Is kibble ultra-processed junk food? A vet explains I Genius Pet Food

You don't need to spend much time on social media these days before coming across a comment in a pet Facebook group claiming dog kibble is “ultra‑processed junk food,” or an ad from a pet food brand trying to convince you that kibble is “burnt brown balls” made at “extreme temperatures.”

As a pet owner, it can be genuinely hard to tell fact from fiction when it comes to how your dog's food is actually made. So, let's walk through some of these claims together, look at the real science behind them, and I’ll fill you in on exactly how our kibble is made.

What Does “Ultra‑Processed” Actually Mean?

The term “ultra‑processed” comes from NOVA, a classification system developed in 2010 to study human diets. Almost all food is processed to some degree - cutting, grinding, cooking, freezing, drying, fermenting, and blending are all forms of processing. Under NOVA, foods are grouped depending on the nature and amount of processing they undergo during manufacturing, with the most highly processed foods landing in “Group 4,” the ultra‑processed category.

Pet food kibble shares some manufacturing features with human ultra‑processed foods, although there is currently no universally accepted pet‑food‑specific definition.

However, the degree of processing alone doesn’t tell us the nutritional quality of the finished food.

What Does Human Research Into Ultra‑Processed Food Actually Show?

This is where things get interesting. A 2024 British Medical Journal study followed over 100,000 health professionals for more than 30 years and found that people eating the most ultra‑processed food had a modestly higher risk of death than those eating the least - about 4% higher overall.

That's a real effect, but a relatively modest one. Importantly, when researchers took overall diet quality into account, the association between ultra-processed food intake and mortality became weaker. They concluded that overall diet quality had the predominant influence on long-term health. They also found that the increased risk wasn't spread evenly across the whole “ultra‑processed” category either – the strongest associations were seen with particular groups including deli meats, sugar and artificially sweetened drinks, and ultra-processed breakfast foods.

In other words, even in humans, the health effects associated with ultra-processed foods appear to depend not just on the degree of processing, but also on the nutritional quality and type of foods being consumed.

But can we apply this research into ultra-processed foods to dogs?

A 2026 scientific review looked specifically at whether the human definition of ultra-processed food can be applied to pet food and concluded that it doesn’t translate neatly. In other words, we can’t simply take the health associations seen with ultra-processed foods in humans and assume they also apply to kibble-fed dogs.

So, is Kibble Really the Pet Equivalent of Junk Food?

Kibble often gets compared with junk food like potato chips, but just because they both come in a bag doesn't mean they're nutritionally the same. Potato chips, soft drinks and most packaged snacks are not designed for complete nutrition. They're designed to be tasty, cheap and easy to eat. These foods tend to be high in calories, sugar, salt or saturated fat, while contributing relatively little fibre and essential micronutrients. They're also often eaten in addition to meals or in place of more nutritious food.

A properly formulated complete dog food has a very different purpose. It is intended to be fed as a dog’s sole diet, providing all the essential nutrients they need in appropriate quantities and ratios, rather than as a snack.

In New Zealand, you’ll commonly see dog foods labelled as meeting AAFCO (the Association of American Feed Control Officials) nutrient profiles, which set out the minimum and, for some nutrients, maximum levels required for complete and balanced dog foods. Similar nutritional guidelines are published by FEDIAF in Europe.

But Isn’t Kibble Cooked at “Extreme Temperatures”?

I often see marketing for raw foods describing kibble as being “burnt,” “incinerated” or subjected to “extreme temperatures,” creating the impression that it spends hours being scorched until no nutritional value remains. This kind of marketing relies on a misleading picture of how kibble is made to position an alternative product as a healthier choice, rather than helping pet owners make an informed comparison.

We can't speak for every kibble manufacturer's exact processing methods, and processes do vary across the industry, but we can tell you exactly how our own kibble is made.

