethylenediamine Dihydriodide, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Calcium Iodate, Rosemary Extract

11 ingredients in this list are ones we hold sourced evidence on , and 3 of them are genuinely contested rather than merely unpopular online.

  • Peas · ingredient 4ContestedA pulse (legume) used in many grain-free foods as a plant protein and carbohydrate source. Peas are central to an open FDA investigation, begun in July 2018, into a possible link between diets high in peas, other pulses, and potatoes and canine dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); 93% of reported products contained peas and/or lentils.
  • Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) · ingredient 7ContestedA pulse (legume), also called garbanzo bean, used in grain-free foods for plant protein and carbohydrate. Chickpeas are among the pulses (with peas and lentils) cited in the FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM.
  • Lentils · ingredient 8ContestedA pulse (legume) common in grain-free formulas as a protein and carbohydrate source. Lentils are named alongside peas in the FDA's open 2018 investigation into diet-associated canine DCM; the agency grouped 'peas and/or lentils,' which appeared in 93% of reported products.
  • Named Muscle Meat (e.g., Deboned Chicken, Beef, Salmon) · ingredient 1Well supportedA named fresh muscle meat identifies both the species and that it is clean flesh (AAFCO defines 'meat' as the clean flesh of a specified slaughtered mammal, and 'poultry' as clean flesh and skin). Naming the species is what lets an owner verify a protein for allergy avoidance.
  • Named Meat/Poultry Meal (e.g., Chicken Meal, Lamb Meal) · ingredient 2Well supportedA rendered, water- and fat-reduced concentrate from a named species (AAFCO, e.g., 'chicken meal'). Because most moisture is removed it is a dense protein source (poultry meals commonly around 57-69% crude protein) and it names the species for allergy avoidance.
  • Mixed tocopherols (natural vitamin E) · ingredient 6Well supportedA blend of vitamin E forms (alpha-, beta-, gamma-, delta-tocopherol) used as a natural-source antioxidant to slow fat rancidity, commonly chosen as an alternative to synthetic preservatives. EFSA concluded that tocopherol-rich extracts are safe for all animal species and the consumer and are efficacious antioxidants in feed.

Wet ingredients like fresh deboned salmon shrink once cooked — which is why named meals appearing high on the list matter: they keep meaningful animal protein after moisture is removed.

Nutritional twins

Cheaper close matches

Verified foods with a closely matching label at a meaningfully lower cost per 1,000 kcal.

33.3% protein (DM)$1.28 / 1,000 kcal41% less per 1,000 kcal
32.2% protein (DM)$1.29 / 1,000 kcal41% less per 1,000 kcal
31.1% protein (DM)$1.29 / 1,000 kcal41% less per 1,000 kcal

Label-composition matches only: same species, form, and growth stage; same primary protein where both are known; grain-free preserved; protein within 4 points and fat within 4 points, and estimated carbs within 8 points, on a dry-matter basis. Not a medical or quality recommendation.

The maker

Who makes this — and how they back it up

The five questions the WSAVA nutrition guidelines tell you to ask a pet-food company. Every answer is sourced or marked as an undisclosed gap — never guessed. This is the "is it made competently?" axis that star-rating sites skip.

Owns its manufacturing Co-packed

FAQ references a 'network of premium pet food facilities' and 'manufacturing partners,' indicating third-party co-manufacturers rather than company-owned plants.

source →
Employs a qualified nutritionist Yes — sourced

Names two full-time PhD nutritionists: Dr. Greg Aldrich (Ph.D. Nutrition, Univ. of Illinois) and Dr. Heather Mendoza (Ph.D. Grain Science/Pet Food Science, Kansas State). Qualified by PhD, not by ACVN/ECVCN veterinary diplomate.

source →
AAFCO feeding trials Undisclosed

No feeding-trial AAFCO statement found on the 33 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.

Publishes quality-control testing Not found

no ingredient or finished-product testing described.

Peer-reviewed research Yes — sourced

1 PubMed paper (animal/pet filtered) list Nulo Pet Foods in an author address; we checked 1 and 1 really name the company. A floor, not a total.

source →
Parent company Apax Partners ↗ Founded 2010 ↗ Headquarters / plant Austin, Texas, USA ↗ FDA recalls on record None on record

Full company scorecard, sources, and every SKU we've verified for this brand: Nulo brand page →