Good Pet Food Manufacturing Practice
A responsible pet food manufacturer takes safety and quality very seriously and they will have defined processes and standards in place to ensure this. These are likely to include:
- Only using permitted ingredients from registered suppliers.
- Supplier approval process in place.
- Routine inspections of ingredients to ensure they meet specifications.
- Precise formulations and measuring of ingredients to ensure recipes are accurate.
- Carefully controlled temperatures and times to ensure microbiological safety.
- Quality checks on nutritional profile, colour, texture and digestibility, and palatability.
- Verification of nutritional adequacy by analysis of finished products using the FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines.
- Routine microbiological testing routine for both finished products and manufacturing facilities.
- Appropriate techniques, e.g. metal detectors and x-ray machines, to locate foreign bodies throughout the manufacturing process.
- Regular checking of packaging integrity.
- Batch records of finished products and their destinations to ensure traceability.
- Audited by external regulatory bodies and participation in voluntary accreditation schemes.