Pet Food Safety Protocol

When a pet parent contacts you reporting a sick, dying, or dead pet they believe to be caused from your pet food/treat – what is your company protocol for handing the report?

What is the procedure for first complaint in a pet food batch?

Are there subsequent procedures followed for additional complaints (same batch)?

Do you provide the pet parent with a report of your investigation?

Typically, how long does it take for the pet parent to receive a response to your investigation of their complaint?

Do you investigate even without a veterinarian statement?

Do you retain a portion of each batch of pet food for testing?  If yes, for how long do you keep this food?

Should the worst happen, and a recall be initiated, what is the estimated length of time from date investigation begins to date recall is announced?

Any additional information you’d like to provide would be appreciated.

Addiction Pet Foods was founded by a Holistic Veterinarian and Clinical Nutritionist and passionate pet parents united in a mission to improve the health and lives of pets around the world.  We have had companion animals throughout our lives and have all felt the heartache and pain of our pets being ill at one time or the other.  Therefore, there is nothing more important to us than ensuring that the foods we make are nutritious, safe and healthful.

Although we very rarely receive complaints from our customers, we take each and every instance seriously.  In order to conduct a proper investigation we ask the pet parent to share as much information as they can such as where they purchased the food, the batch number, expiration date, the nature of their pet’s condition, age, breed, known allergies, medical history and any special circumstances surrounding their illness.  We see this step as vitally important since it allows us to quickly identify the relevant batches of food for investigation as well as the possible causes for the illness.  Upon receiving information from pet parents, we use a multi-disciplinary group made up of a veterinarian, food safety technologists and customer service personnel to investigate and take action in cases when a complaint is received.  With adequate information provided, we aim to determine the likely cause within 48 hours and provide an initial report to the pet parent within 72 hours with them writing to us.

All feedback about food is kept in a database and each batch is monitored for trends and patterns that could raise any concerns. This trend monitoring allows us to react expediently and more rapidly to potential problems than otherwise possible.

All our foods are part of a traceability program which allows us to identify the source of raw materials in every batch of food produced. We retain samples of each batch so that we have product on hand for testing as required.

In the event that the food has been determined to pose a safety concern, we will issue a recall within 24 hours to distributors, retailers and consumers. Recall information will also be available on our website www.addictionfoods.com.

We understand that there are many factors that may cause a pet to become ill, and we see it as our responsibility to work with the pet parent to swiftly and accurately isolate the cause, whether food borne or otherwise, so that the correct treatment can be given.

Addiction is fully committed to swiftly and comprehensively investigating and addressing any complaints. Our priority is first and foremost the well-being of the dogs and cats on our foods and we will do all that we can to provide pet parents with accurate information to ensure the health of their pets.

I’ll get back to you soon!

Determine the nature of the complaint, look at the size of the lot, how long has it been in distribution, and check retained samples.

Determine if the complaint is of the same nature as any other complaint in this lot.  Speak to our Veterinarian about severity if applicable.

The pet parent will be notified within 24 hours of the complaint submission.  They are informed of the results of investigation via email or verbal communication.

The pet parent will be notified within 24 hours of the complaint submission.  If an investigation is required, on average the time to respond to the pet parent will be under 72 hours.

We have an in-house Veterinarian that is involved with most complaints.

Every lot of pet food manufactured has a minimum of 3 samples retained for a minimum of 18 months.

We document the nature of the problem, the recipe that was being fed and the lot code / production date. We then typically request a sample (about 1 cup) be submitted to us. This is sent to an independent lab for screening.

When the lab results come back, these are communicated to the customer. Typically, no parameters fall outside the normal expected limits for our products. If they ever do, then our retained lot samples are tested to determine if they too have any abnormal values.
All reports of palatability issues and illness are documented so that we can instantly determine if more than one complaint ever occurs in a single batch.

We have not yet had a case where two samples from the same batch had matching abnormal values. Occasionally there may be a couple of reports of palatability or a pet vomiting when eating the same batch but these typically get traced back to other causes, for example the animal consuming dirty beach water, or a box of food being left on a porch in blazing sun, or being subjected to extreme heat in transit. We also rely on our retained batches to compare lab findings of returned samples.

Do you provide the pet parent with a report of your investigation?
Yes.

Yes, we retain a sample from every single lot produced, for 12 months.

Our products undergo routine and random screening for a wide spectrum of contaminants (read more here: http://www.thehonestkitchen.com/products/learn/product-integrity/

Our facility also operates a ‘mock recall’ drill twice annually where a fictitious scenario is rehearsed at the plant, assuming that the routine test results for a single ingredient came back in an abnormal range. We are able to trace the exact lots of food that were produced with any given lot number of a particular ingredient, and then track the production dates, arrival at the warehouse, and the customers who placed orders within a specified time period to contact them as a first priority, in addition to normal public procedures for announcing a problem with a lot.

We follow the same procedure outlined above for any complaint.

Any additional samples are collected and form part of the data set used to assess product quality and safety.  Knowledge gained from these data determines next steps.

If the pet parent requests a formal report of results, we provide it.

Within 15 days – this is driven by time required to perform thorough internal and external testing and analysis.

