Food Quality and Safety
Dog Delight's Commitment to Food Quality and Safety
Dog Delights Embraces GFSI!
The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) was established in 2000 and is “a business-driven initiative for the continuous improvement of food safety management systems to ensure confidence in the delivery of safe food to consumers worldwide.” http://www.mygfsi.com
Dog Delights has taken the initiative to develop and implement a food safety program under the Global Food Safety Initiative. In 2013 efforts were made to prepare our new facility and train our staff for GFSI certification. We are proud to announce that In February of 2014, we were granted SQF Level 2-food safety certification, a GFSI recognized “scheme”, and have continued to uphold regulation quality and standards.
What are the benefits of feeding your dog(s) treats prepared in a GFSI certified facility?
Not only should you feel good about feeding your dog(s) high quality dog treats made with minimal ingredients, sourced only within North America, and treats that contain no colours, additives or preservatives, but you will be happy to know that we have added food safety accountability for the entire line of Dog Delights treats.
Here are a few of the benefits:
Senior management and all employees are fully committed to, and trained in, food safety principles that require strict adherence to good manufacturing practices.
- All ingredients, packaging and finished products are fully traceable.
- Foreign material detection is established to ensure no unwanted materials make their way into your treats.
- Full “Hazard and Critical Control Points” plan (HACCP) has been implemented to control for food safety and quality issues that may arise.
- Separate, dedicated areas of the plant, where temperature and air quality/flow are monitored and controlled, have been designed for both the processing and packaging of our treatshourly quality control checks are in place
- Regular in-house and accredited third party lab testing is conducted on all our products
- A rigorous “Approving Suppliers” procedure is followed for all existing and new suppliers
The Reality of Food Safety Requirements in the Pet Industry
With all the food related recalls, in the marketplace, and with food being sourced from many parts of the world, there is an increasing consumer demand to put in place consistent standards to ensure the safety of the food we eat. Naturally, pet owners are also looking for more accountability from manufacturers of high quality dog treats and food. Currently the GFSI initiative has been mostly embraced by processors of food fit for human consumption and less so by the pet industry. One reason for this is that there is little to no food safety regulation in place for manufacturers of pet food and treats.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), for example, “…does not regulate pet food that is manufactured in Canada, and sold domestically. Individual Canadian pet food manufacturers are responsible for ensuring the safety and quality of their products.”http://www.inspection.gc.ca/animals/feeds/pet-food/eng/1299870750016/1320602183408
The same situation is true in the United States. However, In the U.S., the FDA, under the “Food Safety Modernization Act”, will likely require all pet food manufacturers to develop and implement food safety practices which will be subject to the FDA’s approval.http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/fsma/ucm298665.htm
In a nutshell, food safety compliance, for the manufacturing of pet food and treats, is completely voluntary. Once implemented, it is a long term commitment which requires annual third party audits and continual improvement. The Crump Group is committed to food safety and quality.
As always, we appreciate your loyal support. This is just the beginning of great things to come from Dog Delights.
Sincerely,
Margot Crump