Victor Grain Free Hero Canine: our recipe review

Victor · Grain Free Hero Canine · Dry food · Adult maintenance

On the facts printed on its own label, Victor Grain Free Hero Canine scores 86 out of 100 on our rubric: a strong label by the standards of this database. The panel opens with Beef Meal, and the first ingredient signal earns 16 of its 20 points. At 33% crude protein it ranks 9 of the 34 Victor recipes we scored for protein. Crude fat reads 16%.

At 383 kcal a cup it sits mid range for energy, so standard portion maths applies. Legumes appear on 3 separate lines of the panel (Peas, Garbanzo Beans, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal). 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 54 ingredient lines. 4 of them are animal source lines and 11 are plant lines. The first added fat appears at line 4, so 3 lines sit ahead of it in the recipe by weight. Salt appears at line 15 of 54: ingredients listed after salt are present in small amounts, a standard reading aid for long panels. The vitamin and mineral pack begins around line 20; the 35 lines from there on are mostly supplements, preservatives and functional extras rather than staple foods.

Its closest relative in this brand is Grain Free Ultra Pro, sold as Dry food: the two panels share most of their ingredients. In the first ten, this recipe has Garbanzo Beans, where its relative has Chicken Meal. 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.

• Beef Meal. Beef 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.
• Sweet Potato. Sweet Potato is a starchy root used to bind kibble and add energy, with useful fibre and beta carotene.
• Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols). Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols) is rendered fat from the named source. Fat is the densest energy in the recipe and carries much of its flavour.
• Menhaden Fish Meal (Source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid). Menhaden Fish Meal (Source of DHA-Docosahexaenoic Acid) 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.
• Blood Meal Conventionally Dried. Blood Meal Conventionally Dried 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.
• Pork Meal. Pork 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.
• Yeast Culture. Yeast Culture sits on the panel as a functional ingredient: a binder, supplement or processing aid rather than a nutrient base.
• Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal. Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal 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.

One pattern to see whole: legumes appear on 3 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

2023: One rolling Salmonella recall ran through autumn 2023 at Victor's maker, Mid America Pet Food: it opened in September 2023 with one lot of Hi-Pro Plus, expanded in October to Victor Select Beef Meal and Brown Rice lots, and expanded again in November to every dog and cat food the maker produced at its Texas plant. The FDA and CDC investigation linked the strain to human illness, including infants. Under our counting rules the expansions are one event.

The event dates from autumn 2023 and involves Salmonella at the brand's maker, Mid America Pet Food. It is the reason this otherwise strong label loses recall points.

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

Other Victor recipes we scored

Those are the twelve highest scoring of the 33 other Victor recipes we scored. The full comparison, flagship review included, is on the Victor 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):

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