Quality Starts at the Farms

Our customers tell us that one of the most important reasons they choose to feed Darwin’s meals to their pets is the quality of the ingredients we use. We agree that good ingredients are the foundation for nutrition, so we thought you’d like to know more about how we get ours.

At Darwin’s, we have a dedicated Sourcing Director. Before we purchase any meats from a supplier, we personally visit every farm, meeting with the owners or managers and touring their facility. By visiting and not just calling, we learn how each farm does business. Ultimately, this ensures we are identifying the best farms.

The first thing we look for from our growers, of course, is the nutritional value of the products themselves. For example, the meats we use for our Natural Selections™ meals come exclusively from grass-fed and free-range animals. The beef are pasture raised; the poultry, chickens, ducks, and turkeys, are raised cage-free. Beef animals have never been fattened up on grains and “finished” on a feedlot and have not been given antibiotics or hormones.

Our BioLogics™ meals are made with the same formula as our Natural Selections™ meals but using conventionally-grown, human-quality meats and vegetables. We pay a great deal of attention to the feed our farms use, as this plays a huge role in the nutritional quality of the meat itself.

The vegetables and other ingredients we use in our pet food come from family farms and suppliers who share our values and are doing right by the planet. For example, during the summer months, we work with local farms in Washington State to grow our vegetables. This ensures that the vegetables in your dog’s food are the freshest possible.

We also care a great deal about the way prey animals used for our meals are raised – we like to say that we care as much for the welfare of the chicken as we do for that of your dog or cat. That’s why we pay attention to what the living conditions are for these animals – we make sure not only are our chickens, turkeys, and ducks raised “cage-free”, but that they also have enough room to walk around and socialize.

Lastly, we look at how the farms treat their workers, both out of concern for their welfare and the animals. We look directly at their pay rate and turnover because workers who are respected themselves show respect for the animals that they are charged with raising.

By sourcing our ingredients directly from the growers, we have confidence we’re getting the best quality ingredients we can – and because we’re buying directly from the growers themselves, our meats and vegetables are the freshest possible. That results in fresher, more nutritious meals in your pet’s food bowl.