Manufacturer record

The Farmer's Dog, Inc.

No owned plants

Credibility scored on the 20-point WSAVA tier, High confidence. An unverified field scores at half credit, never zero. How this feeds the grade →

Brands they own

The Farmer's Dog

Recall history

No recalls on record in the sourced history.

Recall events in the last 10 years weigh most; older events decay. Repeat events in the 10-year window: 0.

The detail

Independent, VC-backed DTC fresh/human-grade brand founded ~2014 by Brett Podolsky and Jonathan Regev (Series D 2022, ~$1.3B valuation; no corporate parent). Very strong on WSAVA drivers. QUALIFIED NUTRITIONIST = staff: the company names on-staff, board-certified nutritionists who meet WSAVA's gold-standard criteria (ACVN board certification / PhD Animal Nutrition). Its Feb-2024 WSAVA page lists Rae Sires (DVM, DACVIM-Nutrition), Renee Streeter (DVM, DACVIM-Nutrition), Joseph Wakshlag (DVM, PhD, DACVIM-Nutrition, DACVSMR; with the company from the start) and Ryan Yamka (PhD, MS, PAS, FACN, Dipl. ACAS, Companion Animal Nutrition); the newer Mar-2026 'Meet Our Nutritionists' page adds Susan Wynn as a fourth Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionist, i.e. 4 DACVN + 1 companion-animal PhD (Yamka) on staff. NOTE Yamka's certification is via the American College of Animal Sciences (Dipl. ACAS), a Professional-Animal-Scientist route, not ACVN/ECVCN; but the four DACVN diplomates independently satisfy the WSAVA nutritionist bar, so 'staff' is well supported. WHO FORMULATES = credentialed: company states on-staff board-certified nutritionists formulate every recipe and oversee the product lifecycle. SUBSTANTIATION = mix: the label nutritional-adequacy statement is by FORMULATION to AAFCO nutrient profiles ('Our foods meet AAFCO nutrient profiles by formulation'), BUT they also state they have completed industry-standard AAFCO FEEDING TRIALS on multiple recipes, PLUS additional feeding studies (a controlled Cornell trial and a 2014-2020 multi-year at-home study of ~10 dogs) that go beyond AAFCO minimums; hence 'mix' rather than 'formulation-only'. QC = documented: food is made in human-food-industry facilities that are third-party GFSI-certified and USDA-inspected for human food; the firm describes a dedicated FSQR team with a full-time microbiologist, finished-product testing to a full AAFCO profile plus taurine/carnitine/total dietary fiber by a third-party lab, plus ingredient validation, toxicology, bacteriology and shelf-life screening. Most QC specifics are company-disclosed, but they are anchored by independent USDA human-food inspection + third-party GFSI certification and are not contradicted by any FDA action or recall (contrast Midwestern, marked 'claimed' because an FDA warning letter contradicted its QC claims); 'documented' is defensible. PUBLISHES RESEARCH = yes: peer-reviewed publication exists ('Serum Metabolomics of Senior Dogs Fed a Fresh, Human-Grade Food or an Extruded Kibble Diet', Metabolites 2025, doi:10.3390/metabo15100676, Cornell/Huson & Wakshlag), plus reported Frontiers in Veterinary Science hydration/urinary-stone-risk work, a stated $10M veterinary-research investment, Cornell partnership, WSAVA Diamond Partner, and funded veterinary-nutrition residencies (Univ. of Tennessee, Univ. of Georgia). TRANSPARENCY = answers-publicly: the company publishes full point-by-point answers to the WSAVA questionnaire on its site, gives a public phone/email, and provides typical nutrient analyses on request (and to vets via a Vet Team Portal).

Foods we've graded from The Farmer's Dog, Inc.

• The Farmer's Dog Turkey Recipe (fresh)A

Sources

• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/about-us
• https://thecaninereview.com/2020/02/18/the-farmers-dog-promises-safe-fresh-human-grade-food-for-dogs-they-seem-to-be-the-real-deal/
• https://research.contrary.com/company/the-farmers-dog
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer%27s_Dog
• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/meet-our-on-staff-board-certified-nutritionists/
• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/the-farmers-dog-and-wsavas-recommendations-for-picking-a-dog-food/
• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/how-the-farmers-dog-redesigned-the-feeding-trial/
• https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12566208/
• https://doi.org/10.3390/metabo15100676
• https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-from-the-farmers-dog-reveals-fresh-human-grade-dog-food-may-promote-healthier-aging-in-senior-dogs-302588450.html
• https://api.fda.gov/food/enforcement.json?search=recalling_firm:%22farmer%22&limit=50
• https://www.petful.com/brands/the-farmers-dog-recall/
• https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-food-reviews/the-farmers-dog/
• https://www.aafco.org/news/new-standards-for-human-grade-pet-food/
• https://www.aafco.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/AAFCO_Human_Grade_Standards_AMS.pdf
• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/what-is-human-grade-dog-food/
• https://www.classaction.org/news/the-farmers-dog-foods-grossly-out-of-line-with-canine-nutritional-needs-class-action-lawsuit-alleges
• https://topclassactions.com/lawsuit-settlements/lawsuit-news/the-farmers-dog-sued-over-alleged-excessive-fat-levels-in-dog-food/
• https://www.thefarmersdog.com/digest/farmers-dog-lawsuit-response/

AI-assisted research, pending human review · 2026-07-05