The Nine Ingredient Dilemma of Purina One Beyond

In the past few years (and a few too many Netflix documentaries later), I've become much more conscious of the type of food I purchase and have a greater sense of awareness about what really goes into the food I order when I eat out. Though it's taken me a little longer to get there with Woody, I've finally begun switching his diet to a much more natural variety, from the daily dishes all the way to his chews. Before moving to this holistic blend, the dining option I chose for Woody was Purina One Beyond. Recently, I saw Purina's advertising campaign about how they now only use nine ingredients in this particular brand of food.

At first I thought "wow, maybe this is reason enough to switch back and save some money." Of course, now I do much more conscious research than in the past. For this particular research project, the first thing I did was re-watch the commercial on YouTube (shown above), in which I found they actually add "plus vitamins and minerals" in fine print. If I, who works in advertising, didn't catch this during the first viewing, how many other people haven't caught this either? The next step was to seek out a bag of this newly natural wonder at my local Target. I wanted to read the ingredient list and see if this was real or just a clever campaign.

On the front, the bag also says "Nine natural ingredients plus vitamins and minerals." Below is the actual ingredient list:

Two big questions: 1). How do you pronounce some of this stuff? 2). How is something named pyridoxine hydrochloride considered a healthy ingredient for a mammal consumption?

Upon doing my research, it appears that all of these are, in fact, a combination of vitamins and minerals. And, absent in this new ingredient list are all of the controversial ingredients previously found in this brand, all of which are listed by Dog Food Advisor, an online resource that breaks down every single ingredient in every food brand.

Kudos to Purina for getting rid of the original bad stuff. We can get angry at mega-corporations all we want, but we have to acknowledge when change is slowly happening. It's commendable that food companies, both human and animal-friendly, are starting to take notice of the desire for a more natural, holistic diet. But it doesn't mean they don't have a long way to go. Who knows how many of these "vitamins & minerals" are also not good for our furry friends. Because of Purina's controversial food dilemmas surrounding many other brands and treats, I do not plan on switching back anytime soon. Plus, regardless of how good these supplementary ingredients might be, they still do not add up to the advertised number of nine.