ABOUT RAWSAFE
How RawSAFE Came to Be…
Food safety has always been one of the primary concerns of the veterinary profession. It follows that it is also a high priority for the Raw Feeding Veterinary Society. The RFVS team spent considerable time thinking about how to raise the overall standards in the fresh food industry for pets, and work commenced on our own objective audit criteria based on veterinary recommendations.
In 2019 at the annual conference, an informal meeting between directors of two raw food manufacturers (both of whom have strong previous careers in the human food industry) lead to mulling over the woefully poor regulations around the pet and working dog food manufacturing industry, along with all the objections they were hearing about from vets.
Members of the RFVS committee were intrigued by discussion of the standards and loved how these could overcome so many of the objections and concerns so commonly made by their colleagues.
Developing standards within pet food manufacturing
The RFVS President, some key committee members, our company directors and invited advisors with specific expertise, decided to pursue several avenues.
The decision was made to start with a core principle that production of raw meat based diets needed a more robust standard than are expected at present. The standards are based on those in human food manufacturing and you can see them here.
Consideration was given to nutritional content, environmental sustainability and impact, product safety and public education about product use. All have valid contributions to improving the standard of raw foods for animals and will be incorporated into our audit criteria as RawSAFE evolves.
As veterinary professionals and as food manufacturers, the team has the safety of our animal companions and their human guardians at the heart of everything they do. Nothing in life is without risk, but with appropriate manufacturing standards being met and some common-sense hygiene precautions in place at home, we know that animals can safely be fed as close as possible to the diet they evolved to consume whilst living safely with their human families.