Pet Digest

Why Vegetables Should Come Before Salt in Your Dog’s Food – And What That Tells You If you're paying attention to your dog's food labels (and you should be!), there's a small but mighty clue that can tell you a lot about what's really in the bag: the position of vegetables compared to salt on the ingredient list. Why Ingredient Order Matters In pet food labeling, ingredients must be listed in descending order by weight before cooking. This means the first ingredients are the most plentiful in the recipe. And here’s the kicker — salt is regulated to be no more than 2% of the total recipe . So if you see veggies like peas, carrots, spinach, or sweet potato listed after salt, you're looking at food with less than 2% vegetables . That’s barely a sprinkle. For a food that advertises “with garden veggies” or shows a bounty of vegetables on the bag, this can be misleading. Real, beneficial amounts of vegetables should come before salt if they’re going to have any me...