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Ingredient file // Ingredient

Copper Sulfate

Printed as “Copper Sulphate” on some labels. Same ingredient.

An inorganic copper salt used as a trace mineral supplement.

Our read // In our catalog

In 1 of every 4 foods we track

Share of foods that list it

23%

608 of the 2,595 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 37 brands. 525 dry dog food, 74 wet dog food, 6 dog food topper.

Each square is 1% of the catalog

Where it sits on the label

Median position 35. In the top five of 0 foods, so it is usually a minor ingredient.

Top five List position, heaviest first

Above the salt

0%

Usually listed after the salt, which caps it at roughly 1% of the recipe in 100% of foods.

Price per lb

Foods with it $2.67
All foods $3.23

Median of the cheapest bag price across 442 priced foods, 17% below the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.

Who leans on it

17%

of the foods that list it are from Blue. 37 brands use it in total.

What it is

Why it turns up in dog food

  • Supplies copper for iron metabolism, connective tissue and coat pigment. Absorbed better than copper oxide, though less well than a chelate.

Who uses it

Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps

Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it

  1. Chicken Fat 47%
  2. Chicken Meal 42%
  3. Flaxseed 42%
  4. Chicken 41%
  5. Natural Flavor 40%
  6. Peas 40%
  7. Oatmeal 26%
  8. Dried Plain Beet Pulp 24%
  9. Barley 22%
  10. Brown Rice 22%
  11. Turkey Meal 17%
  12. Canola Oil 16%

On labels as

Other names for this

Manufacturers do not all use the same wording. These all mean the same thing.

An ingredient on its own tells you very little. What matters is how much of it there is and where it sits in the list. That is why we weigh the top five rather than reacting to any single name further down. Back to the wiki

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