Pet Food Solutions

Food Safety Testing, Product Development & Scientific Support for Pet Food Manufacturers

Pet food manufacturing combines ingredients, raw materials, microbiology, processing, formulation, contamination control, product quality, packaging, storage, and shelf life.

Many of the scientific challenges encountered in pet food production resemble those found across broader food manufacturing, but the specific formulation, ingredients, processing methods, and intended product use can create distinct laboratory questions. .

A pet food manufacturer may need to understand:

Where could a pathogen or contaminant be entering production?

Are ingredients or raw materials contributing to product inconsistency?

Why has product shelf life changed?

Did a supplier or formulation change affect the finished product?

What laboratory investigation is appropriate for an unexpected result?

CMDC Labs supports appropriate pet-food projects with multidisciplinary scientific resources spanning pathogen testing, microbiology, ingredient and raw-material testing, chemical analysis, contamination investigation, product characterization, product development, shelf-life-related investigation, manufacturing troubleshooting, research, scientific consulting, and quality support.

CMDC Labs is
accredited under

Scientific Support Across Pet Food Manufacturing

Pet food products can involve complex combinations of:

Animal-derived ingredients
Plant-derived ingredients
Nutritional components
Raw materials
Water
Formulation
Microorganisms
Processing
Equipment
Manufacturing environments
Packaging
Storage
Suppliers

An unexpected finished-product result may originate from any of these parts of the production system.

CMDC Labs can evaluate the larger scientific context when testing the finished product alone does not explain what happened.

Pet Food Safety Testing

Evaluate Microbial Hazards With Appropriate Laboratory
Testing

Microbial safety is an important consideration throughout pet food production.

Depending on the product and project requirements, food-safety testing may involve:

The appropriate organism, sampling strategy, laboratory method, and reporting requirements
should reflect the product and intended use of the data.

Pathogen Testing for Pet Food

Pathogens can create product-safety, manufacturing, quality, and recall concerns.

Appropriate laboratory testing may support investigation for relevant microorganisms such as:

A positive result can answer:

“Is the organism present?”

But it may not answer:

“Where did it come from?”

Repeated or unexpected pathogen findings may therefore require a broader investigation
involving products, raw materials, ingredients, environmental samples, water, or other relevant
sources.

Salmonella Testing & Investigation

Salmonella can represent an important concern for appropriate pet-food products, ingredients,
raw materials, and processing environments.

Testing may support:

Finished-product evaluation
Raw-material testing
Ingredient testing
Environmental investigation
Contamination-control programs
Follow-up investigation

When Salmonella appears unexpectedly or repeatedly, investigation may extend beyond
confirmation into potential source pathways.

Pet Food Microbiology

Understand Microbial Conditions Around the Product

Microbiological testing can support questions involving:

Finished products
Raw materials
Ingredients
Water
Manufacturing environments
Microbial enumeration
Microbial identification
Product spoilage
Contamination
Shelf-life-related concerns

Microbial identification can provide useful information when unexpected or recurring
microorganisms are detected.

Environmental Monitoring for Pet Food Facilities

The manufacturing environment can become an important part of contamination-control and
troubleshooting programs.

Environmental monitoring may help evaluate relevant areas involving:

Processing environments
Equipment-associated areas
Product-contact environments
Surfaces
Water-related areas
Potential contamination pathways
Recurring microbial findings

Environmental data can become more informative when evaluated alongside product and raw-
material results.

Pet Food Contamination Investigation

Finding the Contaminant Is Only the First Step

Unexpected contamination may originate from:

Raw materials
Ingredients
Suppliers
Water
Equipment
Manufacturing environments
Processing
Handling
Packaging
Storage
Cross-contamination

A structured scientific investigation may progress through:

Unexpected Finding
↓
Confirm & Characterize the Finding
↓
Review Product & Manufacturing History
↓
Evaluate Product / Raw Materials / Ingredients / Environment / Water
↓
Compare Potential Sources
↓
Develop Source Hypotheses
↓
Perform Targeted Follow-Up Testing

The objective is to generate information that helps distinguish among plausible sources rather
than simply producing more isolated test results.

Ingredient & Raw Material Testing

Understand What Enters the Pet Food Manufacturing
Process

Raw materials and ingredients can influence:

Scientific evaluation may involve:

Microbiology
Chemical characteristics
Heavy metals where appropriate
Contamination
Supplier variation
Lot-to-lot differences
Comparative performance

Testing incoming materials can be especially useful when a product changes after a supplier or
ingredient change.

Supplier & Ingredient Change Investigation

A supplier change may introduce differences that are not immediately obvious from routine
documentation.

A useful scientific comparison may include:

Previous Ingredient
vs.
New Ingredient and Acceptable Pet Food
vs.

