Is your food human-grade?Updated 6 months ago

No, our dog food and treats are not prepared in facilities that are certified for human consumption. The ‘human grade’ term in pet food marketing is not an official regulatory distinction but is often used for goods the FDA defines as “edible” for humans. This requires that all ingredients are handled in “food grade” certified facilities and storage containers across the entire supply chain.

Our food is not intended for human consumption and is produced in a pet food bakery. Pet food facilities are subject to FDA and USDA safety regulations and inspected annually, but follow a different set of standards than commercial kitchens. We do not believe that the additional handling requirements established for human food production offer enough benefits for our plant-based and animal-free foods to justify the increased cost to our customers.

The biggest concern with “feed grade” dog food is usually the meat quality, and particularly the use of animal by-products that are deemed inherently unfit for human consumption (i.e. not just because they were handled in a facility that isn’t a certified commercial kitchen). This includes “4D” (dead, dying, diseased, or down) livestock animals as well as other animals like horses and even euthanized dogs and cats, which can be mixed in with other animal parts, rendered into a soup-like substance, and dried into an ingredient that appears as “meat meal” or “meat by-product” on a pet food label. By avoiding animal ingredients entirely, we also eliminate the risks from some of the most unsavory parts of traditional pet food processing.