Taste of the Wild Pine Forest review

Taste of the Wild · Pine Forest · Dry food · All life stages

86 / 100Our label score

★★★★½4.5 of 5 stars, from the score

28%Crude protein (min)

408kcal per cup

1FDA recall event for the brand

On the facts printed on its own label, Taste of the Wild Pine Forest scores 86 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Venison, and the first ingredient signal earns 20 of its 20 points. At 28% crude protein it ranks 10 of the 21 Taste of the Wild recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 15%.

At 408 kcal a cup it sits mid range for energy, so standard portion maths applies. Legumes appear on 4 separate lines of the panel (Garbanzo Beans, Peas, Lentils, Pea Flour). 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. Its adequacy claim rests on formulation: balanced on paper against the AAFCO nutrient profiles rather than fed to dogs in a trial. The brand carries one FDA posted recall event in our check, set out below with its date.

The panel runs to 48 ingredient lines. 5 of them are animal source lines and 10 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 13, so 12 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 14 of 48: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 28; the 21 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is Appalachian Valley Small Breed, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has Dried Yeast, Dried Tomato Pomace, where its relative has Pea Protein, Duck Meal. The full comparison is on the relative's own review page.

The label facts

Maker	Diamond Pet Foods
Format	Dry food
Life stage	All life stages
Full ingredient list, in label order	Venison Lamb Meal Garbanzo Beans Peas Lentils Pea Flour Dried Yeast Egg Product Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols) Dried Tomato Pomace Natural Flavor Fish Meal Salmon Oil (a source of DHA) Salt DL-Methionine Choline Chloride Taurine Dried Chicory Root Tomatoes Blueberries Raspberries Yucca Schidigera Extract Dried Lactobacillus Plantarum Fermentation Product Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Product Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product Dried Bifidobacterium Animalis Fermentation Product Vitamin E Supplement Iron Proteinate Zinc Proteinate Copper Proteinate Ferrous Sulfate Zinc Sulfate Manganese Sulfate Copper Sulfate Potassium Iodide Thiamine Mononitrate Manganese Proteinate Vitamin A Supplement Biotin Niacin Calcium Pantothenate Sodium Selenite Pyridoxine Hydrochloride Vitamin B12 Supplement Riboflavin Vitamin D3 Supplement Folic Acid
Guaranteed analysis	Crude protein (min) 28% · crude fat (min) 15% · crude fibre (max) 4.5% · moisture (max) 10%
Dry matter reading	With the water taken out, the same analysis reads 31.1% protein and 16.7% fat. Dry matter is how wet and dry foods can be compared fairly.
Calories	3,600 kcal/kg, 408 kcal/cup, as labelled
AAFCO adequacy	Calorie Count Calorie Content 3,600 kcal/kg (408 kcal/cup) Calculated Metabolizable Energy AAFCO and Sizes AAFCO Statement Taste of the Wild Pine Forest Canine Recipe is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for All Life Stages including growth of large size dogs (70 lb. or more as an adult).
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	Venison, a named whole animal protein, opens the panel.
Animal protein depth, first 10 ingredients	10 / 15	3 of the first ten ingredients are named animal ingredients.
Protein level for the life stage	12 / 15	Crude protein reads 28% as labelled, read against the all life stages stage the label claims.
Fat level fit	10 / 10	Crude fat reads 15% as labelled.
Whole foods versus filler-flagged ingredients	10 / 10	None of the rubric's flagged ingredients appears in the first ten.
Artificial colours and preservatives	10 / 10	No artificial colours, colour-retention chemicals or artificial preservatives appear in the panel.
AAFCO adequacy basis	8 / 10	Formulated to meet AAFCO profiles for all life stages, including growth of large size dogs.
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	86 / 100	Scaled from 86 of 100 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.

Venison. Venison 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.
Lamb Meal. Lamb 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.
Garbanzo Beans. Garbanzo Beans is a legume bringing starch, fibre and plant protein. Several legume lines together can rival the meat share of a recipe.
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.
Lentils. Lentils is a legume: starch, fibre and roughly a quarter protein by weight. A block of legumes in a panel is doing protein work as well as energy work.
Pea Flour. Pea Flour 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.
Dried Yeast. Dried Yeast sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
Egg Product. Egg Product brings protein with a complete amino acid profile and is easy for dogs to digest, which is why it turns up in most strong panels.
Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols). Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols) is a natural preservative. It slows the fats in the food turning rancid and is the alternative to chemical preservatives.
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.

Who it suits

Homes that want one bag to cover a puppy and an adult dog together
Owners who want a named whole meat, not a meal or a plant, at the top of the panel

Who should skip it

Owners who prefer a panel where meat, not legumes, does most of the protein work
Owners who specifically want a food proven in feeding trials rather than by formulation

The brand's recall record

2012: FDA records list a Salmonella recall of dry dog foods made by Diamond Pet Foods (Schell and Kampeter), the manufacturer of this brand, covering production from that period.

The 2012 event sits with the manufacturer rather than this recipe, and it is old. We count it because quality systems belong to the maker, and we label it as a manufacturer event so readers can weigh it fairly.

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

Other Taste of the Wild recipes we scored

Recipe	Score / 100	Protein	Format
Ancient Prairie	94	32%	Dry food
Ancient Wetlands	94	32%	Dry food
High Prairie	93	32%	Dry food
Wetlands	93	32%	Dry food
High Prairie Puppy	91	28%	Dry food
High Prairie Wet	91	8%	Wet food
Pacific Stream Wet	91	7.5%	Wet food
Southwest Canyon Wet	91	9%	Wet food
Wetlands Wet	91	8%	Wet food
Appalachian Valley Small Breed	90	32%	Dry food
Ancient Stream	89	30%	Dry food
PREY Turkey Limited Ingredient	89	30%	Dry food

Those are the twelve highest scoring of the 20 other Taste of the Wild recipes we scored. The full comparison, flagship review included, is on the Taste of the Wild brand review.

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 408 kcal a cup
3 kg	about 255 kcal	about 0.6 cups
10 kg	about 630 kcal	about 1.5 cups
20 kg	about 1,059 kcal	about 2.6 cups
30 kg	about 1,436 kcal	about 3.5 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.

Taste of the Wild Pine Forest: our recipe review