Pet Food Safety Standards

JULIE GALLAGHER

The similarities between pet and people foods don't just involve flavors, appearance and nutritional profiles. Dog and cat foods can also mimic human fare when it comes to the food safety standards to which they are held.

Wegmans Food Markets, Rochester, N.Y., is one marketer who applies the same safety standards to its store-brand people and pet foods.

Before it began sourcing its Bruiser dry dog food and Buju and Ziggie dry cat food from new supplier Dad's Pet Care last month, its food safety auditors visited and approved the Dad's plant in Meadville, Pa.

Dad's complies with Safe Quality Foods 2000, level two standards — one of the five global food safety standards endorsed, and now required by Wegmans, according to Mary Ellen Burris, Wegmans' senior vice president of consumer affairs.

“This new supplier for Bruiser dry dog food and Buju and Ziggie dry cat food was necessary because of a disappointing relationship with the previous supplier, including recalled products a year ago due to a strain of salmonella found in their facility,” said Burris, in a recent column.

Dad's sources main ingredients like wheat, alfalfa, beef and chicken from locations near its facility, while vitamin ingredients are imported to the U.S. “as is common in the pet industry,” Burris said.