Several of The Honest Kitchen’s petfood products are now certified by the Global Animal Partnership (GAP), one of the largest animal welfare labelling programmes in the US.
The company has been focused on “thoughtful sourcing”, it explained in a press release, with the first move being to add free-range chicken in all dehydrated recipes in 2009. Following on from this step, ingredient sourcing efforts include Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified wild caught fish, ranch raised beef, cage free turkey and cage free duck.
The petfood products that are now GAP certified include: dehydrated grain free chicken for dogs, dehydrated whole grain chicken for dogs, dehydrated limited ingredient chicken for dogs, and chicken and cranberry parmesan pecks treats for dogs.
GAP’s standards are continuously developed to allow for improvement in farm animal welfare. In recent news, the GAP released new farmed salmon welfare standards to improve the welfare of fish within the aquaculture industry. Species-specific standards reflect latest research in agricultural science along with practical application for the improved welfare throughout the animal’s entire life. Additionally, accredited third-party certifiers audit each farm every 15 months to ensure they comply with GAP standards.
“The compassionate treatment of farm animals has always been incredibly important to us at The Honest Kitchen,” explains The Honest Kitchen’s Founder and Chief Integrity Officer, Lucy Postins.
“We believe we can do more to further formalise and cement our commitment to chicken welfare, which first began with the transition to free range chicken in our dehydrated diets, over a decade ago. That’s why we’re committing to source only from farmers that have earned Global Animal Partnership Animal Welfare Certification, for all our chicken-based dehydrated recipes for dogs and Parmesan Pecks,” she concludes.
The Honest Kitchen recently completed in-home feeding trials which provided evidence that the petfood they produce is “nutritionally adequate”. The trials were designed to simulate AAFCO feeding trials and can be read about, HERE.
For more information on The Honest Kitchen visit their website, HERE.
