red lentils

What it is

Red lentils are hulled, split lentils — quicker to cook and softer in texture than whole green ones, nutritionally the same legume: plant protein, starch, fiber.

Why it's in pet food

Their texture suits wet foods and fresh-style recipes. On a label they are simply lentils by another color, and the engine reads them accordingly.

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.

Red 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 when a legume appears in the top five ingredients of a label carrying a grain-free claim.

Read the full methodology

Foods that list red 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
• Open Farm Chicken & Salmon Rustic Blend Cat Wet Food90
• Open Farm Harvest Chicken Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• Open Farm Homestead Turkey Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• Open Farm Wild-Caught Salmon Rustic Blend Wet Cat Food90
• ACANA Light & Fit Recipe88

Sources

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

Related ingredients

• peanuts
• peas
• pinto beans
• soy flour
• soy protein concentrate
• soy protein isolate

Further reading

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