Most premium pet food brands say their ingredients are high quality. The Honest Kitchen says something narrower and much harder to claim: the food is human grade.
That is a legal standard, not a marketing phrase, and almost no pet food company meets it.
Founded in 2002, one recall in over twenty years, and a dehydrated format nobody else really makes. Here is the honest read.
- The Honest Kitchen is one of very few cat food brands that meets the legal definition of human grade.
- The Honest Kitchen was founded in 2002 by Lucy Postins and pioneered dehydrated pet food in the United States.
- The Honest Kitchen has had one recall in over twenty years, in 2013, traced to salmonella in parsley from a third-party supplier who was subsequently dropped.
- Human grade means every ingredient is edible for people and the facility is licensed to produce human food, which is a legal standard rather than a marketing phrase.
- The Honest Kitchen costs considerably more than conventional premium cat food.
Our Top Picks
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Minced Turkey, Chicken & Duck in Bone Broth Gravy Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Chicken Mousse in Goat’s Milk Grain-Free Pate Wet Cat Food, 2.8-oz box, case of 12
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Dehydrated Grain-Free Chicken Cat Food, 4-lb
The Honest Kitchen range compared
| Product | Best for | Size | Price | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Minced Turkey, Chicken & Duck in Bone Broth Gravy Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12 | Best overall | Case | $38.64 | Minced in bone broth |
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Chicken Pate Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12 | Best pate | Case | $38.64 | Chicken pate |
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Salmon & Cod Pate Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12 | Best fish recipe | Case | $38.64 | Salmon & cod pate |
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Chicken Mousse in Goat’s Milk Grain-Free Pate Wet Cat Food, 2.8-oz box, case of 12 | Best for picky cats | Case | $25.84 | Chicken mousse |
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Whole Food Clusters Grain-Free Chicken Dry Cat Food, 4-lb | Best dry food | Dry bag | $29.99 | Whole Food Clusters |
| The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Dehydrated Grain-Free Chicken Cat Food, 4-lb | Most unusual format | 4-lb box | $54.90 | Dehydrated |
What human grade legally means
Human grade is one of the few pet food terms with an actual definition behind it, which is why so few brands use it.
For a pet food to be human grade, every single ingredient must be edible for people, and the plant making it must be licensed to produce human food. Both parts matter. A brand can source beautiful ingredients and still fall short because the facility is only registered for feed. It is also a different claim from the one Fussie Cat makes: that food is produced in a plant which also cans food for people, which is a facility standard rather than an ingredient standard. Both are worth having. Only one of them is human grade.
Nearly all pet food, including expensive pet food, is made from feed-grade ingredients. Feed grade is a lower legal bar. It permits material that is perfectly safe for animals but would not clear a human food inspection, and it is what almost the entire industry runs on.
The honest caveat: human grade describes the standard the ingredients are held to, not the nutritional design of the recipe. A human-grade food is not automatically better balanced for a cat than a feed-grade one. What it removes is a category of risk, and it means the ingredient list on the box is exactly what went in.
The 2013 recall, in full
One recall in over twenty years is a strong record, and the detail of it says more than the headline.
In 2013 The Honest Kitchen recalled several products over possible salmonella contamination. The source was not the company’s own facility or its own sourcing. It traced to parsley supplied by a third party, and the company dropped that supplier afterwards.
This is worth understanding because it is how most pet food recalls actually happen. The failure point is usually a single ingredient from an outside supplier, or a shared contract manufacturer serving several brands at once. Very few recalls come from a company’s own production line.
Salmonella in pet food is a genuine concern for people as much as cats, since handling contaminated food and then touching your face is a real transmission route. Wash your hands after handling any pet food, every brand, every time. You can check current recalls yourself in the FDA recall database, and the AVMA covers handling risks in detail.
The 6 Honest Kitchen products, reviewed
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Minced Turkey, Chicken & Duck in Bone Broth Gravy Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12: best overall
Minced turkey, chicken and duck in bone broth gravy, and the best introduction to the brand. Three named animal proteins, high moisture from the broth, and the human-grade standard applies to every ingredient rather than to a headline one. This is the case to start with.
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Chicken Pate Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12: best pate
Chicken pate, grain free and single protein. Pate suits cats who dislike chunks and it is the easiest texture to hide a supplement in. Single protein also makes it useful if you are working out which ingredient your cat reacts to.
