Freshpet pet foods do not meet the legal requirements of a human grade pet food. Human grade pet foods (those with the term Human Grade on the label) requires 100% human edible ingredients (including supplements) and requires the pet food to be manufactured in a licensed food facility per federal/state food safety standards. Freshpet pet foods are NOT manufactured in a licensed food facility.
But their marketing seems to be claiming their pet foods are exactly the same as human food. Below is a screen shot of their website:
And the brand has new television commercials that take it one step further…
We did a online chat with Freshpet for verification if the pet food is feed grade OR if the pet food is manufactured per the same safety standards as human food (otherwise known as ‘food’). Our initial question (not shown in the chat below) was “Are ingredients in your pet foods human grade?“
Freshpet admitted their pet products are not human grade, they are not manufactured in a licensed human food facility. They are feed grade.
Regarding their statement: “The remainder of our recipes use human quality ingredients that are sourced through USDA or FDA registered suppliers” – Freshpet has not responded to my request for an explanation of ‘human quality ingredients’. As well, it is federal law that all food or feed ingredient suppliers be registered with the USDA or FDA. Their statement does not guarantee ingredients in their pet foods are of ‘stored in your refrigerator next to your food’ quality as condemned and diseased animal materials are sourced from USDA or FDA registered suppliers.
So…what do you think? Does their marketing cross a line? Does the Freshpet marketing intentionally try to make pet owners believe their dog food is identical to human food?
There are significant differences between human food manufacturing (and pet foods that are manufactured per human food safety standards) and feed grade pet food manufacturing. For food products that contain more than 3% meat (which includes human grade pet foods), a USDA inspector is required by law to be onsite during all hours of operation. The USDA’s role is to assure all safety standards are followed; ingredients are human edible and stored under refrigeration, manufacturing conditions are clean.
Feed grade pet foods are NOT held to the same standards. No USDA representative is onsite to assure human edible ingredients, proper storage of ingredients and clean manufacturing conditions.
As example, through Freedom of Information Act we acquired the FDA inspection report of a Mars Petcare feed grade pet food facility. The inspection report stated:
“Inspectional Observations
1. Failure to inspect, segregate, or otherwise handle raw materials and ingredients used in manufacturing under conditions that will protect the animal food against contamination and minimize deterioration.2. Failure to take effective measures to exclude pests from your plant and protect against contamination of animal food by pests (Discussion Item from 10/27/2016 EI).”
The inspection report also stated employees of this feed grade pet food plant documented that “millions of roaches” infested the food production area.
Even though this feed grade pet food facility did not protect ingredients from contamination and deterioration, and even though there was a roach infestation in the food production area – there was no recall, no warning letter issued. Why? Because this was/is acceptable manufacturing conditions for a feed.
This is not to say that all pet feed manufacturing facilities are infested with roaches or allow raw ingredients to deteriorate. The significant issue is they CAN BE. These inferior manufacturing conditions are allowed by FDA in pet feed manufacturing, but are NEVER allowed in food manufacturing. And consumers are never told which manufacturing facilities are filthy and which are clean.
So again…do you believe it is misleading marketing for a feed grade pet food – that is not manufactured per food (human grade) standards – to call itself a ‘food food’?
And – do you believe that any feed grade pet food should be stored in your refrigerator next to your food?
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Laurie Matson
April 28, 2023 at 1:47 pm
I have never bought fresh pet and never will.
Anne Sautner
April 28, 2023 at 2:13 pm
Hello, Susan. Once again you have provided a thorough and true report of the pet food industry. As usual; very enlightening! Thank you so much for your arduous efforts to protect our pets’ food!!
I only use human grade food for my dogs.
Sincerely,
Anni
Rox
April 28, 2023 at 2:46 pm
Maybe not but I love the commercial. Especially the part about the dog papa tossing the rude girlfriend out out out. Made my day. The various dog food commercials portraying dog food in that way are actually really important to start shifting the focus away from marginalizing dogs and dog food as somehow being inferior to humans and that horrible attitude people (and vets) had for decades that dogs are somehow not deserving of “people food.” PS I KNOW my dog’s food is human grade and completely edible by ME should I choose to eat some of what I cook in my kitchen for my dog – ingredients locally sourced ORGANIC meats, ORGANIC fruits and vegetables, and ORGANIC ancient grains. The one concession I make to “commercial” anything? My dog gets a supplement containing essental vitamins and minerals which I purchase from my HOLISTIC veterinarian who has made it her business to thoroughly research and remain committed to canine nutrition. Of course FreshPet needs to upgrade. But in the meantime there is a good and important message in the style of its advertising: that dogs need and DESERVE “food food” even if not technically “human grade.”
