Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Pet Food News

Halo Pet Food’s Website Claims

And their explanation to what those claims mean.

Halo Pet Food recently introduced a new pet food, Halo Elevate. The press release announcement stated “We created Halo Elevate to boldly deliver best-in-class nutrition to pet parents. Our recipes are simple and transparent, proudly shown on the front of our packaging and directly address the top five pet health concerns.”

The Halo Elevate website makes several claims we requested explanation of. Below are images from the Healthy Grains Chicken Recipe Dry Dog Food website page:

We asked Halo for an explanation of what “Freeze dried raw coated” kibble is.

They responded: “We use freeze-dried coated chicken and salmon on our Elevate dry foods and use HPP (High pressure pasteurization).”

This response didn’t quite make sense. We assumed they meant that the kibble itself is coated in freeze dried chicken and salmon, but we wanted to know how this coating is applied.

We asked this follow up question: “In regards to the coating, am I correct that the coating is sprayed on after kibble manufacturing?

Halo did not respond to the follow up question.

Another website claim of Halo Elevate pet food is in the image below. Our question to Halo was regarding their “Full Ingredient Traceability” claim.

We asked Halo: “Your website states full traceability of ingredients. Can you provide a link to that information?

Halo provided this response: “On each of our Elevate dry food product pages, you can click “Every Ingredient & Nothing To Hide” and we list the purpose for using each ingredient and the sourcing locations for those respective ingredients. Here is a product example: https://halopets.com/products/halo%C2%AE-elevate-dog-grain-free-chicken-recipe-dry-food and a screen shot that shows every ingredient & nothing to hide:”

The information they provided (including the above image) isn’t quite ‘full ingredient traceability’. Halo provides ‘sourcing’ information, NOT country of origin information. And there is a big difference between the two.

Country of origin is where the ingredient originated. Country of sourcing could be the ingredient supplier location. As example: ABC Pet Food Ingredients is an ingredient supplier located in Florida. ABC Pet Food Ingredients imports chicken meal from China, selling to US pet food manufacturers. Any pet food manufacturer purchasing from ABC Pet Food Ingredients could truthfully claim an ingredient was ‘sourced’ in the US even though the country of origin was actually China. The question remains however, is sourcing information “full traceability“?

We sent the following to Halo as follow up: “And with your ingredient tracing – ingredients “sourced in the USA” is very different than country of origin. Where you source ingredients is not full traceability as your website claims. Any pet food can source from a US supplier, when ingredients originated outside the US. Will Halo correct their website removing the full traceability claim?

Halo did not respond to the follow up question.

And the Halo website makes the claim of “world’s best ingredientsguaranteed“.

We asked Halo: “Your website for the same products also states “The world’s best ingredients. Guaranteed.” Can you explain how that determination was made?

Halo responded: “We source premium ingredients that deliver guaranteed nutrients to the dog.”

To us, this response was very different than the claim. Their claim is ‘world’s best ingredients – guaranteed’ but their response was guaranteed nutrients. So, we sent the following question to Halo as follow up: “With your response to the website claim “The world’s best ingredients. Guaranteed.” – your explanation is very different than your website claim. You explained “We source premium ingredients that deliver guaranteed nutrients to the dog.” But your website claim is “world’s best ingredients – guaranteed”. Those are two different things. So again, can you provide information on how it was determined the dog food is guaranteed to include the world’s best ingredients?

Halo did not respond to this follow up question either.

The FDA or State pet food authorities do not hold pet food companies accountable for their website claims. Unfortunately pet food manufacturers are free to claim almost anything on their websites – without worry of regulatory stopping them or verifying their claims.

Pet food consumers deserve to understand what all claims made on a pet food website mean. We will continue to ask Halo for more information and we will ask other manufacturers to explain their claims. When any replies are received (or when our questions are ignored), that information will be provided to pet owners.


Wishing you and your pet the best –

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food


Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. Association for Truth in Pet Food is a a stakeholder organization representing the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and with FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and voice consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click Here to learn more.

What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients?  Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 5,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com

Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here


The 2022 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here to learn more.

