Primal’s Commitment to Food Safety

Since 2001, Primal Pet Foods has set out to transform the lives of dogs and cats through their diet. “The mission of Primal is to create, develop, and produce the highest quality pet foods available for dogs and cats,” explained Matt Koss, founder of Primal Pet Foods.

Food safety is a top priority for Primal. We are focused on safety and quality control during every step of the process. Koss believes that the safety process begins long before the diet is produced: “The food safety process starts with procurement. “We focus on the highest quality meat and poultry, fruits, and vegetables… buying from very well-known vendors throughout the country and internationally,” said Koss. Primal prides itself on its responsible sourcing. Each vendor must adhere to the parameters set forth in the company’s strict supplier approval program, overseen by a robust team of qualified Food Safety and Quality Assurance (FSQA) individuals.

Samruddhi Jadhav, Senior Manager – Food Safety & Quality Assurance, confirms that “Primal follows a comprehensive food safety and quality assurance program that includes Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) to ensure product safety and consistency.” Once production begins, temperature is the key element of controlling pathogenic bacteria and maintaining food safety. Koss explains that throughout the production process, it is standard protocol to consistently verify the temperature of the product. In addition to temperature monitoring, Primal has identified multiple preventative controls and developed a robust environmental monitoring program.

Primal employs strict pathogen mitigation steps for all products. All Primal frozen balanced base recipes utilize high-pressure processing (HPP) technology. It requires a specific pressure, hold time, and cold temperature that facilitates the elimination of harmful pathogenic bacteria while maintaining the nutritional integrity of the raw product.

All Primal freeze-dried products utilize probiotics for safety; a proprietary blend of beneficial bacterial strains that are inhibitory due to multiple mechanisms. In an article published by AgroFOOD, Lindsay Meyers, Vice President – Quality, Nutrition, & Compliance at Primal Pet Foods, explained that “the probiotics we use will displace, outcompete, and inhibit any potentially harmful pathogens such as Salmonella spp., E. coli and Listeria monocytogenes, helping prevent/eliminate potentially harmful bacteria from our pet’s food.” Read more about the new and innovative use of probiotics for safety in freeze-dried pet food here.

Additionally, Primal Pet Foods diligently follows a ‘test and hold’ procedure. At the very end of manufacturing, when the respective pathogen mitigation steps have been implemented, multiple samplings of each small batch are sent to a third-party food safety laboratory for testing. The entirety of the lot is held in our own facilities until we receive verification that the samples have tested negative for pathogens.

To hear more about the steps we are taking to ensure the safety of raw pet food, listen to this this podcast interview with Petfood Industry.

Our commitment to quality and safety remains strong as we continue to evolve. The safety and health of pets and their humans is and will continue to be our top priority.