Nancy Correa
April 28, 2023 at 2:59 pm
Yes, intentionally misleading, much like the term “natural.”
T Allen
April 28, 2023 at 4:01 pm
6# of “Tender Chicken recipe” at Target is $2.78/#. Just think about the cost for you to buy the ingredients in the store.
Chicken, carrots, chicken broth, peas, eggs, chicken liver, brown rice, and rice bran. Then assume the carrageen and “natural flavors” are free. (Why would you need to add flavor??? or for that matter a thickener?). Then add a vitamin pill -potassium chloride, celery powder, minerals (zinc proteinate, iron proteinate, copper proteinate, manganese proteinate, sodium selenite, calcium lodate), salt, vitamins (choline chloride, vitamin e supplement, niacin, calcium pantothenate, biotin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, vitamin b12 supplement, pyridoxine hydrochloride, folic acid). And wave a leaf of spinach over it. (Less spinach than salt???) Don’t forget you have to buy all these ingredients, truck them in, have refrigerated storage, manufacture (including property, buildings, machinery, personnel- manfacturing, and office support) and likely ship it out to retailers. PLus making a profit! All for $2.78/#? Look up prepackaged refrigerated meals on walmart.com and see what you can find for that price/#. Even flavored rice is more. I found a meat loaf with tomato sauce from Hormel that was $7.00/# and has the same long list of ingredients. Except for the meat, all dirt cheap (human grade) “waste” products. Reminds me of commercial pet foods. Check it out. No way is fresh Pet “human grade”.
Look at the prepackeaged
Amy
April 28, 2023 at 4:14 pm
I liken FreshPet to bologna- except the ingredients aren’t legal for bologna for people.
Harold
April 28, 2023 at 4:47 pm
The food safety modernization act made all feed referred to as “animal food” and cockroaches are reported in nearly half of all human food manufacturing plants. The FDA doesn’t inspect the majority of human food plants and barely ever issues mandatory recalls. Most are self reported and voluntary.
Susan Thixton
April 28, 2023 at 5:17 pm
Foods that include more than 3% meat are under USDA jurisdiction. A USDA inspector is on-site during production hours, even when that food (human food) plant manufactures pet food. You are correct, the FDA doesn’t inspection food or pet food plants very often. With pet food it is about once every ten years (unless there is a recall or for their yearly BSE inspections). The FSMA does refer to pet products and livestock feed as animal food, but AAFCO has defined human grade and feed grade.
Francine
April 29, 2023 at 3:46 pm
The whole company is a scam including the marketing campaign.
It’s meant to discredit (ridicule, and thus push down sales of) any company/products providing better nutrition for US pets (as opposed to the current standard which is – “incrementally” – to squeeze more and more animal protein out of petfood, replacing it with plant-based and other types of waste from the human food supply incl ingredients that are not species-appropriate so cause terrible and 100% preventable health problems, incl organ damage, incl to the heart, so increasing slow and painful death and illness in US pets (and whichever unlucky pets in other countries eat overpriced, harmful and as always deceptively labeled US “petfood”). The tactics being used to carry out this so-called “Sustainability” op – in the culture whose human population consumes and wastes 10 times more resources per capita than anywhere else in world – are as usual devoid of any integrity whatsoever, and given the pain and suffering they cause to sentient beings ie pets unlucky enough to be born in the US verging on bonafide sociopath, and are also completely typical of this system.
It’s hard to watch those US-style “reverse marketing” ads without wanting to vomit.
Jayne Healy
April 29, 2023 at 8:33 pm
Intentionally misleading and not true. I think the pet food industry is catching on that there are a lot of us who will never buy what they are selling and are aiming now at the younger generation who don’t know how to think.
Margaret Howard
March 27, 2024 at 9:03 pm
I’ve seen commercials they clearly make you believe it’s human grade