Ingredient file // Flavor
Beef And Chicken Broth
Flavored water for the can, not a supplement
Beef and chicken broth is the strained liquid from cooking bones, meat and parts in water. In wet food it supplies the moisture the can needs plus some meaty flavor. The joint and gut claims rest on almost nothing.
Role in the food Does a job- What it is
- The strained liquid left after beef and chicken bones, meat and parts are cooked in water.
- Made from
- Beef and chicken bones, meat and parts
- Main job
- Moisture and flavor in wet food
- Typical amount
- Not published
- Watch for
- Dogs with a diagnosed beef or chicken allergy
- Not the same as
- Salted soup broth for people
Our read // In our catalog
In 1 of every 1,553 foods we track
Share of foods that list it
0%
2 of the 3,105 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All wet dog food.
Each square is 1% of the catalog
Where it sits on the label
Median position 1. In the top five of 2 foods, so it is usually a main ingredient.
Who leans on it
100%
of the foods that list it are from Purina. 1 brand use it in total.
What it is
How it is made
Broth comes from the meat industry's bones and trimmings, cooked in water so protein, fat and flavor leach out. Wet food makers use it as the liquid every can needs to be processed.1,2,4
- 01 // Source Bones and parts Beef and poultry bones, with trimmings and muscle tissue, left over from meat processing.
- 02 // Process Simmered in water One lab recipe cooked beef bones for 8 hours at about 100 °C, 1 part bone to 4 parts water.
- 03 // Process Or pressure cooked Hotter, shorter runs work too. One study settled on 115 °C for 4 hours for a clear beef broth.
- 04 // Process Strained Bones and solids are filtered out, leaving a thin liquid of well under 1% solids.
- 05 // Output Liquid broth Added to the wet food mix in place of plain water, as the liquid the can needs for processing.
What is in it
Composition, dry matter
0.33
% solids
Solids in a tested beef bone broth, as fed: 333 mg per 100 mL. The rest is water, so broth brings flavor far more than nutrition.
Why it is in the bag
The can's liquid, with meat flavor added
- Main nutrition
- Supporting nutrient
- Does a job
- Mostly filler
A wet food needs added liquid to process, and broth fills that role in place of plain water. Labels list ingredients by weight, so broth often sits first because water is heavy. Suppliers sell it to make food taste meatier to dogs. Its solids are mostly protein, but there are so few of them that broth likely adds too little to change the food's nutrition.1,2,5
-
01
Liquid the can needs
Canned foods need added water to process. Broth fills that role, and unlike plain water it reads as a meat ingredient on the label.1
-
02
Flavor that drives intake
Suppliers sell animal broths to raise palatability and consumption. In a 40-dog supplier-sponsored test, dogs favored broth-coated kibble over plain.5,9
-
03
A trace of protein
About 75% of the solids in a tested beef bone broth were protein. But 100 mL of that broth held only about 0.25 g of protein, a trace beside the meat.2
How much No source publishes a typical share; broth replaces part of the added water in a wet food, so the amount tracks how much liquid the recipe needs.1
Our read // The claims
What the evidence supports
Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.
-
Critics say
Broth is mostly just water
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Correct. A tested beef bone broth held 333 mg of solids per 100 mL, about 0.3%. AAFCO notes canned foods need added water to process; broth does that job and adds flavor.1,2
-
Brands say
Broth makes food taste better to dogs
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
In a 40-dog A/B test run for a broth supplier, dogs favored broth-coated kibble by 8% on day 1 and 13% on day 2. It was not peer reviewed and tested a coating, not broth in a can.5
-
Brands say
Broth keeps dogs better hydrated
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
No study fed broth itself. A Purina-funded trial gave 8 dogs water enriched with whey, glycerin and 1% poultry digest; they drank more and urine specific gravity fell from 1.026 to 1.014. In a can, broth adds no more moisture than water.6
-
Brands say
Bone broth collagen supports joints
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Standardized bone broths delivered significantly less glycine, proline and hydroxyproline than a 20 g collagen dose, and commercial broths were lowest. No trial has tested broth on dog joints.3
-
Brands say
Broth soothes and heals the gut
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
The support is one mouse study: beef bone broth simmered 8 hours eased chemically induced colitis. No dog has been tested, and the broth in a wet food is a diluted share of the recipe.2
Straight answers
What owners ask
-
Q01
Is it just filler?
Mostly waterIt is mostly water, but water with a job. A wet food needs liquid to process, and broth supplies it with meat flavor. It adds little nutrition: 100 mL of tested broth held about 0.25 g protein.1,2
-
Q02
Why is broth listed so high?
Water weightIngredients are listed by weight, and wet foods carry a lot of added liquid. Broth sits high because water is heavy. Its position says nothing about how much protein it adds.1
-
Q03
Can I pour my broth on kibble?
Check the labelOnly if it has no onion and little salt. Onion is toxic to dogs, and a cup of standard canned beef broth carries 890 mg sodium. Plain, unsalted broth made for dogs is the safer topper.7,8
Who uses it
Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps
Top brands, by foods that list it
Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it
- Beef 100%
- Wheat Gluten 100%
- Liver 100%
- Carrots 100%
- Chicken 100%
- White Rice 50%
- Green Beans 50%
- Meat By-Products 50%
- Wild Rice 50%
- Barley 50%
- Soy Flour 50%
- Egg Product 50%
On the shelf
Foods that list it
2 foods in our reviews list it. Here are some of them.
Our read // On the bag
Read it as the can's flavored water
In a wet food, broth near the top is normal: it is the liquid the can needs, ranked high by water weight. Judge the food by the named meats below it and the protein on a dry matter basis. Ignore joint and gut claims for broth, and skip it if your dog reacts to beef or chicken.
Sources
What we read
Checked October 1, 2026.
- 1 Reading Labels
- 2 Analysis of the Anti-Inflammatory Capacity of Bone Broth in a Murine Model of Ulcerative Colitis
- 3 Bone Broth Unlikely to Provide Reliable Concentrations of Collagen Precursors Compared With Supplemental Sources of Collagen Used in Collagen Research
- 4 Operational parameters and key characteristics of amino acids and flavor compounds profiles of bovine bone clear and white broths
- 5 Is bone broth a solution to the palatability challenge?
- 6 Total Water Intake and Urine Measures of Hydration in Adult Dogs Drinking Tap Water or a Nutrient-Enriched Water
- 7 Soup, beef broth or bouillon, canned, ready-to-serve (USDA Standard Reference 171538)
- 8 Onion: toxic and non-toxic plants
- 9 Animal Broths & Stocks
- 10 Critically appraised topic on adverse food reactions of companion animals (2): common food allergen sources in dogs and cats