Problematic Pet Food

Laboratory analysis can then focus on measurable differences potentially relevant to the
observed product or manufacturing change.

Chemical & Analytical Testing

Not every pet-food problem is microbiological.

Analytical chemistry may help investigate:

Raw materials
Ingredients
Product composition
Chemical contaminants
Heavy metals
Unknown residues
Comparative products
Manufacturing changes
Product-development questions

Relevant analytical techniques should be selected according to the sample, target, sensitivity
required, and scientific objective.

Heavy Metals & Elemental Analysis

Appropriate pet-food ingredients, raw materials, or finished products may require investigation
for heavy metals or other elemental contaminants.

ICP-MS may provide sensitive elemental analysis for appropriate sample types.

Projects may involve:

Raw materials
Ingredients
Finished products
Supplier comparison
Contamination investigation
Product-development studies
Quality-related testing

Target elements, analytical limits, sample preparation, and reporting requirements should be
established according to the product and intended use of the data.

Pet Food Product Development

Generate Scientific Information While the Product Is
Being Developed

New pet-food products or formulation changes can create questions involving:

Ingredients
Raw materials
Formulation
Microbiology
Processing
Product characteristics
Packaging
Stability
Shelf life
Product consistency

CMDC Labs can evaluate appropriate development projects requiring microbiological,
analytical, or multidisciplinary laboratory support.

Generating scientific data during development can help teams better understand the product
before full-scale manufacturing and routine quality testing

Product Characterization

Product characterization can help establish measurable information about a pet-food product
during development, comparison, manufacturing, or troubleshooting.

Depending on the scientific question, characterization may involve:

Chemical characteristics
Ingredient-related properties
Microbiological characteristics
Raw-material differences
Comparative formulations
Product consistency
Manufacturing effects

The characterization strategy should be designed around the product and the decision the
resulting data need to support.

Shelf-Life Investigation

Understand Why Product Quality Changes During Storage

Pet-food shelf life can be influenced by interactions among:

Microorganisms
Ingredients
Raw materials
Processing
Packaging
Temperature
Moisture
Storage conditions
Product chemistry

When shelf life becomes unexpectedly shorter, a scientific investigation may compare
acceptable and problematic products while examining relevant microbiological, analytical,
ingredient, processing, packaging, and storage variables.

Product Stability Investigation

Product changes during storage may involve differences in:

Microbiological condition
Chemical characteristics
Product consistency
Ingredient behavior
Physical appearance
Other measurable properties

The first objective is to determine what changed.

Once that is established, laboratory testing can become more targeted toward understanding
potential causes.

Product Consistency & Batch Investigation

Unexpected differences between production lots may result from:

Ingredient variation
Raw-material changes
Supplier changes
Formulation
Manufacturing conditions
Microorganisms
Water
Packaging
Storage
Process changes

Comparative laboratory testing can help identify measurable differences between acceptable
and problematic lots.

Those findings can then guide further scientific investigation.

Manufacturing Troubleshooting

A pet-food product can change even when its intended formulation has not changed.

Potential contributors may include:

Ingredients
Raw materials
Suppliers
Equipment
Processing conditions
Water
Cleaning and sanitation
Manufacturing environments
Microbial contamination
Packaging
Storage

CMDC Labs can evaluate multidisciplinary investigations where several potential causes need
to be differentiated experimentally.

Repeated Pathogen or Microbial Findings

When Retesting Alone Is Not Resolving the Problem

Repeated findings can indicate a larger scientific question.

An investigation may ask:

Is the same organism repeatedly detected?
Is the problem associated with a particular ingredient?
Is it associated with one production line?
Could environmental contamination be involved?
Are incoming raw materials showing similar findings?
Could water or equipment be contributing?
Did the problem begin after a supplier or process change?

Patterns across several evidence sources may provide more useful information than viewing
each laboratory result independently.

Water Testing for Pet Food Manufacturing

Water may be involved in:

Water-quality investigation may involve:

Where water is suspected of contributing to a manufacturing or contamination problem, results
can be evaluated alongside product, ingredient, environmental, and process information.

Pet Food Manufacturing Environment

Manufacturing environments can influence microbial and contamination risks throughout
production.

Relevant scientific questions may involve:

Product-contact environments
Processing equipment
Cleaning
Sanitation
Repeated environmental findings
Cross-contamination
Water-associated areas
Ingredient handling

Environmental information can be considered together with finished-product and raw-material
results during a broader investigation.

Pet Food Research & Development

Pet-food companies developing new products, ingredients, formulations, processing
approaches, or technologies may require laboratory resources beyond routine quality testing.

