GUIDELINES FOR PRODUCERS OF RAW PET FOOD LAUNCHED BY PFMA

GUIDELINES FOR PRODUCERS OF RAW PET FOOD LAUNCHED BY PFMA

The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA), has published new sector guidelines for the manufacture of commercial raw pet food. The guidelines, which promote best practice in the sector, have been developed in conjunction with Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Public Health England (PHE) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA).

The guidelines aim to:

• Improve safety, hygiene and nutrition of raw pet food made in the UK
• Summarise sector-specific regulatory requirements
• Describe recommendations to achieve ‘best practice’ in raw pet food production
• Liaise with regulators and enforcement bodies to combine expertise and develop recommendations to maintain and raise standards

Michael Bellingham, PFMA Chief Executive advises: “With the growing interest in raw pet food, and more companies producing commercial raw pet foods, the guidelines are very timely. There are currently eighty-one producers of commercial raw diets registered with Defra and nine of these are members of the PFMA so there is also the opportunity for us to grow our dedicated sector group”.

Dr Claire Miller MRCVS, from the PFMA Veterinary Nutrition and Raw Producers group, has been instrumental in the development of the guidelines, Claire added:

“The development of these guidelines provided a unique opportunity to pull together the leading experts in the raw sector, pet food safety and legislation. We have worked to create a best practice guide to be built upon for years to come, thereby helping to stabilise the future of the industry with the aim of better protecting the health of the public and pets alike.”

The guidelines are available to download at:

https://www.pfma.org.uk/uk-pet-food-codes-of-practice

PFMA Raw Producer members include:

·         Benyfit Natural  benyfitnatural.co.uk

·         Cotswold Raw www.cotswoldraw.com

·         Durham Animal Feeds  www.daf-petfood.co.uk

·         Honey's Real Dog Food  honeysrealdogfood.com

·         Natural Instinct  www.naturalinstinct.com

·         Natures Menu  www.naturesmenu.co.uk

·         Nutriment  www.nutriment.co

·         TPMS  www.tpms.co.uk

·         Wolftucker  www.wolftucker.co.uk

Companies interested in finding out more about PFMA membership should visit: https://www.pfma.org.uk/about-membership or contact Michael Bellingham  michael@pfma.org.uk

Notes to editor:

PFMA is the principal trade body representing the UK pet food industry, our 70 members account for over 90% of the UK pet food market. Members manufacture foods for a variety of pet species including cats, dogs, small animals, birds and fish. PFMA also represents manufacturers of wild bird feed. For more information on the pet food industry, including the latest facts and figures, legislation etc please visit www.pfma.org.uk