@jonnythan Said
Because the definitions are based solely on what ingredient is listed first.
According to these definitions, a food with "chicken" as the first ingredient and "corn gluten meal" and "brewers rice" as the second and third ingredients would be "super premium" foods.
A food with "potato" as the first ingredient, but "chicken meal" and egg as the second and third ingredients, would be the lowest-tier "complete" food.
However, the second food is almost certainly superior in every way to the first food. It most likely has more meat, higher quality proteins, and fewer low-nutrient fillers.
This is the typical contents of a Super premium food in the U.K
Ingredients
Lamb Meal* (min 30%), Whole Grain Rice (min 26%), Whole Grain Maize, Chicken Fat*, Beet Pulp, Dried Brewers Yeast, Egg Powder, Fish Meal*, Linseed, Fish Oil*, Minerals, Vitamins, Nucleotides, Prebiotic FOS, Prebiotic MOS, Cranberry Extract, Chondroitin Sulphate, Glucosamine Sulphate, MSM, Yucca Extract. *Preserved with mixed tocopherols and rosemary extract
The first ingredient is its main ingredient. With meat being its main ingredient makes it a super premium.
This is a Premium food
Contains:
Brown Rice (min 54%), Lamb (min 21%), Oats, Peas, Sunflower Oil, Seaweed, Vitamins and Minerals
As rice is the main ingredient so cannot be classed as a super premium.
Lastly the Complete food
Ingredients
Cereals, Meat and animal derivatives (Minimum 4% fresh meat in the soft moist kernel, minimum 4% beef in the natural and brown kernels), Vegetable protein extracts, Oils and fats, Derivatives of vegetable origin (0.5% beet pulp in the natural and brown kernels), Various sugars, Minerals, Vegetables (minimum 4% vegetables in the green and yellow kernels). With antioxidants, coloured with and preserved with EC additives.
With Cereal being its first ingredient it makes this product about half the price of the super premium
Does this make more sense? So its really about the quality of the ingredients put into the foods that allows the companies to brand there products with the super premium/premium label,
But I do take your point about any dog food can call it self a premium or super premium.