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.