cassava root flour

What it is

The starchy root of Manihot esculenta (manioc), milled into flour. Raw cassava contains cyanogenic glycosides — the reason traditional cuisines peel, soak, and cook it — and commercial processing does exactly that: the flour in pet food carries the starch, not the story.

Why it's in pet food

Another grain-free binding starch, popular in limited-ingredient recipes because it brings essentially no protein — useful when a diet is engineered around a short allergen list. Nutritionally it's energy, full stop.

How Bowlmark scores it

Scores are deterministic math over the printed label — the rules below apply to every product identically, and nothing estimates or fills in a blank.

Neutral in the engine: not a splitting base, no bonus seat, no flag. Cassava is what the potato family looks like without the fraction-stacking history — one name, one job, and nothing for a rule to count. The processing-safety fact is context, not points: label-grade cassava flour is simply starch.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list cassava root flour

Ranked by score where scores exist. Placement here is never sold.

• Purina Pro Plan Vital Systems Chicken & Egg Formula90
• Purina ONE True Instinct Grain Free With Real Ocean Whitefish87
• Purina Pro Plan LiveClear Adult 7+ Prime Plus Chicken & Rice Formula Allergen Reducing77

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food
• AAFCO Dog & Cat Food Nutrient Profiles (2016)

Related ingredients

• dried potatoes
• dried sweet potatoes
• jerusalem artichoke
• potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• tapioca starch

Further reading

• Grain-free, legumes and the DCM question
• How to read a pet food label