Beneful is not a good food even without the sugar. Just look at the top 4 ingredients:

Ground yellow corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, whole wheat flour

Dogs don't thrive on corn, by products, more corn and wheat. They need high quality sources of protein from meat.

I agree with the previous post. Corn and wheat can cause serious skin allergies.

SG

Sugar causes cavaties. I'm surprised they add it to the food. Sheesh. They're just trying to make it addicting to the dog, so their people will buy it for them. What people will do for money. Again, I say sheesh!

Sally

I get upset everytime I shop at Wal Mart, which is all the time, and see lots of people buy Ol' Roy, then drive off in their 4 Runners.

Bumblebeez, for years I was probably one of those who got you upset. I drive a 4Runner, and I bought Ol' Roy. But, as several of us discussed in another thread a while back, there's Ol' Roy and there's Ol' Roy. I used the Lamb & Rice Formula. The ingredient list begins with lamb meal and goes on to brewers rice and soybean meal. It's good stuff, and my dogs thrived on it for years.

I changed in recent months to the relatively new all-natural product put out by Sam's Club. My only reason was to see if it helped my Briard's sensitive gut. It hasn't, but both dogs seem to like it and I have no particular reason to change back. I like the fact that it has no artificial colors, etc.

Susan

UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM
Hellllo, Nevvermind the sugar...
added color (Yellow 5, Red 40, Yellow 6, Blue 2

I'm pretty sure my dog sees in shades of green and yellow. Why add food coloring to dog food? *sigh*

I know why, I just think it's stupid. Sorry.

Here is the ingredient list for Wellness Super5 chicken dry food. Still, it's not as good as some but it is good (for dry food). I talked extensively with a rep about the "chicken meal" and am ok with it.

Ingredients
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Rye Flour, Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of vitamin E), Tomatoes (natural source of Lycopene), Rice Bran (from brown rice), Whitefish, Natural Chicken Flavor, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Flaxseed, Ground Millet, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Potassium Chloride, Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of zinc), Iron Proteinate (a chelated source of iron), Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of copper), Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate (a chelated source of manganese), Manganese Sulfate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Beta Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Ascorbic Acid, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Chondroitin Sulfate], Chicory Root Extract, Garlic, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Reading the title of your thread, I thought, "Move the dog food away from the sugar bowl, because spillage from the sugar bowl is the only way sugar should ever find its way into the dog food."

Sorbitol? Good lord - I know it gives me horrible gas and runs. Why would anyone ever put this in dog food?

Google The Whole Dog Journal and get a subscription! You need to learn about dog food from a magazine that does not take advertising at all, so is not in bed with the pet food manufacturers.

Yes...Wikipedia says (among other things):

There is a growing opinion within the medical community that (sorbitol) should be listed as an active ingredient, because too much sorbitol (about 50g or more for adults) can cause severe gastro-intestinal problems.

As I stated in my original post, I don't feed Beneful. I looked up the ingredients because a friend recently adopted a dog, and the woman in charge of the shelter recommended Beneful. I wondered why.

I recommended to my friend that the dog not be fed Beneful.

Susan

If anyone wants to find out what sorbitol does....
Go get a pack of trident gum and chew 4 or 5 pieces within a period of an hour. Do this in the morning. Everything will seem normal for the rest of the day until....... Shortly after you eat supper you will need to use the bathroom for what will feel like giving birth through your tush. It will be about 30-60 minutes of excrutiating pain and diarhea.

Beneful is one of those semi moist nasty dog foods if I remember correctly. There are two reasons why Sorbitol is added to the dog food of a semi-moist variety. Sorbitol is a humectant and itÂs chemistry is used to help retain moisture in the product. ItÂs added to keep the product moist and to retain a soft texture. Secondly, by binding the water with sugars, bacteria is not able to make use of the water. For semi- moist products, you will find that itÂs a norm to have sugars there.

I think that Sorbitol and sugar additives are semi moist domain.

Ugh, ugh, ugh. I'm glad you're analyzing the ingredients of dog foods. Please don't feed that crap to your dogs. By the way - isn't Sorbitol a baby laxative, and hasn't it been used to cut cocaine? There are other humectants that can be used. Again - ugh!

Sorbitol could be a laxative to a brick wall. They use it also in a lot of chewing gums. I learned this the hard way.

What I find mildly amusing about this is that Beneful is designed to look like children's breakfast cereal like lucky charms yet we don't always think twice about buying sugar, food coloring and sorbitol for human consumption.

I do - no, actually I don't think twice. I just don't buy that carp. I just shop the perimeters of the grocery store.

Sorbitol - I've learned something today. It's not an ingredient I've heard about or thought about before. What one can learn from the forums. Thanks.

Sally