Giving away dog treats - any regulation?

Paws

I'm planning on making a batch of homemade dog treats as giveaway prizes, putting them into little bags etc but just want to cover my ar*e really

I know there's quite a few laws about what insurance you need to make them to sell but a) I don't know the specifics of these laws b) I don't know where to find out the info c) I'm not selling them they're freebies.

Can anyone help at all? I don't want to start planning it all and buying supplies to find out it's impossibly bound in red tape.

I have public liability insurance but that's for dog training and behaviour, not cooking :rotfl:

Thankyou....I should come in this forum more really. :T

chris_n_tj

All I can say is our trainer supplied treats and we thought nothing more about it. (home made ones)

Maybe it might be good to ask the owners before you give them a bag if their mutter has any allergies to the ingredients. Apart from that lord alone knows these days.

I hope someone with more knowledge will give you some advice. But good luck with all that cooking, (by the way TJ loves liver cake lol)

vroombroom

Have to echo what Chris says about allergies - I've got a westie who is allergic to everything you can think of (he's fed practically a vegan diet!) and I have to be so careful with what he is fed x

Paws

Yes.....I'll be listing the ingredients on them as you know what allergies the poor darling have.

Hmm...where to ask then?

Should I try one of the other forums? Couldn't work out where to post this really.

morg_monster

Perhaps try petforums.co.uk? I know there's a lady there setting up a pet treat business, she might be able to help (especially if she knows you're not a competitor!).
Or call your local trading standards?

Paws

Thanks I will

babyshoes

I would be interested to know the answer too, so please do tell us what you find out! (not that I am planning to make dog treats, I am just curious!)

smileypigface

I've been checking this out recently as I am in the process of setting up a canine bakery as a commercial enterprise following success baking and selling dog treats for a charity.

I rang my local council and ended up speaking to a very helpful man in Trading Standards who provided me with all the information I needed. (I did discover that my charity fundraising broke the rules stated below ... whoops! - luckily there were no problems following the sale)

Basically there is an EU Regulation which governs the labelling of animal feed - and yes, I've checked, even dog biscuits count as animal feed. By law you must have your products analysed by a laboratory in order to ascertain the percentages of protein, ash, fibre and oil and also the moisture content - if the moisture content is over 14% then this must be stated on the product along with the other percentages mentioned.

The cost of this testing is approximately £50 per product as long as that's all you want to test for (that's the legal minimum) - further testing, that ascertains the calorific values, among other things, can be as expensive as £150 per product.

The labelling must clearly state that the biscuits are a complimentary food for adult dogs - as well as stating that they are not intended for human consumption.

If you make your items using gluten free ingredients (like we do) you cannot state on your finished product that it is gluten free unless you have had the finished product tested for the presence of gluten - any claim you make in your marketing or packaging must be able to be substantiated. So you can say "made using gluten free ingredients". Testing is required annually unless you change your recipe in the meantime.

It is a bit of a minefield - I was very surprised to find the regulations are quite so demanding. It has made a major difference to my business plan!!!!

I am not sure how you would stand if you were only intending to give the items away rather than sell them - but if you wanted to take out product insurance (ie, to protect yourself in case someone claimed their dog suffered injury or death as a direct result of eating your items) I assume the insurance company would insist on your products complying with legislation.

I'd advise having a quick chat with Trading Standards - certainly the chap I spoke to at our local council was very helpful indeed.