The saying goes, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” and that certainly holds up in the pet food space. Everyone involved in the production of pet food, be it as an ingredient supplier, a manufacturer or anything in between, has a responsibility to ensure their product is wholly compliant with the latest safety regulations and good practices. Of course, “everything in between” is a lot of steps, which makes pet food safety a complex prospect.
“Proper food safety and sanitation practices are essential to prevent pet food from being contaminated by harmful bacteria and other pathogens, rendering it unfit for consumption,” said Sarah Hammond, marketing manager for MoistTech Corp., which specializes in moisture detection, measurement and control technologies. “It is imperative that animals receive the same level of safety precautions as humans, particularly in the realm of food production. Many precautions should be taken into consideration, such as properly training employees, ingredient storage, precise manufacturing efficiency and proper sanitation methods to ensure not only safety but quality as well. It is essential for the layout of a food production facility to adhere to the production order, commencing with raw ingredients and concluding with the final product. Adhering to this sequence is crucial as it reduces the risk of bacteria spreading and contamination in other areas of the facility. Moreover, the correct layout enhances the safety of the facility for employees and reduces the likelihood of production errors.”
Putting together a strong food safety compliance plan
All those steps, each with potential pitfalls unique to their part of the process, make having a complete compliance plan essential.
“A strong pet food safety compliance plan is built on thorough ongoing risk assessments and rigorous quality control processes that ensure our high standards for pet products are consistently met,” said Kevin Taylor, senior director of R&D at pet food manufacturer Alphia. “Our safety compliance team is led by a group of R&D experts, quality assurance professionals and supply chain managers who seamlessly work together to ensure all aspects of production meet safety requirements and health standards. They regularly work together to meet AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) standards, collecting data to monitor food safety standards on an ongoing basis.”
Having multiple representatives from the process involved in the compliance plan’s creation is key to its success, as is total buy-in from the entire company, according to the industry.
“The team responsible for developing the pet food safety compliance plan should be composed of at least one representative from each department,” said Amber Simpson, CFSQA quality management specialist at pet food manufacturer Petcurean. “However, it is everyone’s responsibility to adhere to effective food safety and compliance. Regardless of their role in an organization or whether they work directly with the product, understanding the principles and processes around food safety is essential to success.”
Why must everyone be “in the know?” Because, unsurprisingly, there are a lot of places where safety could go awry. The more awareness there is around those potential pitfalls, the better.
“Involvement along the production line is the meat preparation, where everything starts,” said Luca Carollo, regional sales manager, Central-East Europe, for software company Clevertech Group (a member of the Pet Food Competence Network). “[But there’s also] product cooking, where certain cooking parameters have to be respected and monitored; and filling and sealing of the product in primary packaging, where there are specific activities to be performed to respect maximum hygienic design and be compliant with food safety. When we have the primary package sealed, there is always a quality time to be respected, which are the process windows within which the primary package just closed and must be processed in thermal treatment.”
Once the product has been treated in autoclave, the majority of the tasks for food safety compliance has been executed, according to Carollo. However, pet food manufacturers take further steps to be completely sure about their products: Quarantines.
“During the quarantine period, which usually lasts 5–6 days, the primary or secondary packages are kept in storage and there are inspections about possible contamination, microbiological alteration of the product and deformation of the containers, which are signals that something did not go properly,” said Carollo.
The top pitfall of pet food safety compliance: Human error
Of course, with so many people involved in such a complex process, it makes sense that those same people are also a prime pitfall for the successful execution of a safety compliance plan.
“Human error will always be the biggest challenge in maintaining compliance,” said Simpson. “That’s why it is important to develop a safety compliance plan that that has effective monitoring activities and built-in responses to failures or misses.”
It’s also vital to keep the lines of communication and education open.
“We seek out opportunities to build and strengthen relationships with industry peer groups, attend conferences and regulatory meetings, and monitor industry news so that we always keep a finger on the pulse about trends or changes impacting our business,” said Simpson. “Quality and compliance are baked into our company’s identity and values, and our team has a deep-seated commitment to maintaining the safety and quality of our pet food recipes. This also extends to the partners that we choose to work with. When we are evaluating potential partners, we ensure that their values and actions regarding pet food safety align with ours, and we engage in partnership audits to evaluate their programs and offer outside perspectives on compliance. It’s critical to stay informed and active within the industry — after all, we all have the same goal of pet health and safety.”
Everyone agrees that ongoing training takes a lot of the risk out of potential compliance violations. From keeping up with the latest regulations to maintaining an ongoing conversation with business partners, staying on top of all things pet food safety is the number one way to ensure that compliance is complete and the product is safe.