purina alpo chop house wet dog food

By Isabella Storyclaire

last updated November 19, 2024

Contributions sourced from

Alpo Chop House Dog Food Review (Canned)

The Alpo Chop House product line includes the 3 canned dog foods listed below.

Each recipe includes its AAFCO nutrient profile: Growth (puppy), Maintenance (adult), All Life Stages, Supplemental or Unspecified.

Recipe and Label Analysis

Alpo Chop House Rotisserie Chicken Flavor in Gourmet Gravy was selected to represent the other products in the line for detailed recipe and nutrient analysis.

Ingredients Analysis

The first ingredient in this dog food is water, which adds nothing but moisture to this food. Water is a routine finding in most canned dog foods.

The second ingredient is chicken. Chicken is considered the clean combination of flesh and skin derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken.¹

Chicken is naturally rich in the ten essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The third ingredient is liver. Normally, liver can be considered a quality component. However, in this case, the source of the liver is not identified. For this reason, its impossible to judge the quality of this item.

The fourth ingredient is wheat gluten. Gluten is the rubbery residue remaining once wheat has had most of its starchy carbohydrate washed out of it.

Although wheat gluten contains 80% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat.

This inexpensive plant-based ingredient can significantly boost the total protein reported on the label a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The fifth ingredient is soy flour, a high-protein by-product of soybean processing.

Although soy flour contains about 51% protein, this ingredient would be expected to have a lower biological value than meat and can notably boost the total protein reported on the label a factor that must be considered when judging the actual meat content of this dog food.

The sixth item includes meat by-products, an item made from slaughterhouse waste. This is whats left of slaughtered animals after all the prime striated muscle cuts have been removed.

With the exception of hair, horns, teeth and hooves, this item can include almost any other part of the animal.²

Whats worse, this particular item is anonymous. So, the meat itself can come from any combination of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats which can make identifying specific food allergies impossible.

Although most meat by-products can be nutritious, we do not consider such vaguely described (generic) ingredients to be as high in quality as those derived from a named animal source.

The seventh ingredient is beef. Beef is defined as the clean flesh derived from slaughtered cattle and includes skeletal muscle or the muscle tissues of the tongue, diaphragm, heart or esophagus.³

Beef is naturally rich in all 10 essential amino acids required by a dog to sustain life.

The eighth ingredient is corn starch, a starchy powder extracted from the endosperm found at the heart of a kernel of corn. Corn starch is most likely used here to thicken the broth into a gravy.

Corn starch isnt a true red flag item. Yet weve highlighted here for those wishing to avoid corn-based ingredients.

From here, the list goes on to include a number of other items.

But to be realistic, ingredients located this far down the list (other than nutritional supplements) are not likely to affect the overall rating of this Purina product.

With 3 notable exceptions

First, were always disappointed to find artificial coloring in any pet food. Thats because coloring is used to make the product more appealing to humans not your dog. After all, do you really think your dog cares what color his food is?

Next, this recipe contains sodium selenite, a controversial form of the mineral selenium. Sodium selenite appears to be nutritionally inferior to the more natural source of selenium found in selenium yeast.

And lastly, the minerals listed here do not appear to be chelated. And that can make them more difficult to absorb. Chelated minerals are usually associated with higher quality dog foods.

Nutrient Analysis

Based on its ingredients alone, Alpo Chop House canned dog food looks like a below-average wet product.

The dashboard displays a dry matter protein reading of 50%, a fat level of 14% and estimated carbohydrates of about 28%.

As a group, the brand features an average protein content of 50% and a mean fat level of 14%. Together, these figures suggest a carbohydrate content of 28% for the overall product line.

And a fat-to-protein ratio of about 28%.

Above-average protein. Below-average fat. And near-average carbs when compared to a typical canned dog food.

When you consider the protein-boosting effect of the wheat gluten and soy flour, this looks like the profile of a wet product containing a moderate amount of meat.

Our Rating of Purina Grain-Inclusive Dog Food

Alpo Chop House is a grain-inclusive canned dog food using a moderate amount of named meat and unnamed meat-by-products as its dominant source of animal protein, thus earning the brand 2.5 stars.

Alpo Recall History and Pet Food Brand Info

Important Alpo recall information appears below.

Brand Name: AlpoRelated Brands: Purina Pro Plan, Purina Dog Chow, Friskies, Beneful, and Purina OneProduct Lines: Alpo Chop House, Alpo Gravy Cravers, Alpo Prime Classics, Alpo Prime Cuts, Alpo Come & Get It!, Alpo T-Bonz, Alpo Twist-ables, Alpo Variety SnapsCompany: Nestl Purina PetCare CompanyHeadquarters: 1 Checkerboard Square, St. Louis, MO 63164Website: https://www.purina.com/alpoPhone: 1-800-778-7462Email: [emailprotected]

Alpo Company Overview

If youre old enough, you might remember TV commercials where actor Lorne Greene would hold up a can of dog food and claim it was so good, hed feed it to his dogs. You may also remember the cartoon cat Garfield making an appearance in several commercials. Alpo was that brand.Alpo was founded in 1936 by Robert F. Hunsicker and has since been acquired by Nestl Purina PetCare. It is a budget line of pet food.Below, we share more information about the long history of Alpo including up-to-date recall information.

