green lentils

What it is

Green lentils are whole lentils with the seed coat intact — slightly more fiber than red, otherwise the same legume package of plant protein and starch.

Why it's in pet food

They hold shape through processing, so kibble and baked recipes favor them. Same role, same reading: a lentil term doing carbohydrate-and-protein work.

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.

Green lentils count as a lentil fraction for the splitting rule (three or more lentil-word ingredients in the top eight is a single 12-point deduction) and toward the zero-point legume-rich grain-free informational flag (FDA DCM-inquiry context).

Read the full methodology

Foods that list green lentils

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

• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Dry Cat Food93
• Whisker & Pine Wild-Caught Salmon & Lentil Recipe93
• Open Farm Wild Caught Salmon Recipe92
• ACANA Bountiful Catch90
• ACANA Indoor Entrée Recipe with Poultry & Fish90
• ACANA Light & Fit Recipe88
• ORIJEN Fit & Trim88
• ORIJEN Kitten Formula88

Sources

• WSAVA Global Nutrition Committee — Selecting a pet food
• FDA investigation: potential link between diet and canine DCM (2019 update)

Related ingredients

• fava bean protein
• fava beans
• green beans
• kidney beans
• lentils
• lupins

Further reading

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