I say remarkable because the pet food industry is not exactly what I would call a transparent industry – some pet food companies will actually refuse to divulge where their foods are manufactured.  Natura makes their own foods in their own factory, and they are quite proud of their facility (and rightly so!). Their standards are rigorous, and in my opinion should be required of all pet food manufacturers, but they are not – this is way above and beyond what is required by law. The plant has regularly (every year for the past 6 years) received a score of “Superior” from the AIB (American Institute of Baking) even on unscheduled inspections – this is significant, as not all pet food manufacturers even have AIB certification. It’s a 3rd party system of quality control that rates a facility on all aspects of the process. They are also requiring AIB certification of “Excellent” (the 2nd highest ranking) or better for their suppliers of raw ingredients and even of their distributors. Not only that, but they are the only pet food manufacturer that also has ISO 22000 certification. This is an independent audit that is specific to human food industries, where an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe for human consumption. Very few human manufacturing facilities even use this strict certification process, as it truly challenges all levels of the business. Again, it’s hard to believe these standards are not required of every facility that makes food for people or pets, but we certainly have seen in the past few years some degree of exposure of the problems in our outdated factories, such as in the big peanut recall this year.
We’ve always respected Natura’s strict ingredient quality standards and safety protocols, but it was amazing to see it all for myself. They were so eager to talk to us and show us every nook and cranny of the operation (there are about 4 acres under the roof), even opening closets and electrical room doors to show us that there ware no secret off limit areas that would expose the secret sordid underbelly of the operation. I was amazed that we were not just looking through windows, but actively walking around all of the machinery, into the refrigerators, receiving bays, etc. The automated packaging process is a blast to see, as bags drop down and machines weigh and drop product into them, they move along the conveyor belt and are heat sealed, laser stamped with the date, shrink wrapped and stacked onto the pallets by an enormous robot arm, nicknamed “Big Bird”. We were able to trace the whole process, visiting the the hammermill that grinds the whole grains, talking with the lab tech that was analyzing the safety of new shipments of ingredients and of finshed products, visiting the central control room where we were shown how all of the phases of cooking and cooling are monitored on the computers, watching the kibbles float up pneumatic tubes to be sprayed with fats, cooled and the probiotics applied.   The warehouse that temporarily stores finished product gave me the distinct recollection of that scene of the endless warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Arc – it was 100,000 square feet, stacked to the very tall ceiling with product (they make enough kibble every day to feed about one million pets).  However, while the fancy automation is fun to watch, the best parts for me truly were to poke my nose into cases of Washington apples, California carrots, and big tubs of cottage cheese, etc. (no corn or soy in there, by the way).  Even putting our noses right into the vat of freshly ground chicken and turkey – smells like fresh ground raw meat. Nothing rancid, nothing smelly, all fresh. And so clean! A few little kibbles fall out of the machines here and there, which are frequently swept up. The place is gleaming.  It was an amazing opportunity to see it in person, and I’m burning to see other facilities to compare them! Not sure how likely that will be, but I’ll certainly try in the future. If you’d like to see some of it yourself, check out the video on the front page of Natura’s website, and picture me in a hair net, hard hat, safety glasses, ear protection, and a big smock, chatting with all of those folks in white uniforms.  Everyone was very eager to share their knowledge. It’s so heartening to see such integrity and quality in the industry and I was grateful for the invitation and the opportunity to see it all for myself.  It’s a dang smart thing for Natura to do as well, as here I am telling you about how impressive it is there, and chatting with my customers about my experience. The other day I was on the website of another food we carry that said they had achieved “excellent” on their AIB certification, and I said, “hmm, that’s nice. Glad it was at least that. Can’t you do better? Was it an unannounced visit?”