Alpo HistoryThe Allen Products Company Inc. had its humble beginnings in Robert F. Hunsickers garage in 1936, just a year after Hunsicker graduated college with an engineering degree. The Alpo name was a shortened form of Allen Products.The company sold $7,000 worth of canned dog food in its first year. The customer list began expanding to kennels and veterinarians in Eastern Pennsylvania and took off from there.In 1964, Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company bought Allen Products for $12 million. However, Allen Products/Alpo continued to operate as an independent subsidiary of the tobacco company.At the time of Hunsickers retirement in 1969, his company had become the largest manufacturer of all-meat pet foods in the United States.

All-Meat ClaimsFor years, Alpo had marketed itself as having 100% meat ingredients.But in the early 1970s, veterinarians began raising alarm bells. An all-meat diet, they said, was far from complete or balanced it could actually be harmful to pets.A study published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA) in 1971 found that puppies fed an all-meat diet experienced a syndrome characterized by loose stools, pain, lameness, behavioral changes, loss of appetite, and even death. However, the pet food used in the study had not been fortified with vitamins and minerals, unlike most commercial pet foods.Even so, veterinarians are treating an increasing number of dogs for nutritional deficiencies resulting from the consumption of so-called all-meat products [because] so many dog owners have been led to believe that meat alone is suitable as a diet for dogs, according to an editorial published in 1970 in JAVMA.Allen Products, maker of Alpo, and its competitor Ralston Purina maintained, however, that their foods were completely safe.As part of an investigation into advertising claims, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 1976 claimed that Alpo was fully aware of reports indicating there was some question whether an all-meat diet was truly beneficial and that it knew an all-meat formulation may have been harmful to some dogs. And yet, the FTC said, Alpo had continued to direct millions of dollars its entire [marketing] effort toward creating a belief that Alpo was good for dogs.Alpo began to phase out its all-meat-ingredients dog food. Instead of 100% Meat, consumers began to see phrases like Beef Flavored Dinner on packages and cans.

As seen in this vintage Alpo ad from 1955, the dog foods all-meat ingredients were a major selling point for years until veterinarians raised alarm bells in the early 1970s, warning that all-meat diets were not healthy for dogs.

Alpo and Pillsbury Arent a Good MatchGrand Metropolitan PLC of Britain acquired Alpo Petfoods Inc. in 1980 and operated it as a subsidiary of its Pillsbury Company division.Pillsbury would later find that Alpo was not a strategic fit with its consumer foods portfolio, which included Pillsbury baked goods and other brands like Green Giant, Haagen-Dazs, and Totinos Pizza.Thats why it wasnt too much of a surprise when Grand Met announced a $510 million deal in 1994 to sell the Alpo unit. The buyer this time was Swiss food conglomerate Nestl SA, which meant Alpo would soon become integrated into Friskies Petcare of Glendale, California, a division of Nestl SA.Alpo is one of the most recognized consumer brands of dog food in the USA and will enhance Friskies presence in the dog food category, explained Joe Weller, then-CEO of Nestl USA.For a time, there was even a Friskies Alpo cat food. But now Friskies is a cat-exclusive brand, and Alpo is exclusively a dog food.

Alpo Joins the Purina FamilyIn 2001 came more change, when Friskies Petcare was combined with Ralston Purina Company in an $11 billion deal.The resulting company was called Nestl Purina PetCare, and it married the Friskies and Alpo brands withthe Purina lineof Dog Chow, Cat Chow, and Pro Plan pet foods.Nestl Purina PetCare has its North American headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri, where Ralston Purina was founded (as Purina Mills) in 1894.In 2020, Nestl Purina PetCare was the No. 2 pet food company in the world, with nearly $14 billion in annual revenue, according to data provided by Pet Food Industry.

Other Nestl Purina brands include:

Keeping Things Simple (And Affordable)Alpo has long carved out a niche as an economical, no-nonsense dog food.Even today, as consumer preferences have continued to navigate toward higher-quality, premium pet foods, Alpo insists on producing a simple, meaty product.Dogs dont yearn for things like quinoa or gluten-free flaxseed, or anything remotely complicated for that matter, is how Alpos website puts this philosophy. Alpo isnt fooled by overcomplicated, flash-in-the-pan trends.Alpo touts its dog food as being the motherload of meatiness, and, sure, some varieties of Alpo may indeed be made with real beef but the ingredients list on the packaging reveals a more complete picture. For example, there is far more water, meat byproducts, and poultry than there is beef in a can of Alpo Prime Classics With Beef or in a pack of Alpo Gravy Cravers With Beef.

