Premium / Super Premium

Premium and super premium are marketing tier labels with no regulatory definition. Any brand can call itself premium for any reason. In practice, the industry roughly groups dog food into tiers based on price point and ingredient quality: budget (Pedigree, Beneful, Ol' Roy), mainstream (Iams, Purina Dog Chow), mainstream premium (Purina Pro Plan, Hill's Science Diet, Royal Canin), premium (Blue Buffalo, Wellness, Merrick), super premium (Acana, Orijen, Stella & Chewy's), and ultra premium (The Farmer's Dog, JustFoodForDogs). The labels overlap and are not precise. Use the actual ingredient panel and AAFCO validation to evaluate quality.