Quality and Safety of Our Ingredients – Iams
Quality is the cornerstone of our business at The Iams Company, from the high standards we put on ensuring the quality and safety of our ingredients to our innovative formulas that enhance the lives of dogs and cats. We go above and beyond typical pet food quality assurance practices to make sure that our nutrition is healthy and safe for pets. Following are examples of the extra steps The Iams Company takes to help us know that we are doing the best for dogs and cats:
Inspections by Independent Experts
The American Institute of Baking (AIB) International, a well-respected organization that conducts safety and sanitation inspections of human food plants, conducts inspections of our pet food plants each year. We volunteered to undergo this rigorous inspection nearly 20 years ago because we wanted independent validation that our quality standards were well integrated throughout our manufacturing process. We have consistently received excellent and superior ratings from the AIB – a quality track record that few human food plants can boast.
Constant, Rigorous Ingredient Inspections
All of our ingredients are evaluated based on strict nutritional quality and safety specifications. These standards must be in place for all ingredients in order to protect against potential quality gaps. For example, in the case of molds, no one grain comes with mold. It can occur in any grain. It is the quality assurance standards a company performs during the manufacturing process that determine if molds are present or if the conditions exist to produce them.
The Iams Company goes above and beyond to ensure the high quality of every ingredient. We take samples of each and every truckload of grain from many locations throughout each batch before unloading. These samples go through a number of screenings for toxins. One example is the mycotoxin screen for common grain mold toxins, including aflatoxin, a toxin that can be present in oats, rice and corn. This screen enables the Iams team to know that there are no toxins present and that the conditions are not such that molds could grow and produce toxins. If a trace of toxin is found, or the conditions are right for mold to grow and produce toxins, then the truckload is turned away. Each bag of Iams food has had more than 150 quality assurance tests run on it throughout the manufacturing process – from truckload sample screening to the time bags leave the plant. We also pull product samples for complete nutritional analysis of each batch of formula produced.
The Iams Company – 7250 Poe Avenue – Dayton, Ohio 45414
Phone: (800) 675-3849
Copyright© 2005 The Iams Company. All rights reserved worldwide.
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