Alpo is a familiar brand on grocery store shelves. Photo: Petful

Has There Ever Been an Alpo Recall?

There has been an Alpo recall but it was several years ago.

In March 2007, as part of the larger Menu Foods/melamine recall that shocked the country, all sizes and varieties of certain dates of Alpo Prime Cuts canned dog food were recalled because of potential melamine contamination.In all, more than 400,000 cases of Alpo were removed from the market during that 2007 recall full details of which appear immediately below. Our research team has uncovered no more recent recalls of Alpo dog food.

Alpo Recall History

March 2007Cause: Wheat gluten-containing melamine. Announcement: FDA report dated March 30, 2007 (archived here) and FDAs updated List of Recalls for Dog Food From Brand Alpo webpage, dated May 30, 2007 (archived here). What was recalled: 13.2 oz., 22 oz., and variety packs of Alpo canned dog food with a best by date of Feb. 1, 2009, and plant code 1159:

Alpo Lean Prime Cuts Beef, product code 11132 00310
Alpo Prime Cuts Chicken & Rice, product code 11132 07035
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef, product codes 11132 00360, 11132 00461 and 11132 24509
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef & Liver, product code 11132 00361
Alpo Prime Cuts Chicken, product codes 11132 00362 and 11132 00463
Alpo Prime Cuts Turkey Bacon, product code 11132 00363
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef Stew, product codes 11132 58800 and 11132 00364
Alpo Prime Cuts Gourmet, product code 11132 00469
Alpo Prime Cuts Gourmet Dinner, product code 11132 00365
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef Bacon Cheese, product code 11132 00366
Alpo Prime Cuts London Grill, product codes 11132 58805 and 11132 00368
Alpo Prime Cuts Senior Beef & Rice, product code 11132 00210
Alpo Prime Cuts Entree Chicken Vegetable, product code 11132 04313
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef & Rice, product codes 11132 07031 and 11132 07034
Alpo Prime Cuts Lamb & Rice, product codes 11132 07032 and 11132 07033
Alpo Prime Cuts Beef Vegetable, product code 11132 08440
Alpo Prime Cuts, 8-count variety pack, product code 11132 86222
Alpo Prime Cuts, 12-count variety pack, product code 11132 18342
Alpo Prime Cuts, 24-count variety pack, product code 11132 25712

Have You Had a Problem With Alpo?

See our reporting page for contact info.
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References

Harrison, Warren. Eating Your Own Dog Food.IEEE Software23, no. 3 (May/June 2006): 57.https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/so/2006/03/s3005/13rRUygBwg0.
Alpo Founder, President Retiring.Morning Call(Allentown, Pennsylvania). Oct. 15, 1969. 43.https://www.newspapers.com/image/?clipping_id=29289101&fcf.
Mead, William B. Tests Show Adverse Effects From All Meat Dog Foods.Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun. March 15, 1971. 7.
Statement of Lois W. Stevenson.U.S. Congress: Senate Committee on Commerce. 1972. 352354.https://books.google.com/books?id=mv0wd5zBIGYC&pg=RA4-PA353#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Complaint in the Matter of Liggett & Myers Inc.Federal Trade Commission Decisions, Vol. 87. U.S. Federal Trade Commission. 1977. 1124.https://books.google.com/books?id=IR-6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1124#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Shope, Dan. Nestle to Buy ALPO for $510 Million.Morning Call(Allentown, Pennsylvania). Sept. 20, 1994.
Levin, Doron P. Grand Met Plans to Sell Alpo Unit to Nestle.The New York Times. Sept. 20, 1994. D5.https://www.nytimes.com/1994/09/20/business/company-news-grand-met-plans-to-sell-alpo-unit-to-nestle.html.
Purina History. Purina.eu.https://www.purina.eu/meet-purina/history.
Our Story. Nestl Purina Careers.https://www.nestlepurinacareers.com/why-purina/our-story/.
Feldstein, Mary Jo. When It Comes to Making Pet Food Its Dog Eat Dog.St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jan. 14, 2005. C1.
Top Pet Food Companies Current Data.Pet Food Industry. 2020.https://www.petfoodindustry.com/directories/211-top-pet-food-companies.
80 Years of Staying True to Our Meaty Roots. Purina.com.https://www.purina.com/alpo/about.
Melamine Pet Food Recall of 2007. U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/recalls-withdrawals/melamine-pet-food-recall-2007.
Alpo Brand Prime Cuts in Gravy Canned Dog Food Voluntary Nationwide Recall; No Dry Purina Products Involved. FDA. March 30, 2007. Archived athttps://www.petful.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/ucm112148.pdf.
List of Recalls for Dog Food From Brand Alpo. FDA. May 30, 2007. Archived athttps://www.petful.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/ALPO-dog-food-recalls-2007-melamine.pdf.

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