Nulo Freestyle Turkey, Salmon & Chickpeas Recipe Grain-Free Canned Dog Food

We love dog food brands that are committed to transparent business practices. If you make quality dog food you should be willing to openly talk about how it’s sourced and produced. That’s why we reached out to pet food companies, asking questions about all their brands and products. Each company had three weeks to reply to our messages.

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How Easy Was it to Reach the Company?

‍Nulo was one of the fastest companies to respond. They replied to the first email within 24 hours and the follow-up emails just as quickly.  

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Does Nulo have a veterinary nutritionist on staff? If so, who are they?‍‍‍

We contract with an independent animal nutrition scientist (Ph.D.) who has formulated commercial dog and cat foods for over 30 years, and who regularly collaborates with members of industry regulatory agencies and the veterinary community. Questions from pet owners and veterinarians are directly addressed through our in-house Customer Care Manager, who is also credentialed in animal nutrition sciences.

(Follow up email response)
We are unable to provide the name of our formulator, as we have contracted with this person to not release their name.

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Who formulates your recipes, and what are their credentials?‍‍‍

See previous email.

Do you test your products using AAFCO feeding trials? Why, or why not?‍‍‍

We do not do any testing on laboratory or caged dogs or cats, nor do we operate a kennel facility. The only ‘tests’ that we conduct on our recipes are feeding trials, where dogs/cats are fed our finished and pre-tested (for safety and micro-nutrient composition) product for a period of three to four days. These studies provide information about a food’s acceptability to dogs and cats over time, and their relative palatability.  They are only performed when a new product is being brought to market, not ongoing.

What we want to find out is how they like the food and how they like the food relative to other super-premium foods in our own category. We also make detailed observations during this period regarding stool quality and consistency, which are important indicators of how well a pet is responding to the product.  These observations are conducted in kennels with a loving, safe, playful, and clean environment and a dedicated veterinary staff that is extremely qualified and capable. Animals are not subjected to cages, surgery, fasting, blood chemistry, feeding tubes, or any other egregious procedures.  Their environment includes oversized indoor and outdoor runs with large outside play yards, substantial ventilation systems for climate control, home-like environment settings with social rooms, frequent daily exercise with animal care technicians, and routine top-notch veterinary care. We are animal lovers at our core and take great care to provide safe, super-premium, palatable food products without invasive testing of any kind.

(Follow up email response)

With regards to our feeding trials, I apologize for any confusion – these are palatability trials, rather than AAFCO feeding trials. Again, we are committed to providing your pets with the highest quality and safest nutrition without any invasive or unnecessary tests.

Nulo responded with a detailed answer that also was familiar to other companies who do not feel like AAFCO tests go far enough, and are in some ways not humane.

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What country are your products manufactured?‍‍‍

Our dry, canned, freeze-dried, and treat recipes are manufactured in the United States at state-of-the-art facilities that specialize in producing premium pet foods and treats. The facilities are annually inspected by the third-party organizations, including the American Institute of Baking (AIB) and BRC Global Standard For Food Safety, and have consistently received the highest quality and safety ratings.

With regards to our pouch recipes, these are manufactured in Thailand at a state-of-the-art facility that is also one of the world’s leading producers of canned tuna for humans. Our producer has an uncompromising commitment to product quality and sustainable sourcing, and follows the highest levels of internationally recognized standards for food safety and processing. As with all of our products, Nulo’s pouches must meet strict standards for product safety and quality before they are shipped to stores, including nutrient, microbiological, and packaging integrity analysis to ensure all specifications are being met.

Nulo provided transparent and clear answers to most of the questions, this is a good example.  

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Can your manufacturing facilities be visited?‍‍‍

I have not mentioned the specific names of our partners only because they have asked us (contracted with us, actually) to limit dissemination of this information within trade only as they are not equipped to address questions directly from our customers. If you would like to give me a call at my number below, I would be happy to speak with you regarding any additional questions you have pertaining to our manufacturing partners. Your pets, as well as our own pets, are our top priority and we believe they deserve only the best.

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What quality measures do you use to assure consistency and quality?‍‍‍

Our manufacturing partners utilize HACCP-based quality and safety programs to ensure that our products are safe from beginning to end. One of these checkpoints includes cleaning the equipment between production runs to mitigate the risk of any cross contamination between batches. All incoming ingredients come with a COA (Certificate of Analysis) and must meet our strict specifications. Finished products must also pass analytical and microbiological safety tests before they are distributed.

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Does Nulo own its manufacturing facility? If it is another company, what company is it?‍‍‍

No.

As mentioned above, Nulo states they are under contract to not disclose this information.  

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Do any parts of your product come from China?‍‍‍

For our dry, canned, freeze-dried, and treat recipes, our meat, poultry, and fish are sourced from North America, with the exception of some of our duck (France), lamb (Australia & New Zealand), and wild-caught fish (regions can vary based on the migratory path of the wild population). The ingredients in our pouch recipes are sourced locally from Thailand, with the exception of Beef (Australia and New Zealand) and our wild-caught fish (regions include the Gulf of Thailand, Western Pacific and Indian oceans). Our fruits, vegetables, vitamins, and minerals are sourced in North America as well as regions throughout the world, but are always traced and required to meet strict safety and quality standards.

Nulo has always had a strict sourcing requirement for non-Chinese ingredients since our products were first developed. Today, none of Nulo’s ingredients are sourced from China, with the exception of a few vitamin supplements that have been impacted by very recent catastrophic events in the vitamin industry, a situation that has affected all pet food companies using vitamin supplements in their foods for dogs and cats. The vast majority of Nulo’s products in the market today have been made with exclusively non-Chinese vitamins, however we can no longer guarantee that every product will continue to be free of any vitamins sourced from China in the future. Our suppliers have reassured us that this is a temporary constraint in the supply chain, and Nulo will revert to sourcing exclusively non-Chinese vitamins at the first opportunity available.