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Essential Foods · wet

Essential Contour Pate review

WetAdultGrain freeNaturalFussy eatersSkin and coatHigh energy
Good

A solid, honest wet food. 25% declared meat content is respectable. Feeding it costs about £6.17 a day for a typical adult dog - the breakdown below shows exactly what that buys.

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Label last checked

Image © Essential Foods

+ Add to compare
Top 41%scores higher than 59% of rated foodsacross all 3530 foods we've scored
Goodscore bandthe dot marks where it sits among every food we've rated
£6.17 approx.per day for a 15 kg dogcheaper than 16% of wet foods
25%declared meat content
110kcal per 100 g

Where the points went

The full breakdown, exactly as the algorithm scored it. How our rating works

Ingredient quality
Weighted ingredient quality 76/100 across 18 ingredients (declared percentages used for 16, position estimates for the rest).
30.4 / 40
Label clarity
Vague category terms on the label (Lignocellulose) - naming points withheld; percentages cover 75% of the recipe (+4.5); meat sources named (+2); recipe reads as a fixed formula (+2).
8.5 / 15
Additives
No artificial colours, flavours, controversial preservatives or added sugars found.
10 / 10
Red flags
No red-flag ingredients.
0 / 0
Meat content
Declared meat content 65% (added up from every named meat on the label).
15 / 15
Nutritional balance
Estimated carbohydrate 15% dry matter (low); fat 27.3% DM is high (obesity/pancreatitis watch) (-1.8); fibre 3.6% DM (+2); ash 10.5% DM - sensible mineral load (+0.4); functional extras: omega-3 source, named botanicals (+2).
6.5 / 10
Processing
Retorted wet food.
6 / 10
ODF Score
Algorithm v1.4.0 · scored July 28, 2026 · full methodology public
76 / 100

Our analysis

Breaking the 76 down: the biggest single loss is ingredient quality, where it takes 30.4 of a possible 40. Its strongest showing is declared meat content at 15 of 15.

The label declares 25% meat, which is a real number, which already puts it ahead of the many that print none, and the ingredient list is only partly specific.

At about £6.17 a day to feed a 15kg dog, the question is not whether it is cheap but whether the label justifies the price - and on our scoring, it broadly does.

Ingredients

Straight from the label, grouped by role - every ingredient is coloured by our published classification and links to its full page.

Meat & fish

Duck Meat 25%Chicken Meat 19%Chicken Hearts 12%Chicken Gizzards 9%

Carbs & grains

Lignocellulose

Fruit & veg

Apples 2%Pea Flour 2%Cranberry 1%Blueberry 1%Goji Berry 1%Blackberry 1%Kelp 0.2%

Oils & fats

Salmon Oil 1%

Supplements & extras

Calcium CarbonateGreen Tea 0.2%Marigold 0.2%Ginger 0.2%Spirulina 0.2%
Good qualityAcceptable / watch the amountRed flagGeneric / neutralOutlined = first five on the label

Feeding & cost

What a bag actually costs to feed - worked out per dog, not per pack.

Pack sizeRRPPer kg
400 g£3.75£9.38

How heavy is your dog?

A typical 15 kg adult dog needs about 658 g a day = £6.17 / day, £187.57 / month.

How we work this out
  1. Energy: an adult dog at rest needs about 95 × weight0.75 kcal a day (the FEDIAF maintenance formula - a 15 kg dog works out near 725 kcal).
  2. Portion: divide that by this food's energy density, 110 kcal/100g, to get the grams above - a denser food needs fewer grams.
  3. Cost: multiply the grams by this food's price, £9.38 / kg, for the daily cost, then by 30.4 days for the month.

Estimates scale to your dog's weight and the food's calorie density - a denser food needs fewer grams. A rough guide; always follow the pack. Try the full feeding calculator

Nutrition

Declared analysis converted to a dry-matter basis, so wet and dry foods compare fairly.

Protein

43.2 % DM
Directory average: 42.6

Fat

27.3 % DM
Directory average: 27.9

Est. carbs

15.5 % DM
Directory average: 18.3

Fibre

3.6 % DM
Directory average: 3.9

Ash

10.5 % DM
Directory average: 10.7

Energy

110 kcal/100g
Directory average: 111.1

Carbohydrates are estimated: 100% minus protein, fat, fibre, ash and moisture.

Similar foods that score higher

Same type and life stage, better ODF Score, comparable price per day.

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This is label analysis, not veterinary advice - if your dog has a health condition, talk to your vet before switching foods.

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