Wellness Manufacturer

[jerros]

Question - does each brand have their own manufacturing plant or is one plant used for many different brands? During the recall three years ago, I found out that one plant in Canada manufactured many different brands.

Unfortunately it seems to be a fairly common practice for a number of varieties of pet food to be made at the same plant regardless of what the brand name on the bag actually is.

The cost of facilities to make canned or dry foods seem to be a barrier for smaller companies to get their product to market at competitive prices. So often times these plants are simply provided product and recipies to follow by the smaller companies.

The real problem is many companies keep this information from the public and label it as "propriatary" until they have a recall. This is simply because they are afraid if consumers knew their $50 bag of dog food was made at the same plant as the $10 bag of alpo consumers might consider the alpo.

Wellness uses different manufacturing plants based on where the product will be shipped. But they do not tell you where your food was made.

 

[Sumac3890]

Hmmm I wonder about Blue? I feed Wellness but may switch to Blue.

 

[jerros]

Blue Buffalo used to use the third party manufacturer American Nutrition Inc who was part of the 2007 Melamine recall. I'm unsure if they switched manufacturers after having to recall all of their canned products in 2007 or not, and their website doesn't list any information on it.

EDIT: There is a website I did come across that has a pretty good list of who makes what based on recalls however the website itself hasn't been updated in a long time.

http://thepetfoodlist.com/manufacturers.htm

 

[Justicemom]

.

The only concern I have is the Experation Date. I had a discussion with Complete Petsmart on this subject. She stated to me its good for six months pass the experation date. My reply was for this kind of money I want a better date on the bag, not expired. The gal did not care for my reply, I walked out.

That's a new one. I was taught(I could be wrong) the expiration date was there because the fat solable vitamins A,D,K, and E decay over time and beyond the expiration date unless the food is frozen the food could be nutrient decient. I think someone was feeding you a line.

Here is a tip. Petsmart rotates its stock, when then they get a new shipment the newest bags goes in the back and the bottom. They order based on a computer progrem that tells them to order when the stock drops to a certain level so there will always be old and new bags on the shelf. How old will depend on how fast the product in being sold. So never buy the front bag on the shelf. Get the bag in the back and bottom it will be newer and have a better expiration date. This is ture of all brands.

 

[Megansmom]

That's a new one. I was taught(I could be wrong) the expiration date was there because the fat solable vitamins A,D,K, and E decay over time and beyond the expiration date unless the food is frozen the food could be nutrient decient. I think someone was feeding you a line.

Here is a tip. Petsmart rotates its stock, when then they get a new shipment the newest bags goes in the back and the bottom. They order based on a computer progrem that tells them to order when the stock drops to a certain level so there will always be old and new bags on the shelf. How old will depend on how fast the product in being sold. So never buy the front bag on the shelf. Get the bag in the back and bottom it will be newer and have a better expiration date. This is ture of all brands.

So very true Dr. Shelli! I reach from the back for most food and drink items I buy for the same reason.

 

[Smudge]

Here is a tip. Petsmart rotates its stock, when then they get a new shipment the newest bags goes in the back and the bottom. They order based on a computer progrem that tells them to order when the stock drops to a certain level so there will always be old and new bags on the shelf. How old will depend on how fast the product in being sold. So never buy the front bag on the shelf. Get the bag in the back and bottom it will be newer and have a better expiration date. This is ture of all brands.

Jumping in. 6 years in retail tells me that is not always true all of the time about the rotation.

I have never worked at PetSmart, but I did work overnights stocking at Wal-Mart for a little over 5 years. I still work there, but I no longer stock. Wal-Mart DOES NOT rotate. Our vendors do, we do not. Why does Wal-Mart not rotate? Two words: stock. report.

It is the most evil thing in the world. It comes from home office. Depending on the amount of freight you have in a given department you are timed. There is no time for rotation, and they do not configure rotation into the time. Boxes start flying, because if you don't meet your time you get called into the office and get wrote up. Three write ups and your tail is sitting at the unemployment office hoping they have mercy on you.

One person is expected to do the work of three or four, and it gets pretty ugly really fast. They have people pulling the merchandise to the front (called zoning), and they check dates to make sure nothing is expired. If it is expired they simply pull it from the shelf and take it back to claims. We tried roating things many times and got in trouble for being too slow.

No matter if you pull it from the front or the back ALWAYS check your dates. This goes for everything. Not just people food and dog food. Some cosmetic items have dates on them as well. I believe some toothpastes do, and I know a lot of anti-aging stuff does.

 

[Justicemom]

Jumping in. 6 years in retail tells me that is not always true all of the time about the rotation.

I have never worked at PetSmart, but I did work overnights stocking at Wal-Mart for a little over 5 years. I still work there, but I no longer stock. Wal-Mart DOES NOT rotate. Our vendors do, we do not. Why does Wal-Mart not rotate? Two words: stock. report.

It is the most evil thing in the world. It comes from home office. Depending on the amount of freight you have in a given department you are timed. There is no time for rotation, and they do not configure rotation into the time. Boxes start flying, because if you don't meet your time you get called into the office and get wrote up. Three write ups and your tail is sitting at the unemployment office hoping they have mercy on you.

One person is expected to do the work of three or four, and it gets pretty ugly really fast. They have people pulling the merchandise to the front (called zoning), and they check dates to make sure nothing is expired. If it is expired they simply pull it from the shelf and take it back to claims. We tried roating things many times and got in trouble for being too slow.

No matter if you pull it from the front or the back ALWAYS check your dates. This goes for everything. Not just people food and dog food. Some cosmetic items have dates on them as well. I believe some toothpastes do, and I know a lot of anti-aging stuff does.

That is a good point. Walmat being a bigger store then Petsmart. But I do know for sure that this is how Petsmart does it. Or atleast how they should be doing it. I used to work for a vet clinic inside their stores, you know who I'm talking about.

 

[Smudge]

That is a good point. Walmat being a bigger store then Petsmart. But I do know for sure that this is how Petsmart does it. Or atleast how they should be doing it. I used to work for a vet clinic inside their stores, you know who I'm talking about.

Well, and it kind of ticks me off when we try to do the right thing and rotate and still get in trouble for it. I can't tell you the number of times I have gotten home with some food (of the people variety!) and it was expired.

Just keep the receipt and you can take it back.

 

[Caro]

That's a new one. I was taught(I could be wrong) the expiration date was there because the fat solable vitamins A,D,K, and E decay over time and beyond the expiration date unless the food is frozen the food could be nutrient decient. I think someone was feeding you a line.

That is true for a lot of human food products (non-fresh). It is safe to eat but may not have the same nutrient level. There is a bit of a buffer but its unlike to be more than 20%. Plus some products begin to lose their moisture content and become dry and stale.

 

[Sumac3890]

Which company's still manufacture their own foods? I wonder. Not to happy to hear that about Blue.