Quality and Safety are #1 at Darwin’s

At Darwin’s, quality and safety are our top priorities. We adhere to rigorous standards throughout our sourcing and manufacturing processes, crafting healthy raw meals as if they were going straight into the food bowls of our own furry companions.  

 

Following Stringent Safety Practices 

 

All of Darwin’s products are manufactured in the United States, in our own facilities in the heart of Washington, which allows us to own every step of our process and directly ensure the safety of all of our products.  

 

Every employee follows very strict Good Manufacturing Processes (GMPs) which includes sanitation and hygiene, quality management, documentation and recordkeeping, and more. All employees must always wear hairnets, lab coats, gloves and non-slip shoes. Our employees are also required to wash their hands and sanitize their shoes every time that they enter the production area.      

 

Food Safety Starts with High-Quality Ingredients 

 

Ingredient quality isn’t just the first safety step in the process; it’s the most important.  

 

Low-quality ingredients typically found in pet foods, known as “feed-grade” ingredients, don’t adhere to the rigorous standards enforced by the USDA, which inspects human-grade ingredients. Feed-grade ingredients include 4D meats, chemicals not regarded as safe for humans, and non-nutritious leftovers from human food-processing.  

 

Feed-grade ingredients also come from facilities not inspected for sanitation practices, nor are feed-grade suppliers required to follow risk mitigation procedures when it comes to the health and safety of their food.  

 

All of our ingredients come from farms that meet or exceed USDA guidelines for human consumption. They’re inspected for health, safety, and sanitation, as well as the humane treatment of the animals in each farm’s care. 

 

We only use whole, raw human-grade ingredients that come fresh from the small farms we partner with. No 4D meats or animal byproducts, and no factory farms. We personally visit each farm for our inspections, ensuring not only the quality and safety of the ingredients we’re sourcing, but the ethical treatment of the animals in the farm’s care. 

 

Furthermore, all of our farms are required to have their own additional hurdle steps in place to ensure the safety of their ingredients before they ever arrive at our facility.  

 

 

Safety and Site Sanitation 

 

In addition to thorough and rigorous sanitation procedures that take place before and after every shift and between each lot of product, we take additional steps to ensure the cleanliness and safety of our plant. 

 

Everyone who walks into our production facility must be dressed properly, including proper footwear, hair and beard coverings, and coats provided by our facility. Before entering, everyone must pass through a sanitation station where their shoes are sanitized, and they wash their hands.  

 

Throughout the day, our safety team swabs random surfaces for both pathogenic bacteria and indicator organisms. This is to ensure that we can swiftly and effectively respond to any sanitation concerns throughout the day. These swabs are taken randomly and in different locations for thorough coverage of the facility. 

 

 

Steps to Crafting Natural, Raw Meals for Pet Health 

Once healthy ingredients reach our facilities, we take multiple steps to ensure the Darwin’s quality that you’ve come to expect.  

 

• All meat ingredients arrive at our meal center frozen, and we keep them in a temperature-controlled environment. In fact, our facilities are always a chilly 32 degrees and below. 
• As we prepare fresh meats and veggies into complete and balanced meals, we bathe our products in an organic acid bath, which mitigates bacteria while keeping our food true raw. This process has been proven effective, leaving no trace of bad bacteria while preserving the good bacteria integral to a healthy microbiome for pets.  
• Packaged meals are stored in our industrial freezer and deep-frozen to minus-10 degrees Fahrenheit until they’re ready for transport. Most of our meals ship out to customers within 6 weeks of processing, ensuring the freshest (and safest) meals possible. 

 

Our meals are then cold-shipped with coolant in insulated packaging straight to your door. All of our customers in the continental US are shipped on one- or two-day shipping to further ensure our products arrive fresh and fully frozen.  

If you have more questions about the many ways that Darwin’s supports happy, healthy pets through our dedication to quality and safety, please reach out to our pet food advisor team at [email protected].