Fresh Is Best is an independent dog food company. Stacy La Point is the founder and president. She started the company in 2000. The company is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Fresh Is Best is a hands-on company. It offers a quick response to inquiries about its products. The president often responds.
Fresh is Best offers freeze dried foods. They are mixed and prepared in small batches. Its products aren’t warehoused. They’re shipped to online customers and retailers within Wisconsin.
Fresh Is Best produces a single line of freeze-dried recipes. They’re grain-free and starch-free. They also offer a similar line of cat foods. They make meal toppers and freeze-dried one-ingredient treats. They’re made with meat, poultry and fish. The company makes its own products in Milwaukee.
For our Fresh Is Best dog food review, we’ll look at the food ingredient quality and safety of each line of food. Our dog food reviews are based on these criteria.
IS FRESH IS BEST A GOOD DOG FOOD?
Fresh Is Best offers a minimally processed, freeze dried dog food. It is a low risk dog food by our criteria. These foods are high in protein with an average of 56.21%. Average carbohydrates are low at 12.59%. Yams have been included in the lamb and chicken recipes. That elevates the carbs and causes the score to dip a bit.
There are 4 recipes. The ingredient quality score is high. They use whole food ingredients. This eliminates added supplements. These are often needed to balance foods. That means the ingredients provide the nutrients. This includes amino acids. This is what we expect to see in a raw dog food. There is a premix of minimal ingredients. They’re from human food-chain suppliers in the USA. They have rigorous testing policies.
One thing that lowers quality points is the use of sunflower oil in the beef and lamb recipes. This is a seed oil that is highly processed and can be inflammatory. Seed oils, like safflower, are rich in omega-6 fatty acids. They can cause systemic and gut inflammation. That’s why it’s important to know the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio. Fresh Is Best doesn’t provide this information. It’s not the only company without this information. It’s important to know since omega-6 fats are inflammatory. AAFCO allows a very high ratio of 30:1.
The only ingredient safety concern is the use of high pesticide crops. These include kale, collard greens and apples. Stacy La Point confirms they source non-GMO fruits and vegetables. They also use organic produce when available. An organic designation ensures foods are non-GMO. They also have reduced pesticide/herbicide exposure. Pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers pose a significant health risk. This applies to plants, animals and soils.
The company website describes its proteins as better quality. They are pastured and grass-fed. They are also cage-free, crate-free, and antibiotic-free, and wild-harvested. Having third party certification would help. These terms have no official meaning under AAFCO.
The company offers detailed information about its proteins. Beef, lamb and poultry are raised in the USA. They’re USDA inspected and passed for sale in the human food chain. Venison has 2 sources. It is wild-harvested from the US or pastured in New Zealand. Rabbit is all grass-fed and raised in Europe.
The company lists the fish it uses and that they’re wild-caught. They include salmon, pacific whiting, smelt, shrimp and silverside minnows. Wild caught fish are more nutritious and have a better fatty acid balance.
The company goes a step further to explain damage to nutrients from heat, light and air. It recommends that enzymes, probiotics and essential fatty acids be added separately.
Fresh is Best Freeze Dried
Score: 8.7/10
Ingredient List For Lamb Recipe: Lamb, lamb lungs lamb livers, yams, apples, kale, collards, fish bone meal, sunflower oil, dried kelp, vitamin E supplement, zinc amino acids chelate, manganese amino acids chelate, copper amino acids chelate, thiamin mononitrate, vitamin D3 supplement.
Fresh Is Best Benefits
- Minimal processing
- Low carbohydrates
- Minimal added vitamins
- Minimal added minerals
- No added amino acids
- Non-GMO
- Made in-house
- Wild-caught fish
Fresh Is Best Concerns
- High pesticide/herbicide foods in top 5 ingredients
- Doesn’t provide omega-6 to omega-3 ratio
- Seed oil
View The Entire Review on Dog Food Reviews
FRESH IS BEST DOG FOOD RECALLS
To date, Fresh Is Best has not had any recalls or voluntary withdrawals.
Evaluation Criteria
We evaluate and score dog foods based on two criteria:
Are the Ingredients High Quality?
Here are some common low-quality ingredients or markers we look for:
- Is there excessive carbohydrate content, which can cause gut imbalances?
- Does the food contain unnamed proteins, which are low quality?
- Does the food use cellulose (wood pulp) as a source of fiber instead of real food?
- Are there excessive vitamins and minerals added in place of real food nutrition?
- Are there excessive added amino acids or plant proteins instead of expensive meat protein?
- Does the food contain inflammatory processed seed oils?
How Safe Are the Ingredients?
Many ingredients come from unhealthy, inflammatory sources or are full of pesticides so we look for:
- How processed is the food?
- Does the food contain known genetically modified foods?
- Does the food contain ingredients known to be high in pesticides?
- Does the food contain natural flavor, which are often MSG or animal digest?
- Does the food contain rice, which is high in arsenic?
Each food is objectively evaluated by these criteria and a score is assigned using the average of ingredient quality and safety. This is NOT a paid list and there are no affiliate links. Dogs Naturally has partnered with DogFoodReviews.com to make sure dog owners have unbiased, objective criteria to help them choose the best dog food on the market. You can view the full Evaluation Criteria at DogFoodReviews.com.