Our initial reputation was built on our dermatology diets (also known as our "novel protein" line). Pets who are dealing with adverse reactions (allergies, IBD, etc) to specific ingredients are particiularly sensitive and require very precise, very clean, and very intentionally-made products. These requirements from our dermatology partners have influenced the entire framework of our catalog and helped us to create whole food diets that are purpose-driven and highly controlled. This takes considerable expertise and collaboration in formulation, nutrition, manufacturing, and sourcing -- and it is potentially what we are the most proud of.
Our quality control processes begin before the actual manufacturing of the foods.
First, we are selective and deliberate in sourcing the ingredients we use from reputable suppliers. We then test our incoming ingredients against formal, defined specifications that our suppliers must meet. We test for compliance at multiple intervals throughout production to ensure our specifications are met. Ingredients are carefully selected based on nutritional need, not cost. Rayne uses the ingredients veterinary nutritionists recommend, not whatever ingredient may be cheaper.
Rayne selects our ingredients carefully and deliberately to deliver the best possible nutrition—we utilize non-animal derived fat sources such as algal meal as a source of omega-3 fatty acids and also coconut oil in our diets. We also use chickpeas as the carrier for our vitamin and mineral mix, rather than commonly used allergens like rice or wheat hulls.
We practice total transparency in our ingredients— including palatants. Palatants are often added to diets to increase the palatability of pet foods—even the most nutritious foods are of no use if pets won’t eat them. The palatant process can include spraying the food with animal protein—some producers choose not to disclose these additions in their ingredient list, but palatants can still affect highly sensitive pets. Rayne does not use undisclosed animal proteins in our palatants.
Visit our ingredient FAQWe use third-party independent labs for all our testing. Midwest Labs performs F9 Analyses (analyzing moisture, crude protein, acid hydrolysis fat, crude fiber, ash, calcium, sulfur, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, copper, sodium, and zinc) on both incoming ingredients and our final products. A separate independent lab, Eurofins, tests our vitamin and mineral pre-mix and performs a quarterly panel on amino acids. They also test Vitamin D levels to safeguard against toxicity.
We do a full shut down and organic clean-out of the production lines—four hours for wet diets and eight hours for dry—before we produce our formulas. Special attention is given to preventing cross contamination via 40 different cleaning steps and 60 different checkpoints. This ensures the absolute purity of our novel protein diets. We produce our dry diets in a specific order, and run a small “flush diet” through the machinery before production to further reduce any risk of cross contamination.
Before we release our product for sale, Midwest Labs completes another F9 analysis. All Rayne canned diets go through the FDA-prescribed “kill step” for bacteria during production to ensure they are sterile. Our dry diets go through an additional test for microtoxins. We again check to ensure Vitamin D levels are within specifications. Our dermatology products undergo third-party ELISA testing. This highly sensitive test method detects trace-level contaminants (beef, pork, chicken, fish, milk, and soy) to protect sensitive patients.
Our quality control team reviews all testing results as a final check. Any product with irregularities is pulled, flagged, and hand-inspected. Only after passing this final check is the product released.