Pet food ingredient

Onion / garlic (allium) in dog and cat food

High concern

Short answer

Allium vegetables can damage red blood cells in dogs and cats; cats are especially sensitive. Not appropriate in pet food.

How it appears on a label

Pet-food labels vary by market and language, and Open Pet Food Facts carries ingredient tags in several languages at once. This class is matched on onion, onions, garlic, allium, chive, leek, with accents folded so an Italian or French label resolves to the same flag.

How it affects the score

Onion / garlic (allium) is treated as toxic and caps a product's score below 25 on its own. Open Pet Food Facts has sparse nutrition coverage, so pet scoring is driven by the ingredient list rather than by a nutrition table.

This is not veterinary advice

The flags here are class-level and precautionary. If an animal has eaten something on the toxic list, call a vet or a pet poison-control line — not an app.

Source: ASPCA; veterinary toxicology consensus

Other pet food ingredients we flag

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