What's actually in Beneful?
We analyzed Beneful Originals with Farm-Raised Beef. The first five ingredients are beef, whole grain corn, barley, rice, and whole grain wheat.
Beef at position one is the headline change. Purina reformulated this product, and beef — a named, whole animal protein — is now the single most abundant ingredient in the bag. Whole beef is roughly 70% water, so its post-cooking contribution shrinks against ingredients measured dry, but it's still real, identifiable beef leading the formula rather than a corn filler or a rendered mystery meal. That's a meaningful shift from the older recipe, where ground yellow corn held the top spot.
Whole grain corn at #2, barley at #3, rice at #4, and whole grain wheat at #5 round out a top five that's still heavily grain-based. Beneful hasn't become a premium protein-forward formula — it's a beef-first, multi-grain recipe with a substantial carb load. Soybean meal has dropped to #9 and corn gluten meal (now called corn protein meal under AAFCO's renamed convention) sits at #7, both much lower in the list than they used to be.
The ingredient list still mixes genuine positives with genuine concerns — which is what middle-of-pack, average-tier food looks like. Not premium, not problematic, just ordinary kibble with a better protein lead than it had a few years ago. Shop on Amazon →
The good stuff
Beef at #1 is the single biggest upgrade. A named, whole animal protein leading the ingredient list puts Beneful ahead of foods like Pedigree (D/37) and Kibbles 'n Bits (F/15), which still rely on unnamed rendered meals and by-products as their primary proteins. Leading with real beef — rather than trailing it behind corn — is the kind of formula change that actually moves the needle on a score.
Beef fat is preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural vitamin E-based preservative, rather than BHA or BHT. That's the responsible choice, and it matters because several budget brands still use artificial preservatives for their animal fats. No BHA, no BHT anywhere in this formula.
Chicken by-product meal at #6 gets mixed reviews, but it's worth noting it's a named by-product meal — chicken specifically, not "meat and bone meal" or "animal by-product meal" from an unnamed species. Named by-product meals are dense protein sources with real nutritional value, even if they're not muscle meat. Having this called out rather than left anonymous is a step up from the bottom-shelf foods that list generic by-products.
Dried spinach, dried peas, and dried carrots appear at positions 19, 20, and 21. They're present in small amounts, so their nutritional contribution is modest, but they're real vegetables contributing fiber, some vitamins, and antioxidants — more than you'll find in the F-tier budget brands that skip vegetables entirely.
And the reformulation itself deserves credit. No added sugar. No propylene glycol. No artificial dyes — the bag's color now comes from iron oxide, a mineral-based colorant. Whatever the old formula's problems, the current version is cleaner.
The not-so-good stuff
The most obvious concern is the grain load. Four of the top five ingredients are grains — whole grain corn, barley, rice, and whole grain wheat — and by the time you hit position five, you've already gone through four different carb sources. Grains aren't inherently bad for dogs, and whole grains are better than refined ones, but a top-five with this much overlap means the finished food is carb-heavy relative to protein. A genuinely protein-forward formula would have a named meat meal or a second whole protein in the top five, not a parade of grains.
Soybean meal at #9 is a cheap plant protein often used to inflate protein percentages on the guaranteed analysis. It's much lower in the list than it was in the old Beneful recipe, which is an improvement — but it's still present.
Chicken by-product meal at #6 is the second protein in the formula rather than a named whole meat (like "chicken" or "chicken meal"). By-product meals are nutritionally dense, but a formula with two named whole proteins in the top ingredients would score meaningfully higher. Poultry by-product meal — an unnamed-species by-product — shows up at #11, which is the less specific kind and the kind premium brands avoid.
Iron oxide appears near the end of the list as a colorant. This is a mineral-based color additive, not an artificial dye like Red 40 or Yellow 5. It's considered safe by the FDA, it shows up in supplements and in some human foods, and it's not harmful to dogs — it's cosmetic, there to give the kibble pieces their tan/brown appearance. Worth noting so you know what it is when you read the label.
Historical context: in 2015, a class-action lawsuit alleged Beneful sickened and killed dogs. The case was settled with no finding of liability. The formula has been reformulated since then — the propylene glycol, added sugar, and artificial dyes named in discussions around that lawsuit are no longer in the current recipe — but the reputation still follows the brand for some owners.
How it compares
Beneful's C/58 places it squarely in the middle of the pack. It ties with Purina ONE (C/58) — another Purina brand — and with Royal Canin (C/58). Iams ProActive Health (C/63) is five points ahead, driven by a slightly cleaner protein profile. Beneful is no longer the problem formula that used to sit well below these peers — the reformulation has pulled it up into the same tier.
Compared to other Purina-family budget lines, Beneful now lands well above Purina Dog Chow (D/39), which is still a corn-first formula with a less favorable protein lead. And it's a long way above the F-tier and low-D-tier store brands: Ol' Roy (F/20), Pedigree (D/37), Alpo (D/37), and Kibbles 'n Bits (F/15) are all in meaningfully worse territory, relying on unnamed rendered meals, heavier filler, and — in some cases — artificial preservatives Beneful has moved away from.
Still, Beneful is an average-tier food, not a premium one. If budget allows a stretch, Diamond Naturals (B/78) scores 20 points higher and delivers a genuinely strong ingredient list with named whole proteins, probiotics, and omega-3 fatty acids — without the heavy grain load or the by-product meals. The upgrade path from Beneful is still there, just less urgent than it used to be.
Read the full breakdown in our Beneful vs Purina Dog Chow head-to-head comparison.
The bottom line
Beneful earns a C grade (58/100) from KibbleIQ — an average-tier formula that's been meaningfully reformulated. Beef is now the #1 ingredient, the added sugar is gone, the propylene glycol is gone, and the artificial dyes have been replaced by a mineral-based colorant. Combined with mixed-tocopherol preservation and a small dose of real vegetables, that's enough to lift Beneful out of the below-average tier it used to sit in and into the middle of the pack alongside Purina ONE and Royal Canin. It's still a multi-grain recipe with by-product meals and soybean meal further down the list — so it's not a premium food — but it's a much cleaner formula than it was. If you're feeding Beneful, you're no longer feeding one of the problem formulas. An upgrade path to Diamond Naturals or similar B-tier options is still there if budget allows, but the urgency to switch has eased. Shop on Amazon →