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Salmon & Cod Pate Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12: best fish recipe
Salmon and cod pate. Pairing an oily fish with a white fish gives a broader fatty acid profile than either alone. Worth rotating in rather than feeding daily, since a cat locked onto one recipe for years is harder to switch if their needs change.
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Chicken Mousse in Goat’s Milk Grain-Free Pate Wet Cat Food, 2.8-oz box, case of 12: best for picky cats
Chicken mousse in goat’s milk. Mousse is the softest texture in the range and often works when nothing else does, particularly for senior cats or a cat recovering from dental work. Goat’s milk adds moisture without the lactose load of cow’s milk.
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Whole Food Clusters Grain-Free Chicken Dry Cat Food, 4-lb: best dry food
Whole Food Clusters chicken, a cold-pressed cluster rather than extruded kibble. That process uses lower heat than standard extrusion, which is a real difference, though any dry food still needs more starch than a can does.
The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Dehydrated Grain-Free Chicken Cat Food, 4-lb: most unusual format
Dehydrated grain-free chicken, the format the company built its name on. You add warm water and it rehydrates into a fresh-style meal. A 4-lb box makes far more food than it looks like it will, so compare cost per rehydrated serving rather than per box.
The dehydrated format, and whether it suits you
This is the format the company invented and the one people either love or quietly abandon.
- How it works: you add warm water and wait a few minutes while it rehydrates into a fresh-style meal.
- The upside: very high moisture, minimal processing, and a box stores far more servings than the equivalent weight in cans.
- The downside: it takes preparation every single meal. Plenty of owners buy one box, love the idea, and go back to cans by week three.
- Compare cost per rehydrated serving, not per box. The box price looks alarming and the per-serving maths is much better than it first appears.
Who should buy The Honest Kitchen
Buy it if ingredient standards are the thing you care most about and the budget genuinely allows. It suits owners who want to know exactly what is in the bowl, and the mousse recipes are useful for senior or recovering cats who have gone off firmer textures.
Skip it if you feed several cats, since the cost multiplies fast. Look at our best wet cat food guide for cheaper high-quality options, or Weruva for a similar philosophy at a lower price.
The bottom line on The Honest Kitchen
This is one of a handful of brands that can honestly say human grade and mean the legal version of it. Twenty-plus years, one recall, traced to a third-party ingredient rather than its own production.
The price is the only real objection, and for a single-cat household it is defensible. The Honest Kitchen Human Grade Grain-Free Minced Turkey, Chicken & Duck in Bone Broth Gravy Wet Cat Food, 5.5-oz, case of 12 is the sensible first case, and the dehydrated line is worth a try if you do not mind a few minutes of preparation. This article is educational rather than veterinary advice.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Is The Honest Kitchen a good cat food?
The Honest Kitchen is one of the highest quality cat foods available. It is genuinely human grade, meaning every ingredient is edible for people and the facility is licensed for human food production, and it has had one recall in over twenty years.
Q: What does human grade actually mean in pet food?
Human grade means every ingredient is edible for people and the manufacturing plant is licensed to produce human food. Nearly all other pet food, including expensive brands, uses feed-grade ingredients, which is a lower legal standard.
Q: Has The Honest Kitchen been recalled?
The Honest Kitchen has had one recall, in 2013, over possible salmonella contamination. The source was parsley from a third-party supplier, who the company subsequently dropped. There has been no recall since.
Q: Who founded The Honest Kitchen?
The Honest Kitchen was founded in 2002 by Lucy Postins, who pioneered dehydrated pet food in the United States. The company has been operating for over twenty years.
Q: How does dehydrated cat food work?
You add warm water to the dehydrated mix and it rehydrates into a fresh-style meal in a few minutes. It delivers high moisture with minimal processing, though it requires preparation at every meal, which some owners find impractical long term.
Q: Is The Honest Kitchen worth the price?
It costs considerably more than conventional premium cat food. For a single-cat household where ingredient standards matter most, the human-grade standard justifies it. For multi-cat homes the cost multiplies quickly.
Q: Is human grade cat food nutritionally better?
Not automatically. Human grade describes the standard the ingredients are held to, not how well the recipe is balanced for a cat. What it removes is a category of sourcing and handling risk.
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