Iams ProActive Health Large Breed Adult Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe review

Iams · ProActive Health Large Breed Adult Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe · Dry food · Adult maintenance

58 / 100Our label score

★★★☆☆3 of 5 stars, from the score

22.5%Crude protein (min)

354kcal per cup

1FDA recall event for the brand

On the facts printed on its own label, Iams ProActive Health Large Breed Adult Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe scores 58 out of 100 on our rubric: a weak label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Chicken, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 22.5% crude protein it ranks 4 of the 4 Iams recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 12.5%.

At 354 kcal a cup it sits mid range for energy, so standard portion maths applies. The brand carries one FDA posted recall event in our check, set out below with its date.

The panel runs to 25 ingredient lines. 4 of them are animal source lines and 9 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 11, so 10 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 23; the 3 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

The label facts

Maker	Mars Petcare
Format	Dry food
Life stage	Adult maintenance
Full ingredient list, in label order	Chicken Ground Barley Ground Whole Grain Corn Chicken By-Product Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate) Ground Whole Grain Sorghum Soybean Meal Dried Plain Beet Pulp Natural Flavor Brewers Dried Yeast Dried Egg Product Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols) Flaxseed Peas Caramel Color DL-Methionine Potassium Chloride Fructooligosaccharides Choline Chloride Dicalcium Phosphate Carrots Mixed Tocopherols (preservative) Citric Acid (preservative) Vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate [Vitamin C], Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin Supplement, Riboflavin Supplement [Vitamin B2], Pyridoxine Hydrochloride [Vitamin B6], Vitamin D3 Supplement, Folic Acid) Minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Sodium Selenite, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, Potassium Iodide, Manganous Oxide) Rosemary Extract
Guaranteed analysis	Crude protein (min) 22.5% · crude fat (min) 12.5% · crude fibre (max) 5% · moisture (max) 10%
Dry matter reading	With the water taken out, the same analysis reads 25% protein and 13.9% fat. Dry matter is how wet and dry foods can be compared fairly.
Calories	3,561 kcal/kg, 354 kcal/cup, as labelled
AAFCO adequacy	Not stated on the product page we read. The life stage above follows the maker's own description of the recipe.
Price	Not listed. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing, and we had not for this recipe when the label was read.

How the score breaks down

Signal	Points	What the label shows
First ingredient	20 / 20	Chicken, a named whole animal protein, opens the panel.
Animal protein depth, first 10 ingredients	4 / 15	2 of the first ten ingredients are named animal ingredients. A by-product meal or unnamed animal ingredient appears in the ten, which takes 3 points off under the rubric.
Protein level for the life stage	7 / 15	Crude protein reads 22.5% as labelled, read against the adult maintenance stage the label claims.
Fat level fit	7 / 10	Crude fat reads 12.5% as labelled.
Whole foods versus filler-flagged ingredients	4 / 10	Flagged in the first ten: whole grain corn, soybean meal. Flagged means cheapest calorie sources, not unsafe.
Artificial colours and preservatives	4 / 10	Found in the panel: caramel color. Colour and colour-retention chemicals feed the eye of the buyer, not the dog.
AAFCO adequacy basis	Not scored	No AAFCO adequacy basis was stated in the data we could verify, so this signal is not scored.
FDA recall history	6 / 10	One FDA posted dog food recall event found for the brand in our November 2026 check.
Price tier	Not scored	Not scored in this round. We publish a price only when we have verified it from a dated listing.
Total	58 / 100	Scaled from 52 of 90 available points. Stars are the score divided by 20, rounded to the nearest half. The method is published in full on the dog food hub.

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.

Chicken. 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.
Ground Barley. Ground Barley is a whole grain rich in beta glucan fibre, which feeds gut bacteria and slows digestion.
Ground Whole Grain Corn. Ground Whole Grain Corn is corn used as an energy base. Cooked corn is digestible and not the villain of dog food folklore, but it is one of the cheapest calorie sources in the industry, which is why our rubric flags it.
Chicken By-Product Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate). Chicken By-Product Meal (source of Glucosamine and Chondroitin Sulfate) is the rendered remainder of the named animal once the cuts sold for people are taken: organs, bone and other defined parts. It is legal, defined by AAFCO and nutritious, but its mix varies more from batch to batch than a named meal.
Ground Whole Grain Sorghum. Ground Whole Grain Sorghum is a plant ingredient, bringing energy, fibre or plant protein to the panel.
Soybean Meal. Soybean 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.
Dried Plain Beet Pulp. Dried Plain Beet Pulp is the fibre left when sugar is extracted from sugar beets. It is a fermentable fibre that feeds the bacteria of the large intestine.
Natural Flavor. Natural Flavor is a flavouring: a spray or powder added so the food tastes stronger to the dog. It is not a protein source and our rubric does not count it as one.
Brewers Dried Yeast. Brewers Dried Yeast sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
Dried Egg Product. Dried Egg Product has already had its water taken out before it is weighed in, so a kilo of it stands for several kilos of the fresh meat. It is one of the most protein dense forms an ingredient can take.

Who it suits

Owners who want a named whole meat, not a meal or a plant, at the top of the panel

Who should skip it

Dogs with a diagnosed condition: that choice belongs with their vet, not a review page

The brand's recall record

2013: Procter and Gamble, the brand's owner at the time, recalled specific lots of Iams and Eukanuba dry pet foods in August 2013 over potential Salmonella contamination, announced by the FDA.

The event dates from 2013, under a previous owner. It stays on the count because the record belongs to the brand, and the page dates it so readers can weigh its age.

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

Other Iams recipes we scored

Recipe	Score / 100	Protein	Format
ProActive Health Small Breed Adult Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe	70	27%	Dry food
ProActive Health Adult Minichunks Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe	68	25%	Dry food
ProActive Health Smart Puppy Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe	67	29%	Dry food

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):

Dog's weight	Daily energy	Of this recipe, at 354 kcal a cup
3 kg	about 255 kcal	about 0.7 cups
10 kg	about 630 kcal	about 1.8 cups
20 kg	about 1,059 kcal	about 3.0 cups
30 kg	about 1,436 kcal	about 4.1 cups

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

Iams ProActive Health Large Breed Adult Chicken & Whole Grain Recipe: our recipe review