At Genius, our kibble goes through four main steps:

Ingredients measured and mixed – fresh, frozen and dry ingredients are carefully measured according to our recipe, ground where required and mixed together.
Mixing and warming - the mixture is blended with steam, water and fat at around 70°C for about two minutes.
Quick cook and shape - the food passes through a machine called an extruder at around 100°C for about ten seconds. This briefly cooks the mixture under heat and pressure, shaping the kibble and improving digestibility.
Controlled drying - the kibble is dried at around 72°C for at least 15 minutes to remove moisture and make it shelf‑stable.

The hottest stage of our process is around 100°C and lasts approximately 10 seconds – quite different from the impression that circulates online that kibble is subjected to extreme heat for prolonged periods. Also quite different from the dramatised image above, which was taken directly from a pet food brand advertisement. In reality, it’s a carefully controlled, multi‑stage process designed to balance food safety, digestibility and nutrition, not to torch the ingredients into submission.

Does Processing Destroy Nutrients in Kibble?

It's true that heat can degrade some heat‑sensitive nutrients, such as B vitamins, some amino acids and omega‑3 fatty acids. Responsible pet‑food formulators allow for these predictable losses when designing a recipe so that the cooked kibble, not just the raw mix, should still meet complete and balanced nutrient profiles like AAFCO and FEDIAF.

But formulation is only half the story. The most reliable way to know whether a diet actuall meets those nutrient targets is to analyse the product after it has been manufactured. Our Ocean Fish kibble has undergone a full independent nutritional analysis through Massey University’s Nutrition Laboratory to confirm that the finished food meets the AAFCO nutrient profile.

From my perspective as a vet, this step is absolutely non-negotiable. It means we’re not simply relying on what a spreadsheet says should be in a food - we’re checking what is actually there after it has been manufactured.

Is There an Upside to Processing Pet Food?

Processing also serves several important purposes in kibble manufacture. Cooking can help improve digestibility by gelatinising starch, making it easier to digest. Thermal processing can also reduce some naturally occurring anti-nutritional factors found in plant ingredients, such as lectins in legumes.

Cooking also plays an important role in food safety. The heat treatment helps reduce potentially harmful microorganisms that may be present in raw materials. Dry, extruded food is also shelf‑stable, easy to store and simple to portion, providing practical benefits for many pet owners.

In other words, processing plays an important role in making dog food safe, digestible and reliable. The goal isn’t to avoid processing entirely, but to pair it with thoughtful formulation, good ingredients and robust quality control.

The Take‑Home Message

I regularly talk to pet owners who are genuinely anxious about how to feed their pets because of the fear‑based marketing they see online. While there are legitimate questions about how processing may affect pet food, the degree of processing alone does not tell us whether a diet is nutritious or appropriate. The nutritional composition of the finished food, how it has been formulated and whether it actually provides the nutrients a dog needs all matter too.

So, the question to ask isn’t “Is this food ultra‑processed?” It’s “Does this diet provide all the essential nutrients my dog needs, in the right amounts, to support their health?”

I hope that through articles like this I can help give you a bit more confidence in assessing what is fact and what is fiction when navigating the confusing world of pet food marketing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is dog kibble ultra-processed?

Most kibble shares some characteristics with food classified as ultra-processed under the human NOVA system, but there is currently no universally accepted, pet food specific, definition of ultra-processed food.

Is ultra-processed kibble bad for dogs?

There currently isn’t good evidence showing that kibble is harmful to dogs simply because of its degree of processing. Nutritional composition, formulation, manufacturing process and suitability of the finished food all matter.

Does cooking kibble destroy nutrients?

Heat can reduce some heat sensitive nutrients, which is why responsible formulation accounts for expected processing losses. Analysis of the finished food can then confirm whether it meets the required nutrient profile.

What temperature is dog kibble cooked at?

Manufacturing processes do vary. Genius Ocean Fish is warmed at around 70°C for approximately 2 minutes, briefly extruded at around 100°C for approximately 10 seconds, then dried at around 72 for approximately 15 minutes.