Pennfield “Eight Years Ahead of the Curve” in Feed Safety
Top officials with the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine toured Pennfield’s Mt. Joy mill earlier this month, in the run up to the proposed implementation of a new Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). Pennfield has voluntarily certified its mill since 2004 under the American Feed Industry Association’s Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program, a rigorous safety initiative undertaken by a small percentage of mills in the United States.
Safe horse feed certification
FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine brought top officials through Pennfield to examine how a Safe Feed/Safe Food certified mill operates.
Dr. Nancy Buchanan, technical services manager at Pennfield said, “Safe Feed/Safe Food mills are audited once a year, to review compliance with best practices in standard operating procedures, record keeping, and plans to prevent potential hazards. This voluntary program exceeds the new feed safety regulations under FSMA, and the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine brought top officials through to examine how a Safe Feed/Safe Food certified mill operates.
The goal of the Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification Program and the new feed safety law is to provide assurance that toxins and unsafe chemicals are not inadvertently introduced into animal feeds, via adherence to strict protocols. Beyond the requirements of the Safe Feed/Safe Food program, Pennfield tests ingredients for mycotoxins and other items considers potential hazards.
“Pennfield was an early adopter of the Safe Feed/Safe Food program, we’ve been certified for eight years now,” said Tami Jones, sales and brand manager for Pennfield. “We feel it is quite an honor that the FDA chose our mill to tour in advance of introducing the new feed safety regulations.”
From the beginning, Pennfield has exceeded FDA requirements for handling ingredients and feed mill cleanout, creating and documenting its own level of processes to ensure the very highest standards in animal feed. This ethos of quality harks back to the founders’ mission, which was to always put nutrition and the animal first, before the interests of the company, in the belief that taking the best care of customers’ horses would in turn lead to success for the company. Today, fans of Pennfield are outspoken in their support, frequently heard saying about other brands positioned as premium, “That feed is good. But it’s not Pennfield.”
For more information on the Safe Feed/Safe Food program, please visit www.SafeFeedSafeFood.org. For more information, about Pennfield, the world’s most credentialed feed, please contact Tami Jones at 800-995-0333 x8735 or visit www.Pennfield.com.
About Pennfield
Founded in 1919, Pennfield is a widely respected, family-owned feed company headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania that is honored to have legendary riders like the O’Connors and Davidsons as loyal customers for decades. Now expanding coast to coast, Pennfield is proud to have added top California riders like Guenter Seidel, Tamra Smith, Jennifer Wooten-Dafoe, and Susie Hutchison as Promise Partners. Widely respected as the most credentialed feed in the world, Pennfield was selected to feed the United States team horses in the last five Games (’02 Jerez, ’04 Athens, ’06 Aachen, ’08 Beijing, ’10 Lexington) and in 2008 was named the Official Horse Feed of the U.S. Equestrian Federation. Pennfield is known for using only the finest, most consistent feed ingredients, formulations based on years of research, and proprietary manufacturing techniques that ensure maximum nutritional density so you can feed less.