Outsourcing Production Doesn’t Outsource Compliance

Back in 2007, pet parents across North America opened their pantries to discover the food they'd been feeding their dogs and cats was part of one of the biggest pet food recalls in history. Menu Foods, a contract manufacturer, recalled roughly 60 million containers of wet pet food sold under dozens of store and national brands. Household names like Iams and Eukanuba had to issue their own recalls for products Menu had made for them, and those brands were the ones fielding calls from worried customers.

Twelve years later, Hill's Pet Nutrition found itself in a similar spot. A vitamin premix from an outside supplier contained far too much vitamin D, and Hill's expanded its canned dog food recall after the first round alone covered about 13.5 million cans. The mistake started with a supplier, but it was Hill's name in the headlines and on the class action.

Then in 2023, Mid America Pet Food recalled every pet food brand it manufactured with best-by dates before October 31, 2024, over Salmonella concerns. One facility touched a lot of labels, and a lot of brand owners spent the following weeks scrambling to figure out what it meant for them.

Those were safety recalls, but they illustrate something we talk about with brands every single week. When you partner with a co-manufacturer or private label supplier, you hand off production, and compliance stays with you.

Let's walk through why that is, where brands most often get caught off guard, and how to protect yourself without making things awkward with a partner you love working with.

So, Who's on the Hook? Flip Over Your Bag

Take a look at the back of any pet food package and you'll find a company name and address in small print. That's the guarantor, and that it's the company promising the product is neither misbranded nor adulterated. If you work with a co-packer, you'll usually see "manufactured for" or "distributed by" printed right above your company's name.

Whether your manufacturer makes food to your specs or you're selling their formula under your own brand, your name is the one standing behind it, and state feed officials will reach out to you first.

AAFCO's guidance for small manufacturers is super clear: the responsible party listed on the label should figure out what registrations and licenses each state requires.

State Registrations and Tonnage: The Classic "I Thought You Had It" Moment

Your manufacturer probably holds its own facility licenses, and that's wonderful! Those licenses don't register your products, though, and most states want each product registered before it's sold within their borders.

You can see this written right into state rules. Montana's pet food registration form defines the guarantor as the person whose name and address appear on the label and allows the guarantor to register on the manufacturer's behalf. Washington's registration rule asks for the guarantor's and the manufacturer's details separately, which tells you regulators fully expect those to be two different companies.

So who files? Honestly, this is where we see things fall apart most often. Each side assumes the other has it handled, and nobody finds out otherwise until a retailer asks for proof of registration in a new state or an inspector pulls product off a shelf.

The same goes for all the ongoing pieces:

• Annual renewals, which many states tie to the calendar year
• Tonnage or sales reporting, usually based on what you distributed into each state
• Per-product fees that add up quickly as your SKU count grows

Here's a helpful way to think about it: your manufacturer knows how many pounds they made for you, but they have no way of knowing how much landed in Ohio versus Oregon. That information lives with you, your distributors, and your sales channels.

Labels and Claims Are Your Brand, Your Voice, And Your Responsibility

Plenty of co-manufacturers will give your label artwork a once-over. Far fewer will check it line by line against AAFCO's model regulations and each state's adopted version, and almost none will be reading your website copy or Instagram captions.

These are the spots where we most often see brands get tripped up:

• Formula changes that never make it to the label. If your manufacturer swaps an ingredient or adjusts a premix, your ingredient statement and guaranteed analysis might not match what's in the bag anymore.
• Borrowed claims on private label products. A supplier's spec sheet might describe a formula as "calming" or say it "supports joint health." Once that language lands on your packaging, it belongs to you, and some phrasing can nudge a product into drug-like territory. Wisconsin's pet food label guide even uses "reduces hyperactivity" as an example of a drug claim that's off-limits on dog and cat food.
• Marketing that lives beyond the bag. The FTC pays attention to what you say in ads, on your site, and through influencer partnerships. Your manufacturer has zero input there, so that part is all yours.
• Label Modernization timing. Under AAFCO's Pet Food Label Modernization, updating your label before the deadline means bringing the entire label into compliance at once. A formula change your manufacturer initiates could set that in motion sooner than you planned. We dig into the details in our post on staying ahead of AAFCO's labeling rules.

Curious how your label stacks up? Our free 2-minute label quiz is a quick, painless gut check.

How to Protect Your Brand + Keep the Partnership Happy

Here's the encouraging part: a little clarity up front prevents most of these headaches, and good manufacturers appreciate working with brands who ask these questions.

Whether you co-manufacture or private label, here's what we recommend:

1. Put compliance responsibilities in writing. Your agreement should spell out who registers products, who files tonnage, and who pays which fees, state by state.
2. Ask for a heads-up on changes. Request notice before any ingredient, supplier, or premix change so you can update labels and registrations before new product ships.
3. Keep your own records. Hang on to copies of formulas, specs, and certificates of analysis instead of relying only on your partner's files.
4. Own your label review. Have someone independent check every label against current AAFCO models and state rules before it goes to print.
5. Know where your product goes. Track distribution by state so your registrations and tonnage reports match what's happening in the real world.

A nice bonus is that retailers notice brands who have this buttoned up. Here's a peek at what retailers want from pet food brands when they're vetting new partners.

Let's Make Sure Nothing Slips Through the Cracks!

Your co-manufacturer or private label partner should make your life easier, and they absolutely can, as long as everyone's clear on who owns which piece of compliance. If you're not sure where those lines fall, or you have a sneaking suspicion a state or two slipped by, we'd love to help you sort it out.

We take care of state registrations, renewals, tonnage reporting, and label reviews for pet food brands of every size. Reach out to our team and let's chat about your setup. Future you will be so glad you did!