Ingredient file // Legume
Pea Powder
Ground peas under another name, mostly starch
Pea powder is dried field peas milled fine, the same material as pea flour under a different label name. In kibble it supplies starch that binds the kibble and some plant protein, at a small cost in digestibility next to rice.
Role in the food Does a job- What it is
- Dried field peas ground to a fine flour, used in kibble as a starch with some plant protein.
- Made from
- Dried field peas, with or without hulls
- Main job
- Starch plus some protein
- Typical amount
- Not published; one dog trial swapped it for all the rice
- Watch for
- Several pea ingredients split across one label
- Not the same as
- Pea protein or pea starch
Straight answer
Is Pea Powder safe for dogs?
Add it to the other pea lines
Pea powder often sits near peas and pea flour on the same label. Count them as one ingredient and ask where the total would land against the meat. One pea line mid-list is ordinary. Several near the top mean the recipe runs on peas, and part of its protein figure is pea.
- Why it is in the food
- Starch plus some protein
- How common
- Listed by 1 of the 3,205 foods we track
Our read // In our catalog
In 1 of every 3,205 foods we track
Share of foods that list it
<1%
1 of the 3,205 foods with an ingredient list on file, from 1 brand. All dry dog food.
Each square is 1% of the catalog
Where it sits on the label
Median position 27. In the top five of 0 foods, so it is usually a minor ingredient.
Price per lb
Median of the cheapest bag price across 1 priced foods, 23% below the catalog. The price is the food's, not the ingredient's.
Who leans on it
100%
of the foods that list it are from Artemis. 1 brand use it in total.
What it is
How it is made
Field peas are harvested dry, like beans. Millers grind them into flour, sometimes after stripping the hull, and sell it to food and feed plants. Pea powder is that flour under another label name.1
- 01 // Source Dry field peas Mature pea seeds, averaging about 24% protein and roughly half starch on a dry basis.
- 02 // Process Dehulled or not The hull is 7 to 14% of the seed. Removing it cuts poorly digestible fiber.
- 03 // Process Ground fine Milling breaks the cell walls so digestive enzymes can reach the starch and protein inside.
- 04 // Output Pea powder A dry flour weighed into the kibble mix, where extrusion cooks it along with the other starches.
What is in it
Composition, dry matter
43-58
% starch
The published range for starch in a dry pea, averaging about 51%. Pea powder is a carbohydrate ingredient first, which is why it can stand in for rice.
The label name does not say whether the hull stayed on. Hulls are 7 to 14% of the seed, so whole-pea powder runs higher in fiber. Protein averages near 24% but ranges from 19 to 28.5% by variety.1
Why it is in the bag
Binding starch with some protein, amount unknown
- Main nutrition
- Supporting nutrient
- Does a job
- Mostly filler
Makers add pea powder mainly as starch: dry peas run about 48 to 54% starch and 22 to 24% protein by dry weight. In a 24-dog trial, pea flour in place of rice made denser, less expanded kibble. Labels rank ingredients by weight but never give amounts, so a low spot shows only that it weighs less than the lines above it. When peas or pea flour also appear, each is listed separately and their weights add up.1,3,8
-
01
Starch that binds kibble
At 43 to 58% starch, peas cook and bind in the extruder the way grain does. In a 24-dog trial, pea flour made denser, less expanded kibble than broken rice.1,3
-
02
Lifts the protein figure
Peas carry about 19 to 28% protein, averaging near 24%. The guaranteed analysis gives only a crude protein minimum and never says whether that protein came from meat or peas.1,8
-
03
Fermentable fiber
Pea fiber ferments in the colon. In the 24-dog trial, fecal acetate, propionate and lactate rose and ammonia fell as pea flour replaced rice.3
How much In a 24-dog trial, pea flour replaced half or all of the broken rice in an extruded diet, and fecal scores did not change.3
Our read // The claims
What the evidence supports
Strong: controlled studies in dogs agree. Some: small or mixed dog data. Thin: mechanism or lab work only. None: nothing, or the evidence points the other way.
