Weruva Pet Foods
Weruva produces their formulas in a human food facility using the same ingredients that are used for people. Their base proteins of chicken, beef and fish include only top quality muscle meat, such as white breast meat chicken, whole meat tuna loins, and select cuts of beef, all of which they flake off the bone. They then hand place many of their other ingredients into the cans, such as fresh vegetables and their other value added toppers. This delicate process allows their ingredients to maintain natural and recognizable texture which in turn allows you to see and understand the ingredients that are listed on the can. “What you see is what you get”.
The Weruva Story - Inspired by and named after our 3 rescued cats (Webster, Rudi and Vanessa), my wife and I co-founded Weruva, a true human grade pet food company. Making our foods in a USDA human food facility, we use the same lean cuts that go into products for people, such as boneless, skinless white breast meat chicken, select cuts of beef and whole meat fish loins. We cater to the independent retail channel, the “mom and pop’s”, and Weruva can now be found in over 30 states, 4 countries and over 900 pet stores.
We didn’t wake up one day and say, “hey, let’s start a pet food company.” The foundation for Weruva was established some 3 decades ago by my father. It just took finding a homeless kitty on the street and the adoption of 2 more before we would put the pieces together. My father’s company is a producer of human foods, primarily seafood. His biggest product is tuna (he sells to the Subway Sandwich chain), and hey, cats love tuna.
As it turns out, the factory that has made tuna for my dad’s company over the past oodles of years also makes pet food. Most of the pet food was not being sold here in the US, it was being sold to Europe and Japan. And here in the US, we are so used to brown mystery mush in a can which includes essentially leftovers after the processing of the main cuts has gone into human food. In contrast, and what separates us from 99% of the pet food out there is that the pet food must be processed according to human processing standards, such as those set forth by the USDA. With Weruva, pets do not get the leftovers-- they get the same cuts of meat that you and I could eat!
And that’s the nutshell version of how we began. We are now deeply involved with supporting animal rescue. We are the first and only food sponsor of the Mayor’s Alliance for NYC’s Animals, NYC’s umbrella animal rescue group. Please feel free to contact us for further information. We love to talk about our products!
Weruva Quality Assurance Statement
At Weruva, we produce our pet food in a state of the art human food facility in Thailand, using the precise quality raw materials that are used to produce the human food. We also utilize the same production processes as that of the human side, including a system of quality control that exceeds the standards demanded by international markets. The end result-- our pet food is not only human grade and safe for pets, it is fit and safe for humans just the same.
The process begins with our rigorous quality control standards that include keeping the factory in a condition where it can pass approximately twenty annual inspections performed by international governmental agencies and third party auditors, each under the scrutiny of human consumption standards. Such inspections ensure that we abide by Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) regulations and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) systems, meeting the demands promulgated by the United States, European Union, Australia, the United Kingdom and Japan. Under the strict British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global standard, the factory earned an A-Grade European Food Safety Inspection Service (EFSIS) certificate.
The factory also has certificates of accreditation by the International Organization For Standardization (ISO), HALAL and Orthodox Kosher. Additionally, under similar guidelines, several third party inspectors, including the leading provider of human food safety services, Cook and Thurber, examine the plant regularly throughout the year. And the factory, which is FDA approved and USDA registered, performs an internal audit every two months. The inspections cover everything from top to bottom, including examinations of pest control, food safety and heavy metal and histamine testing procedures. The audits also ensure environmental control, including such detailed assurances that all work stations are cleaned every four hours and that each employee’s hygiene meets the requisite standards.
After ensuring quality control procedures within the factory, the process continues with a thorough examination of our suppliers, which includes outside audits of their facilities as well as an inspection of each arriving container of raw material. The incoming food is tested for pathogens and contaminants, the inspections including an antibiotic, heavy metal and pesticide analysis. Upon passing inspection, the food is then produced according to an internal Specific Quality Control Procedure HACCP system. After production, in order to import the food, we must notify the Thailand Department of Livestock Development (DLD) and meet their exportation requirements.
During this entire process, the factory operates according to a Social Accountability International management system (SAI), SA8000, as per the Ethical Trading Initiative. Designed for independent third party certification, SA8000 is promoted as a voluntary, universal standard for companies interested in auditing and certifying labor practices in their facilities and those of their suppliers and vendors.
Marking the final point of our quality control and safety procedures, our factory features a “cat house,” a place where dozens of rescued cats are fed and examined under veterinary supervision. This ensures the utmost safety for our pets, not to mention, unparalleled palatability.
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