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Very interesting trip to Meijer last night...

11K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  PUNKem733  
#1 · (Edited)
So I take a stroll down the pet food aisle last night at my local Super Grocery Store(here in the Michigan, its predominately Meijer).

Very interesting. I see that Purina One has come out w/ a "new" premium food called Purina One "Beyond"... Pet Food with Natural Ingredients: Purina ONE(R) beyOnd(TM)
I have to say, the ingredient list looks at least OK. I am in no way endorsing it except to say it definitely looks better than the other garbage they put out. The Salmon formula looked very nice...33% protein. I have no clue about Purina's trustworthiness or manufacturing practices. My guess is that they aren't stellar.

Another food I spotted was a completely new company I've never even heard of. Another ingredient list that looks ok. I'm actually curious about this company. Hopefully they aren't farmed out to some big conglomerate covered up by this small company looking food...Harmony Farms is the name of the brand.
Harmony Farms ~ All Natural Healthy & Holistic Food for Your Dog & Cat

Both of the above foods were a little over $1/lb. and they were not on sale.

Meijer also carries the Paul Newman foods for Dogs and Cats. I've always thought that was a decent food.

Not saying the foods will rival Orijen or Honest Kitchen, but I must say its good to see at least a bit better foods coming into the mainstream. In the DFA world, I'd say they are all solid "3's" if thats worth anything.

I have to admit, we've made strides since Dog Chow was our only options as Dog Owners.

Thoughts?
 
#3 ·
yep, my bad.

I just looked, not even sure they offer Salmon in the Dog food line.


I doubt I'll ever feed this stuff, but I still think its a decent step in the right direction.

This stuff is much improved over the other garbage at the local supermarket.
 
#4 ·
My first guess is they must have taken quite a hit from people choosing to feed better quality products, or people who stopped using Purina One from all the issues they had from it (well it was crap so it was expected).
It doesn't actually look so bad at first, but if you notice, they all have chicken meal, so no matter which formula someone buys they're paying for chicken, it may not have the cheap grains, but if they put a premium price on this (which I'm sure they will) then people will still be over-paying for chicken.

P.S: It still has grains, but not as much is what I'm trying to say.
 
#5 ·
What really makes me laugh is that Purina has a real dilemma here...

Think about it. You HAD Purina ONE which is supposedly your PREMIUM food, wink/wink.

Now that Innova, Champion, etc... have made inroads into your market share, you take a step back and come out with a NEW "Premium" food, NO REALLLLLY, this TIME, wink/wink. And we'll call it BEYOND. And we'll actually mess w/ the ingredients a bit.

Marketeers are funny people.

That being said, it DOES appear to be a bit better than their typical stuff.
 
#6 ·
I agree that it looks better than the normal Purina One formulas, I'm guessing the price range will fall somewhere between Purina One and Pro Plan. However, I still hate that there is soy in there and I really hate that there's menadione sodium bisulfite complex in there. However, aside from that, it does look better at least.

I agree that it's funny these companies will have their regular product and market it as being the best thing ever. Then they come out with their "natural" line (Iams Naturals, SD Nature's Best, Purina Naturals, Purina Pro Plan Selects, etc.) and people sometimes go for it and sometimes don't. If I were a consumer, I'd start to question a company right then and there.

"Wait a minute, if this is their natural food then what the heck is their regular food made of? Unnatural stuff? What's the difference? Does that mean their original formulas aren't as good because they aren't natural? Why don't they just do away with the unnatural formulas now that they've decided to make natural ones? I'm reading the ingredients and they barely look different? What does natural mean anyway? I'm gonna go find out if any of this stuff is actually any good for my pets after all!" And then probably switch to an actually good brand of dog food.

But that's just how my brain works :wink:

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you'd think the companies would risk losing a few customers this way by drawing attention to their original flaws.
 
#7 ·
Ran, you said it better than I...but you summed up how I felt.

yeah, Purina, you've got ONE and PRO PLAN which is your premium line... yet NOW you really have something that is the best in your line.

Funny, if nothing else, I'd be confused as hell if I fed their foods.
 
#8 ·
I priced this at my local Meijer just to see what they were charging for it. It was $7.49 for 3.5 lbs. and $22.99 for 15 lbs.
 
#10 ·
Petsmart has the 3.5 pound bags on sale for $6.99 right now.

Also, as far as I noticed, only their lamb variety has the soy in it.

I think that Purina is just trying to get as many foods out there as possible. Most people don't notice that Purina makes all these different varieties of food. A lot tend to think that "One" and "Pro Plan" and "Beneful" are all their own brands. :twitch: The more you've got out there, the more likely it is that they'll end up with something from Purina. :heh: