FDA release - Safety of food for animals

Will the raw pet food industry be able to meet the FDA’s new requirements?

According to Melinda Miller, president of the North American Raw Petfood Association (NARPA), its members are well positioned. They have Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans in place, operate in facilities that produce human food, and use advanced pathogen treatment and testing methods along with test and hold distribution. Per Miller:

"NARPA companies already meet or exceed most of the [Food Safety Modernization Act] requirements, and, by using test and hold distribution for many years now, they have been operating at higher food safety levels than most of the companies producing dry/canned pet foods.”

Ms. Miller distinguishes between NARPA and non-NARPA companies, and makes the unfortunate accusation that non-members are “doing little to nothing in the way of food safety.” She warns that it will be one of these non-NARPA member that is “likely to be involved in some problematic, raw diet ‘event’.”

I’m not in agreement with Miller’s suggestion that any raw pet food producer who doesn’t belong to her organization isn’t interested in the safety of its products. I do certainly hope raw pet food manufacturers understand they must comply with the requirements of the new Food Safety Modernization Act, and I hope the growth of the raw pet food segment continues, as it offers pet parents healthy, species-appropriate alternatives to processed pet food.

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The majority of commercial raw food manufacturers are trying to reduce the risk of contamination by relying on a “test and hold” system, shipping only product which test negative. While that helps minimize the risk, it doesn’t meet the zero-tolerance requirement as companies are only testing a small sample, which leaves them more exposed to recall. The FDA will allow only one or two recalls before requiring the company be shut down.

The only real way to ensure no pathogens exist in raw food products is to include a “kill” step during processing. High Pressure Pasteurization (HPP) is a process of applying water pressure to the meat at a controlled temperature to kill bacteria. This process has been around for about ten years and used more extensively the past five by a number of commercial raw food pet manufacturers. Stella & Chewy’s and Nature’s Variety use this process for all of their products. More recently, and only partially, the process has been adopted by Primal, BRAVO, and Northwest Naturals (which produces raw food for a number of other companies).

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