CMDC Labs can evaluate R&D projects involving:

New formulations
Ingredient comparisons
Raw-material studies
Product characterization
Microbiological research
Shelf-life-related research
Analytical studies
Processing investigations
Customized scientific research

Analytical Method Development

Complex pet-food matrices or specialized analytical questions may require methods beyond an
established routine approach.

Method-development projects may involve:

Defining the analytical objective
Selecting the technique
Sample preparation
Extraction
Separation
Detection
Calibration
Controls
Matrix interference
Reproducibility

The method should be appropriate for both the sample matrix and intended use of the resulting
data.

Scientific Consulting for Pet Food Manufacturers

Sometimes the manufacturer understands the production or quality problem but does not yet
know what should be tested.

Scientific consulting can help evaluate:

Existing laboratory results
Pathogen findings
Contamination patterns
Ingredient changes
Supplier differences
Product-development questions
Shelf-life problems
Batch inconsistency
Processing changes
Testing strategy
Follow-up investigation

Where appropriate, the resulting scientific plan can connect directly to available CMDC Labs
laboratory resources.

Quality & Regulatory Support

Pet-food laboratory programs may contribute to:

Food safety
Ingredient evaluation
Raw-material quality
Finished-product quality
Environmental monitoring
Product verification
Contamination investigation
Supplier evaluation
Manufacturing investigations
Method validation
Compliance-related testing

The intended use of laboratory data should be established before testing begins so applicable
methods, documentation, laboratory requirements, and reporting expectations can be
determined.

Laboratory Capabilities for Pet Food Projects

Pet-food projects may draw upon several CMDC Labs scientific areas.

Food Safety & Microbiology

Pathogen testing, microbial identification, enumeration, contamination investigation, and
environmental monitoring.

Analytical Chemistry

Chemical analysis, chromatography, spectroscopy, contaminant investigation, and product
characterization.

Elemental Analysis

ICP-MS and heavy-metal analysis for appropriate ingredients, raw materials, and finished
products.

Water & Environmental Science

Water-quality testing, wastewater analysis, microbiology, and environmental investigation.

Scientific Troubleshooting

Multidisciplinary investigation of recurring contamination, product inconsistency, manufacturing
problems, and unexpected results.

Research & Product Development

Product characterization, ingredient comparisons, shelf-life-related investigation, analytical
method development, and customized research.

Connecting Ingredient, Environment & Product Data

Pet-food investigations can become more informative when several evidence streams are
considered together.

For example:

Unexpected Finished-Product Finding
●
Raw-Material Results
●

Ingredient Data
●
Environmental Monitoring
●
Water / Process Information
↓
Identify Patterns
↓
Develop Potential Source Hypotheses
↓
Perform Targeted Follow-Up Testing

This allows the investigation to become progressively more focused.

A Connected Scientific Pathway for Pet Food Manufacturing

A new product may progress through:

Product Concept
↓
Ingredient / Raw-Material Evaluation
↓
Formulation Development
↓
Microbiological & Analytical Characterization

↓
Shelf-Life Evaluation
↓
Manufacturing
↓
Food Safety / Quality Testing
↓
Environmental Monitoring
↓
Ongoing Troubleshooting
A contamination problem may instead follow:
Unexpected Finding
↓
Characterize the Organism or Contaminant
↓
Review Product & Manufacturing History
↓
Evaluate Product / Ingredients / Raw Materials / Environment / Water
↓
Identify Relevant Patterns
↓
Targeted Follow-Up Investigation
↓

Process or Control Changes
↓
Verification Testing

The appropriate scientific pathway depends on the problem being investigated.

Have a Pet Food Problem Rather Than a Defined Test?

You don’t need to determine the laboratory method before contacting CMDC Labs.

Tell us:

What pet-food product is involved?
What problem are you observing?
Is the concern microbiological, chemical, quality-related, or unknown?
When did the problem begin?
Is every production lot affected?
Have ingredients, suppliers, water, processing, packaging, or storage changed?
What testing has already been performed?
Are comparison samples available?
How will the resulting data be used?

CMDC Labs can evaluate the question and determine which available scientific resources may
be appropriate.

Already Know What Pet Food Testing You Need?

If you already have a defined organism, analyte, sample type, method, standard, or testing requirement, proceed directly to the appropriate laboratory service.

Scientific Support Beyond Routine Pet Food Testing

Pet food manufacturing connects ingredients, raw materials, microbiology, food safety, analytical chemistry, processing, water, manufacturing environments, product development, shelf life, and quality.

When a problem crosses these areas, a single isolated test may provide only part of the scientific picture.

CMDC Labs’ Scientific Solutions approach connects appropriate laboratory resources around the underlying question—helping manufacturers move from:

finding → investigation → evidence → better-informed action.