The FDA has provided the public with some transparency.
The FDA Data Dashboard states: “The FDA created the Data Dashboard to increase transparency and accountability by displaying and allowing review of public FDA data through easy-to-use, accessible visual, customizable, and understandable graphics.”
For any company (pet food or any human product) regulated by the FDA, consumers can search Inspections, Compliance issues, and Recalls. The FDA Data Dashboard contains a lot of information, however there is a learning curve to it and it does not provide a lot of detailed information.
Just like…
Starting at the FDA Data Dashboard home page:
When you click on “Inspections” under the Compliance Dashboards column, you will be taken to a page that contains Inspection information for ALL FDA-regulated products. Like:
Also on this Inspections homepage, you’ll find more charts of Inspections by type, citations, an inspection map, Inspection Details, Citation Details and Published 483s (reports of inspection).
When you look at the Citation Details overview, the third item in the list provided is for Phillip’s Pet Food & Supplies Corporation (a pet food distributor):
If you click on that item (the FEI number) you will see:
This page tells us the pet food distributor “did not make corrections when there was a loss of temperature controls.”
But, that’s all it tells us. Is it raw pet food, is it cooked frozen pet food? Is it some other product that needs refrigeration? Was the product damaged or was it sent to pet stores without a ‘loss of temperature controls’ disclosure? We do not know.
For this transparency to truly benefit consumers, the full report needs to be provided – these questions need to be answered.
If you want to search the Inspections of a specific pet food manufacturer, the FDA website offers a filter option. On the Inspections homepage, just above the first chart you will find the filter option. Click on that option and this sidebar will open:
We chose the option “Legal Name” and entered ‘Nestle Purina’, many different company names came up. We’ve reviewed everything included in Nestle Purina Petcare. And the results are another page specific to all of these Nestle Purina Petcare company names. The Inspection chart specific to Nestle Purina Petcare is this:
Regarding the Nestle Purina Petcare Inspection Details (there is a scroll option on the Inspections page to view more information than what is provided in the image below):
Specific to the Nestle Purina Petcare Citations Details are:
And if you click on the FEI Number on the Citation Details page above, it will take you to another page that gives you more details specific to the individual pet food manufacturing plant. When we clicked on the first link – FEI Number 1924965 – we found this information specific to the Nestle Purina Pet Care Company plant in Hager City, WI.
You can search Recalls. If you want to review recalls of any specific pet food, click the Recalls link on the FDA Data Dashboard homepage and enter the filter options you want to search for. Using the same example as above (Nestle Purina Pet Care Company):
And in the list of recalls for Nestle Purina Pet Care Company, when you click on the FEI Number for any recall, you will be taken to a page that will show you this:
If you want to learn more about a specific pet food manufacturer, this FDA website provides a lot of general information. It takes a little time to investigate and learn the site, and unfortunately we are not given many details of inspections or compliance issues, but…the FDA Data Dashboard gives us a good start to investigate the any pet food manufacturer. Baby steps for the FDA.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
Become a member of our pet food consumer Association. The Association for Truth in Pet Food is a stakeholder organization that represents the voice of pet food consumers at AAFCO and the FDA. Your membership helps representatives attend meetings and raise consumer concerns with regulatory authorities. Click here to learn more.
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Does your dog or cat eat dangerous substances? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells ‘the rest of the story’ on more than 5,000 cat foods, dog foods and pet foods. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. Click Here to preview the Petsumer Report. www.PetsumerReport.com
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
The 2024 List
List of Susan’s trusted pet foods. Click here to learn more.
The 2023 Treat List
Susan’s List of trusted pet treat manufacturers. Click here to learn more.