-
Brands say
Adds plant protein to the recipe
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
Yellow peas tested at 22.2% protein on a dry basis, and most essential amino acids were 80 to 90% digestible in a rooster assay. Methionine lagged at 79.1% and was first-limiting, so peas need a partner protein.2
-
Brands say
A low-glycemic carb for steady energy
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
In a 24-dog trial, swapping all the rice for pea flour shrank the glucose curve with no change in insulin. No trial shows a health payoff for a healthy dog, and an 8-dog trial found pea diets digested less well than rice.3,4
-
Brands say
Fiber that supports gut health
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
In the same 24-dog trial, fecal acetate and propionate rose and ammonia fell as pea flour went up. Dogs also passed more and wetter stool, and no gut health outcome was measured.3
-
Vets say
Peas cause heart disease (DCM)
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
FDA found peas in 89% of diets named in DCM reports but says reports alone cannot show cause. A 20-week trial in 28 Siberian huskies fed up to 45% whole pulses found no change in cardiac function.5,6
-
Critics say
Pea powder is just filler
Outruns the evidence
Evidence
- Strong
- Some
- Thin
- None
It supplies starch for energy and protein at about a fifth to a quarter of its dry weight. The fair criticism is digestibility: in an 8-dog trial a wrinkled pea diet digested at 73% for protein against 84% for rice.1,4
Straight answers
What owners ask
-
Q01
Is it just filler?
NoIt supplies starch for energy and kibble structure, plus protein averaging near 24% of its dry weight. The honest knock is digestibility: in an 8-dog trial, a wrinkled pea diet digested at 73% for protein against 84% for rice.1,4
-
Q02
Is it the same as pea protein?
NoPea powder is the whole pea ground, roughly half starch. Pea protein is a concentrate separated out of pea flour by air classification, so it carries far more protein and much less starch.1
-
Q03
Should I avoid it because of DCM?
Not by defaultFor a healthy dog the cause is unknown, and a 20-week trial in 28 huskies found no heart changes. Tufts cardiologists flag pulses in the top ten ingredients, or several pulses anywhere, as the pattern to watch.5,7
-
Q04
Why does the bag list peas twice?
SplittingPeas, pea flour and pea powder each rank by their own weight. Since the rule ranks each line separately, the list shows no pea total, and added together they could outweigh ingredients above any one of them.8
Who uses it
Brands, best sellers and the company it keeps
Top brands, by foods that list it
Foods that list it / all the brand's recipes we track.
Usually listed with, share of the foods that list it
- Rice 100%
- Chicken Meal 100%
- Chicken 100%
- Turkey 100%
- Peas 100%
- Pea Flour 100%
- Tomato Pomace 100%
- Chicken Fat 100%
- Mixed Tocopherols 100%
- Flaxseed 100%
- Natural Flavor 100%
On the shelf
Foods that list Pea Powder
1 food in our catalog lists it, highest on the label first.
Sources
What we read
Checked October 1, 2026.
- 1 Pea seeds
- 2 Macronutrient composition, true metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility, and indispensable amino acid scoring of pulse ingredients for use in canine and feline diets
- 3 Farinha de ervilha sobre o processo de extrusão, qualidade dos kibbles, digestibilidade, produtos de fermentação nas fezes e respostas de glicose e insulina de cães (master's dissertation)
- 4 The effects of 7 days of feeding pulse-based diets on digestibility, glycemic response and taurine levels in domestic dogs
- 5 The pulse of it: dietary inclusion of up to 45% whole pulse ingredients with chicken meal and pea starch in a complete and balanced diet does not affect cardiac function, fasted sulfur amino acid status, or other gross measures of health in adult dogs
- 6 FDA Investigation into Potential Link between Certain Diets and Canine Dilated Cardiomyopathy
- 7 Diet-associated dilated cardiomyopathy: the cause is not yet known but it hasn't gone away
- 8 Reading Labels