Nutritionist
Unknown
Manufacturer record
Tuffy's Pet Foods, Inc.
Parent: KLN Family Brands · Co-packer (makes food for other brands) · 2 plants
Quality control
Claimed (unverified)
Publishes research
No
Transparency
Partial
Owns its plants
Yes
Credibility score
7 / 20
Credibility scored on the 20-point WSAVA tier, Medium confidence. An unverified field scores at half credit, never zero. How this feeds the grade →
Brands they own
NutriSource · PureVita · Natural Planet · Tuffy's · Tuffy's Gold · Supreme · Finley's
Also co-packs for
- undisclosed national brands
Recall history
| Date | Class | What | Brands named |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-10-11 | II | Potentially elevated levels of vitamin D. Tuffy's was notified by the external product manufacturer | PureVita |
Recall events in the last 10 years weigh most; older events decay. Repeat events in the 10-year window: 1.
The detail
No board-certified veterinary nutritionist (ACVN/ECVCN) or PhD animal nutritionist is disclosed on any public company page; Dog Food Advisor's review also notes no in-house nutritionist credentials are stated, so qualified_nutritionist and who_formulates are left 'unknown' (absence of disclosure, not confirmed absence). Substantiation method (feeding trials vs 'formulated to meet AAFCO') is not stated on the pages reviewed, so 'unknown' (most NutriSource dry labels are believed to be formulation-based but no primary label citation was captured). QC marked 'claimed': the company owns purpose-built, food-safety-focused plants (~$150M since 2010) and markets an 'AIB-certified' facility, but no primary source documenting a finished-product nutrient + pathogen/tox testing program was found. No peer-reviewed or published research located -> publishes_research 'no'. Transparency 'partial': they publicly disclose ownership/plants and issued a public canine-DCM FAQ, but do NOT publicly answer the core WSAVA credibility questions (nutritionist credentials, substantiation method, finished-product testing). NEUTRAL CONTEXT (not a score driver per app policy): NutriSource was among the grain-free brands named 10+ times in the FDA's June 2019 DCM report; treated as an informational grain-free/DCM note, not a credibility penalty.
Sources
- https://klnfamilybrands.com/companies/
- https://klnfamilybrands.com/brands/
- https://discovernutrisource.com/pages/about
- https://www.petfoodprocessing.net/articles/13856-tuffys-pet-foods
- https://www.petfoodprocessing.net/articles/13607-tuffys-pet-foods-invests-heavily-in-itself-and-its-community
- https://www.meatpoultry.com/articles/27108-flexibility-for-the-future
- https://www.perhamfocus.com/news/tuffys-opens-70-million-facility
- https://tcbmag.com/perham-pet-food-maker-tuffys-to-build-60m-facility-near-twin-cities/
- https://bloomingtonfarmandfeed.com/blogs/news/meet-nutrisource-minnesota-made-pet-food-built-on-better-ingredients
- https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/nutrisource-dog-food/
- https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/outbreaks-and-advisories/fda-investigation-potential-link-between-certain-diets-and-canine-dilated-cardiomyopathy
- https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/tuffys-pet-foods-inc-issues-voluntary-recall-limited-quantity-pure-vita-salmon-entree-dog-food
- https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-recalls/nutrisource-pure-vita/
- https://www.petfoodindustry.com/news-newsletters/pet-food-news/article/15468284/tuffys-pet-foods-recalls-pure-vita-salmon-dog-food
- https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/16/us/tuffys-pet-food-pure-vita-recall-trnd/index.html
- https://nutrisourcepetfoods.com/
AI-assisted research, pending human review · 2026-07-05