12 Comments

12 Comments

  1. Dianne Wardlow

    April 25, 2022 at 3:57 pm

    I got Halo for my cats once and they would not eat it. I gave it away.

  2. Carol S

    April 25, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    Stella and Chewy has been doing ” raw coated ” kibble for over a year.

    • Spookywanluke

      April 26, 2022 at 9:11 am

      The biggest difference is if you ask S&C or Wellness-Core, they will tell you how it’s achieved, not this cold shoulder-confusing response 🤷‍♀️

      • Cheryl Moscoe

        August 25, 2022 at 2:37 pm

        Bought this last week for my little chiweenie. It looked absolutely disgusting so I only gave her a small amount for dinner. She has been sick with diarrhea ever since.

  3. TAllen

    April 25, 2022 at 8:59 pm

    Love it Susan! You are giving their legal departments nightmares. 🙂

    • Connie Chauvel-Gomez

      April 26, 2022 at 3:40 am

      thank you Susan!!

  4. Francine

    April 25, 2022 at 11:15 pm

    One thing the US knows how to do well is BS.
    Everyone, everywhere, about everything.
    It’s the focus of all the training, and where most resources go.

  5. Karin Yates

    April 25, 2022 at 11:30 pm

    It is guaranteed to be the most expensive.

  6. Will Falconer, DVM

    April 27, 2022 at 12:46 am

    Susan, great job of blowing the lid off this egregious behavior.

    I’ve now learned what’s claimed on a pet food website is completely unregulated.

    Wow.

    My guess is that labels on the products are perhaps a slightly different thing, correct?
    I’d guess there are some rules there but lax to no enforcement of them, am I on the right track?

    Thanks, as always, for being the Chief Watch Person on this crazy industry!

    • Susan Thixton

      April 27, 2022 at 8:35 am

      It’s mainly state authorities that check labels, not FDA. Certain things on labels are consistently checked – such as to make sure the label includes all the basic information (guaranteed analysis, species – dog food/cat food, manufacturer, ingredients). Some states check every word on a label (just a few) and others don’t check much of anything.

  7. Maria Allen

    April 27, 2022 at 8:18 am

    Thank you Susan for your diligent work. Another company who wants to pull the ‘wool’ over our eyes.

  8. Duke Silver

    March 7, 2023 at 9:14 am

    Any recommendations for a dog food that is salmon flavored? I’ve tried using Fromm and ORIJEN Dry Dog Food Six Fish.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Learn More

Human Grade & Feed Grade
Do you know what the differences are between Feed Grade and Human Grade pet food? Click Here.

 

The Regulations
Pet Food is regulated by federal and state authorities. Unfortunately, authorities ignore many safety laws. Click Here to learn more about the failures of the U.S. pet food regulatory system.

 

The Many Styles of Pet Food
An overview of the categories, styles, legal requirements and recall data of commercial pet food in the U.S. Click Here.

 

The Ingredients
Did you know that all pet food ingredients have a separate definition than the same ingredient in human food? Click Here.

Click Here for definitions of animal protein ingredients.

Click Here to calculate carbohydrate percentage in your pet’s food.

 

Sick Pet Caused by a Pet Food?

If your pet has become sick or has died you believe is linked to a pet food, it is important to report the issue to FDA and your State Department of Agriculture.

Save all pet food – do not return it for a refund.

If your pet required veterinary care, ask your veterinarian to report to FDA.

Click Here for FDA and State contacts.

The List

The Treat List

Special Pages to Visit

Subscribe to our Newsletter
Click Here

Pet Food Recall History (2007 to present)
Click Here

Find Healthy Pet Foods Stores
Click Here

About TruthaboutPetFood.com
Click Here

Friends of TruthaboutPetFood.com
Click Here

You May Also Like

Pet Food News

Halo provides us answers to our follow up questions.

Recalls

Halo, Purely for Pets has initiated a limited, voluntary recall of its Spot’s Stew Sensitive Cat Turkey kibble with a Best By date of...

Pet Food Ingredients

Have you ever wanted to look back at a pet foods ingredients years ago? Have you wondered if a Big Business buy out of...

Pet Food Ingredients

Salt is a required nutrient in pet food, however there does not appear to be any consistency in its use. Some pet foods include...