Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Senior Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe: our recipe review

Blue Buffalo · Life Protection Formula Senior Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe · Dry food · Adult maintenance

On the facts printed on its own label, Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Senior Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe scores 61 out of 100 on our rubric: a middling label with clear weak points. The panel opens with Deboned Chicken, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 18% crude protein it ranks 5 of the 5 Blue Buffalo recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 10%.

At 343 kcal a cup it sits mid range for energy, so standard portion maths applies. Legumes appear on 4 separate lines of the panel (Peas, Pea Starch, Direct Dehydrated Alfalfa Pellets, Alfalfa Nutrient Concentrate). Read together they would sit higher in the order than any one of them does alone, and they carry part of the protein figure with them. The brand carries 7 FDA posted recall events in our check, set out below with their dates; weigh their age as well as their count.

The panel runs to 66 ingredient lines. 5 of them are animal source lines and 20 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 14, so 13 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 21 of 66: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 29; the 38 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is Life Protection Formula Large Breed Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has Potato Starch, Dried Tomato Pomace, where its relative has Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Flavor. The full comparison is on the relative's own review page.

The label facts

How the score breaks down

Ingredient notes: the first ten, one by one

Definitions below are written from AAFCO's ingredient definitions in our own words. They describe what an ingredient is, never what a brand claims about it. Names that appear in our ingredient dictionary link to it; the dictionary counts how many scored recipes carry each ingredient.

• Deboned Chicken. Deboned Chicken is the named meat in fresh form. Panel order is set by weight before cooking, and fresh meat is mostly water, so its share of the finished food is smaller than its place at the top suggests.
• Brown Rice. Brown Rice is a milled grain used for energy and to bind the kibble. Whole grain forms keep the bran and bring gentle fibre with them.
• Oatmeal. Oatmeal is a whole grain that digests slowly and brings soluble fibre, a steady energy source in grain inclusive recipes.
• Barley. Barley is a whole grain rich in beta glucan fibre, which feeds gut bacteria and slows digestion.
• Chicken Meal. Chicken Meal is the named animal rendered and ground, with water and most fat cooked off before it is weighed. Per kilo it carries far more protein than the fresh meat does.
• Peas. Peas is a legume bringing starch, fibre and plant protein together. Legumes help a panel reach its protein figure without meat, which is worth knowing when you read the protein line.
• Pea Starch. Pea Starch is one fraction of the pea, split out and listed on its own. Each fraction is a small share of the whole pea, so several pea lines on one panel add up to more pea than any single line suggests.
• Potato Starch. Potato Starch is a starch binder. In grain free recipes it is usually what holds the kibble together in place of grain.
• Miscanthus Grass. Miscanthus Grass sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
• Dried Tomato Pomace. Dried Tomato Pomace is the skins, pulp and seeds left from tomato processing, used as a fibre source.

One pattern to see whole: legumes appear on 4 lines of this panel. Makers split one plant family across several named forms (whole, protein, starch, fibre), and each form is legal on its own line. Read as a family, they would rank higher in the order than any one line does.

The brand's recall record

2007: In April 2007 the FDA posted a Blue Buffalo recall of one production run of Spa Select Kitten dry food, after melamine was found in rice protein concentrate supplied by Wilbur-Ellis. The food was a cat food; it counts because our count covers the brand's whole FDA posted record.

2007: Days later, on April 27, 2007, the FDA posted a second, separate Blue Buffalo recall: all BLUE canned dog foods, Spa Select canned cat foods and BLUE Health Bar dog treats made by American Nutrition, after the contract maker added rice protein concentrate the brand had not ordered.

2010: Several Blue Buffalo dry dog foods were recalled in October 2010 over excess vitamin D.

2015: One lot of Blue Buffalo Cub Size Wilderness Wild Chews Bones for dogs was recalled in November 2015 over possible Salmonella contamination. The event covered treats.

2016: Blue Buffalo Life Protection Formula Fish and Sweet Potato dry dog food was recalled in May 2016 over moisture that could allow mould growth.

2017: One lot of Blue Buffalo Homestyle Recipe Healthy Weight canned dog food was recalled in February 2017 over possible aluminum metal contamination.

2017: One lot of Blue Wilderness Rocky Mountain Recipe Red Meat Dinner wet dog food was recalled in March 2017 over potentially elevated levels of naturally occurring beef thyroid hormone.

Seven events spread across a decade is the heaviest record in this round, and it is why the brand's recall signal scores zero. Most events were single lots or single products, and no event has been added since 2017 in the records we checked. One further withdrawal is not in the count: in February 2017 the brand's Divine Delights and Wilderness Trail Trays cups were withdrawn over a foil seal failure, announced through PetSmart. No FDA record of that withdrawal exists, so the tracker lists it as retailer-announced and it is not counted here.

See the full dog food recall tracker for recent events across all brands.

Other Blue Buffalo recipes we scored

Feeding it

Switch foods gradually over about a week, mixing more of the new food into the old each day. Portion by calories, not by the look of the bowl: our feeding calculator works out a daily amount from your dog's weight, and this recipe's calorie line above is the number it needs.

What that means at the bowl, for a typical neutered adult (resting energy 70 times body weight to the power 0.75, times 1.6; treats come out of the same budget):

Puppies, pregnant dogs and very active dogs need more; older and weight watching dogs need less. The calculator linked above adjusts for those cases.