New California, USA, plant has on-site lab certified to test petfood ingredients from arrival to end product
Perfection Pet Foods will soon open a new manufacturing facility in Visalia, California, USA, which according to the company's vice president of operations, Ed Cooper, far exceeds the food safety requirements currently in place for petfood manufacturers.
The new plant has an on-site independent certified lab, which is also certified to test food for human consumption, that tests the petfood ingredients arriving at the plant through to the end product. The petfood plant also has sealed rooms separating different production stages. One area considered to be potentially dangerous for the development of bacterial and toxins is the room that wet and dry petfood ingredients are combined in, where Perfection Pet Food employees will wear clothing, shoe covers and hairnets that do not leave the room, and employees use special stations to scrub exposed skin. The plant also circulates air through three special Hepa filters to ensure no outside air enters the plant and uses a special enamel floor coating to ensure food safety, according to the company.
The new petfood production facility will produce 140,000 tons of dry petfood when it opens in March. Cooper said that the company expects to double its production capacity in two years, and grow the company from 30 employees to 80. Cooper also said that within that time, the company hopes to source mainly local ingredients to produce its more than 200 dog and cat food formulas.