Sourcing Quality Ingredients
The Northern Leader fishing boat in Alaska responsibly sources cod from the Bering Sea for our Beyond Regions line.
Sourcing is important, not just to ensure we use high-quality ingredients in our pet food products, but also for the environment. We can trace every single ingredient back to our trusted sources. Our experts don’t just monitor our ingredients once they arrive at our factories—they evaluate quality from the source.
Where Do We Get Our Ingredients?
Quality ingredients come from quality sources. We source the majority of our ingredients right here in the U.S. from our trusted suppliers. Before working with a supplier, our technical team conducts rigorous sampling to ensure the ingredient meets our standards.
We inspect each ingredient as it arrives at our facilities for quality and safety. Our quality assurance team performs multiple checks throughout the manufacturing process and our factory employees have the power to reject any ingredients that don’t meet our high standards.
How Do We Evaluate Our Suppliers?
Suppliers must adhere to our stringent criteria, so it’s not easy to become a Purina supplier. Initial assessments can take 6 to 12 months to complete or longer, depending on the number of facilities.
5 Steps to Finding a New Supplier
Identify suppliers to source our quality ingredients. We look for suppliers whose values align with ours before we even do an on-site visit.
We audit the supplier’s facility. If a supplier has multiple facilities, we inspect and approve each location separately.
Study the integrity of ingredients through regulatory, food safety and toxicology reviews.
Test ingredients prior to approval through Nestle Purina Analytical Labs.
Conduct ongoing monitoring and assessments at set frequencies based on the specific ingredient supplied.
We consider several criteria when evaluating a new supplier.
Our suppliers must:
Comply with local laws and regulations
Practice ethical and responsible employment, including safety, health and workplace environment standards
Do their due diligence in responsibly caring for the environment
Have overall ethics that align with Purina values
How We are Minimizing Environmental Impact
Purina is committed to minimizing our global environmental impact. That’s why we make responsible sourcing of our ingredients a top priority.
In fact, sustainability and environmental friendliness are both considerations when choosing suppliers. We do provide our suppliers with additional resources and expertise to further their sustainability efforts.
Seafood is a top priority in terms of sustainability because overfishing is such a serious issue. We work closely not only with our seafood suppliers, but also with external seafood sustainability experts, to ensure we source from responsible fisheries.
Our Beyond Regions line contains wild-caught, regionally sourced Alaskan cod from the subarctic waters of the Bering Sea. Not only do we know where our cod comes from, but we know exactly which boat and crew harvested the fish. Watch the video to learn more about our wild-caught cod by the Northern Leader and its 30-person crew.
“Life is a glorious adventure.”
— William Danforth, Purina Founder
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