You are what you eat—and the same goes for your pets. Our furry friends rely on a healthy supply of essential nutrients, or they risk developing disorders that can hurt their overall quality of life. That’s why formulators and consumers need to know the safety and trustworthiness of feed ingredients as well as their nutritional values.
With all the noise about pet health, how do you determine whether ingredients for pet food and nutritional products are safe for consumption?
Start by consulting with veterinarians or PhD animal nutritionists to identify what’s safe for dogs, cats, and other animals. Accredited veterinary experts can help to eliminate some of the guesswork and offer educational insights into how the right (and wrong) dietary decisions impact pets.
From there, be sure to evaluate providers’ website and sell sheets to see how they prioritize the safety and quality of their nourishing ingredients. Here’s how Acadian Tasco® products adhere to pet food safety regulations and standards.
Careful Research and Harvesting
Let’s start from the source: Ascophyllum nodosum, the brown seaweed we use in our Acadian Tasco® products. We have extensively studied the growth and productivity of this macroalgae across the North Atlantic from Eastern Canada and coastal Maine to Ireland and the Outer Hebrides in Scotland. We conduct regular assessments on seaweed stock, distribution, and overall health to maintain a sustainable resource and ensure quality in every package.
Then, our seaweed resource managers use that science to manage the wild seaweed we collect, alternating between harvesting sites to let seaweed beds rebound. Even the way we harvest seaweed is done with intention, using a boat-and-rake method that minimizes damage to the holdfast, allowing the seaweed to fully regrow before the next harvest.
All in all, these efforts contribute to the conditions for Ascophyllum nodosum populations to thrive, absorbing the nutrients brown seaweed and pet products need. Any provider of pet food ingredients should be taking precautions to promote optimal growing or farming conditions.
Quality-Centric Processing
Safety doesn’t happen by accident. Pet food ingredients that live up to food safety standards only do so with intentional processing practices that maintain the integrity of the natural resource. At Acadian Tasco®, we take those precautions seriously.
Only fresh Ascophyllum nodosum offers the full nutritional benefits pets need. With that in mind, we swiftly, efficiently, and safely move raw materials through our state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities. Every step from the initial harvesting of raw Ascophyllum to processing, manufacturing, packaging, and delivery is shaped with this mindset to preserve the essential bioactive compounds in our products. Furthermore, we have a thorough traceability system which allows us to trace products all the way back to the harvest site.
All the work pays off. Our manufacturing facilities have earned GMP/HACCP certification through the FeedAssure™ program and Safe Feed/Safe Food certification through the American Feed Industry Association. These comprehensive feed safety management and certifications programs indicate our continuous safety controls, verifying our commitment to delivering safe and wholesome feed ingredients formulators and pet owners can trust.
No Additives. Just Pure Nutrition.
There’s no universal ruling on additives. Some can be harmful to animals while others are perfectly safe to digest. However, why change what is already exceptional?
The bioactive compounds in the brown seaweed we harvest are rich in nutritional value for cats, dogs, and other animals. That’s why we do not augment or alter the raw materials in our products with any chemicals. Each batch of Ascophyllum nodosum is cleaned and minced into pieces which will be dried before packaging and shipment. That’s all.
For that reason, Acadian Tasco® is certified organic by Pro-Cert Organic Systems Ltd as well as receiving recognition by both the Canada Organic Regime and the USDA as an organic product. This means the nutritional information about what is safe and unsafe for dogs, cats and other animals will be easier to access and understand in product specifications.
Continuously Finding Safe and Clean Pet Ingredients
Pet health is a matter of consistency. Any nutritional ingredient should be readily available at a dependable level of quality from one batch to the next. Acadian Tasco® offers that reliability.
Since we monitor our Ascophyllum nodosum supplies across the North Atlantic and refrain from augmenting the already exceptional raw materials, you can rely upon a consistent product that helps complete the nutrition of pets.
Want to test out safe pet food ingredients in your formula? Let us know your formulation needs and we can supply you with a pure sample to use.
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