The Honest Kitchen implemented a system of vendor pledges, which all suppliers will be required to complete and sign prior to providing raw petfood ingredients into the company’s human food grade production facility.
The vendor pledges require formal declaration and annual renewal from suppliers of each petfood ingredient that various criteria are met. These criteria, established by the Honest Kitchen, include: human edible status from harvesting and throughout all handling, screening and cleaning; statement of country of origin and a promise the ingredient does not originiate from China; adherence to good manufacturing practices (GMPs); ingredients that are not genetically modified or subject to engineered recombinant DNA technology; verification that it is free of chemical preservatives; sustainability and fair-trade attributes where applicable; and verification of screening for contaminants in accordance with human food safety standards.
“We’re excited to implement this important new step into our overarching pet food quality-control program,” said Lucy Postins, company founder and president. “We’ve always placed the highest priority on ingredient quality and integrity and have frequently dismissed vendors from even bidding on ingredient prices because we haven’t been happy with a particular aspect of their operations – so it makes total sense to put these pledges in place, not only for our own peace of mind but for our customers, too. Good whole food ingredients that are human-edible do cost more but pets are our priority.”
