The scores
The Farmer’s Dog: A (90/100) — Top-tier cooked-fresh. USDA human-grade beef, 8-ingredient food panel, no natural flavors, no added water.
Nom Nom: A (82/100) — Upper A-tier cooked-fresh. Ground beef leads, eggs as secondary protein, board-certified veterinary nutritionist formulation.
Both are in A-grade territory. The 8-point gap reflects measurable ingredient-panel differences, not a qualitative "this one is bad" claim — Nom Nom is a solid fresh food, just with three specific rubric deductions Farmer’s Dog doesn’t incur.
How the ingredients compare
The top ingredients show where the gap comes from:
The Farmer’s Dog (Beef): Beef, Sweet Potato, Lentils, Carrot, Beef Liver, Kale, Sunflower Seeds, Salmon Oil
Nom Nom (Beef Mash): Ground Beef, Russet Potatoes, Eggs, Carrots, Peas, Water Sufficient for Processing, Dicalcium Phosphate, Potassium Chloride, Salt, Citric Acid, Natural Flavor, Vinegar, Calcium Carbonate, Taurine, Fish Oil
Nom Nom’s panel includes "water sufficient for processing" at position six — an explicit moisture addition that Farmer’s Dog omits. Nom Nom also lists "natural flavor" at position eleven, a category our rubric deducts for. Nom Nom’s second ingredient is russet potato (higher glycemic), while Farmer’s Dog’s second ingredient is sweet potato (lower glycemic, higher micronutrient density).
Where The Farmer’s Dog pulls ahead
No added water or natural flavor: The Farmer’s Dog’s panel contains only whole foods, oils, and the nutrient blend — no "water sufficient for processing" as a listed ingredient, no natural flavor additive. This isn’t a clinical nutrition issue, but on a per-ingredient-count basis it produces cleaner top-5 rankings under our normalized scoring.
Sweet potato vs russet potato at position two: Sweet potato delivers beta-carotene (vitamin A precursor), higher fiber content, and a meaningfully lower glycemic index than russet potato. When the position-two ingredient is a primary carb source, this choice is one of the cleanest separators in the fresh food category.
Shorter ingredient panel: Farmer’s Dog uses 8 food ingredients vs. Nom Nom’s 9 before the supplement tail. Both are reasonable, but tighter recipes mean less formulation complexity. Shop on Amazon →
Where Nom Nom holds its own
Deepest formulation oversight in the fresh food category: Nom Nom’s recipes are developed by a board-certified veterinary nutritionist with PhD-led veterinary science research support. Board certification (DACVN or equivalent) is a 4–6 year residency past vet school focused specifically on nutrition. Very few subscription brands have this depth of in-house expertise. Farmer’s Dog uses veterinary nutritionists in its formulation process but doesn’t publicly centre the board-certification credential the way Nom Nom does.
Eggs as a secondary protein: Nom Nom includes eggs at position three, providing complete protein with the full essential amino acid profile plus choline in a highly bioavailable form. Farmer’s Dog’s secondary protein is beef liver (an organ meat, different nutrient profile). Eggs vs. liver isn’t better or worse — it’s different.
Price point: Nom Nom typically prices below Farmer’s Dog at comparable plan sizes, making the subscription cost gap narrower than many assume. For budget-constrained households committed to fresh food, this can be decisive. Shop on Amazon →
The bottom line
The Farmer’s Dog wins on measurable ingredient-panel quality — cleaner top 5, no added water, no natural flavor, lower-glycemic position-two carb. If you weight the rubric score most heavily, Farmer’s Dog is the pick. If you weight formulation-team credentials most heavily, Nom Nom’s board-certified veterinary nutritionist oversight is genuinely differentiating. Both are strong choices; the 8-point rubric gap reflects real ingredient-list differences, not catastrophic quality issues. Read the full reviews: The Farmer’s Dog and Nom Nom.