Yes.  We investigate all pet parent concerns regardless of whether or not a veterinarian statement is provided.  We consider all information provided.

Yes, for one month beyond the expiration date printed on the package.

Reports of a dying or dead animal would trigger testing by our industrial third-party independent lab.

We respond within 24 hours to every question we receive pertaining to the health of a pet and our food via email or phone.  Our initial inquiry would involve understanding prior and current pet diet and the duration and symptoms exhibited to ascertain if we dealing with an actual health issue or a consumer education issue as they transfer their pet to a whole food diet.

We believe our process and ingredients are clearly superior to any other company on the market today.  As the company owners we actually eat from each batch made prior to release to the public. If there is an initial complaint determined to be a real health risk, we would pull several product items randomly from that batch to thaw and inspect. Depending on the specifics of the complaint and what is found from inspecting the product our response would then range from continued monitoring to full third-party lab inspection and recall of product from retail shelves.

Two or more credible calls on a single batch would immediately move us to do a full battery of third-party lab tests on the product. Scale and scope of testing would depend on details of the complaint but could include the following and/or additional tests:

Food Pathogen Analysis via PCR Analysis
E. coli O157:h7
Salmonella
Listeria Monocytogenes

Based on the results of those tests we would be ready if needed to pull all products from our retail store shelves and contact our email list of consumers and store owners as well as local media.

We would certainly share all relevant details from our findings as soon as they are available.

A recall could start within an hour of receiving a report showing an issue with the batch. That recall would be announced the same day via mail list, press release and retail store contact. Depending on the particulars of the scenario including if an outside lab test is required, time from investigation to recall could be as short as 48 hours, or as long as one week.

Our products are manufactured at plants which are EU, FDA and CFIA certified, meaning they must uphold a very high standard of sanitation, cleanliness and manufacturing practices. Our products are made using our recipes and standards, with our specified high quality ingredients. Other plant safeguards include:

We demand that food ingredients used in our recipes be fit for human consumption, and free of contaminants.

Ingredients are tested prior to receiving for quality assurances including but not limited to; nutritional integrity, aflatoxins, microtoxins, and moisture levels.

During production, NIR (Near Infra Red) technology is used to measure properties like fat, protein and moisture content of the food.

Between production runs of different products, we demand a complete cleaning and sanitation to ensure the integrity of our foods. As well, raw ingredient bins are dedicated to just one particular ingredient, and raw material bins are cleaned between batches. Finished products are kept in a separate location from raw ingredients. Employees in different areas of production utilize strict protocols to ensure no cross contamination.

Petcurean also commissions independent auditing by NSF- Cook & Thurber, and the American Institute of Baking, both organizations used for human food audits.

In the event of a complaint, batch numbers are logged, and details of the complaint registered. The response procedure is dictated by the information contained in the complaint but may include additional dialogue with the consumer to determine some of the specifics about the incident (transition time for switching, previous food fed, other medical conditions present etc.). We do not require a veterinarian report to do an investigation, however communication may occur between Petcurean and a certified veterinarian. If required, our tracking methods allows us to flag the batch in question for further testing. The investigating and reporting timelines vary, and reports are made available to the consumer involved upon request. We treat these matters very seriously and have been recognized for our prompt and thorough approach to consumer concerns.

If we have any complaints, we are most often are able to resolve any concerns by providing specific information however if not, we will either offer an exchange or our 110% money back guarantee. We will do whatever we can to resolve the issue or concern.

As for response times, we handle every complaint same day – usually we will respond within 20 minutes if we are able to.

Each of our batches does have a sample sent out to an independent lab for analysis. Due to this step, it is highly unlikely we  would ever have a problem with our food as we analyze it prior to ever sending it out to a customer. We also keep a sample of each batch ourselves. Should there ever be an issue, a huge advantage RedMoon has over other foods is that we are able to contact every person who bought that specific product immediately since we have their e-mail, address and phone number.

We operate under international human food processing standards and have multiple ways to go back and review multiple facets of production runs if and when necessary. We only use a small handful of ingredients. For instance, the only cut of chicken we use is boneless, skinless white breast meat, and it comes from limited suppliers. We therefore can trace this back to the supply level, and with fish items, we can trace back to the boat it was caught on. We can track workers that were on the production line etc.

We haven’t got the point of a formal investigation. We deal with Thailand, so official factory documents are often translated into the bodies of emails. In the limited times we have inquired about production runs, we more or less provide the information we receive from the plant to customers.

We try to answer customers as soon as possible. Customer service is extremely important, and I make an effort to answer just about every email personally. Regarding issues that require an inquiry to the plant, our response back to a customer comes as soon as we receive a response back from our manufacturing partner. Our manufacturing partner is very good at jumping right on potential issues, but the time for response depends upon what the inquiry is.

Yes. I will have to get back to you on how long these are retained

As investigation times can vary greatly depending upon what the issue may be, I do not want to estimate a time. What I can say is that we will act promptly and appropriately to investigate any potential issues. As soon as we can confirm that our food is causing or can potentially be causing issues, we will likewise act appropriately and promptly.