Quality assurance for pet food

Pet food safety is on the mind and concern of all pet owners. Just like there's always a fear of recalls and product safety just like with human food. We want the best for our pet and understandably so.

The risk of negative press can impact a company's sales.

Let's be realistic, there are always chances of recalls and or manufacturing errors, although slim and far and few between, when it does happen, the media blows it out of proportion, especially when it comes to pet food.

For anyone in any retail industry the key thing to minimizing such potential recalls in establishing a relationship with supplies and make sure that you know where the supplier gets their material from before it reaches your hands. The more hands, the larger the risk in for potential recalls.

A company needs to make sure that they have specifications on all sources of where an items or mixes comes from before packaging. A reputable company should not be afraid to challenge the sources in which the ingredients comes from.

Trust is good, control is better as said by Martin Karutz on a similar topic on this months Pet International magazine. It also encourages quality control.

If possible, a reputable food distributor should audit and visit the environment, working and manufacturing conditions of where the ingredients comes from etc. Seeing is believes and speaks volumes in regards to quality control.

On the consumer end, it may be difficult to get all the information that one may want in regards to the food that they choose for their pet, however, below are some basic guidelines for consumers.

Look at the label and make sure that the country of origin is disclosed as well as the ingredients.
1. Check the company's website and make sure that all ingredients are listed.
2. If possible, make your own pet food from fresh ingredients, properly prepared. There are tons of pet food recipe books out there.
3. Call the customer care line and get more specifics on origin. The information may be limited, however, having a bit more product knowledge is better than not knowing anything at all.
4. Don't be fooled by packaging, labeling and or claims, further research.