Eurofins Scientific Inc., an independent third-party auditor, has issued the first three Pet Food Manufacturing Facility Certification Program certificates to petfood manufacturer Nutro Co. This voluntary facility certification program, created by the American Feed Industry Association and third-party food safety experts, is designed specifically for companies manufacturing petfood or petfood ingredients.
These two certification programs build on AFIA’s domestic Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program, which was launched in 2004 for the feed industry. The new programs are designed to monitor the process controls specifically related to petfood manufacturing and to meet requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act. Nutro Kansas City, Missouri, USA; Victorville, California, USA; and Lebanon, Tennessee, USA, facilities were the first to be granted Pet Food Manufacturing Facility Certification Program certificates.
AFIA is seeking US Food and Drug Administration recognition of these programs and encourages FDA to use these programs in its risk assessment of the industry for inspection priorities. “AFIA sees these programs as a model for the entire pet food industry,” said Joel G. Newman, AFIA’s president and CEO. “The third-party audit follows principles laid out in both the FDA’s current good manufacturing practices as well as the basic principles of HACCP.”