Quality and Safety at Big Dog

Why Big Dog

Trusted raw feeders since 2000 for a reason

One of the most common questions we are asked here at Big Dog, is “is raw food safe for my pet?”. Raw pet food is healthy and safe if it is manufactured, stored and handled correctly, as with any food. Big Dog is proud to be Australia’s leading raw pet food provider, beginning in 2000, reaching millions of pets with our healthy raw food.  

Big Dog Pet Foods in the early days (2000) featuring founder, Chris Essex, filling bulk rolls by hand

Big Dog’s commitment to quality and safety

We have a dedicated team of Quality Assurance (QA) professionals that implement and maintain our food safety policies and procedures. This is to ensure that our product quality is the best it can be, consistently, to meet our high standards that pet parents rely on.

Big Dog’s State of The Art Production Facility

Our manufacturing facility is purpose-built and temperature-controlled throughout to maintain product integrity from start to finish. Being a purpose-built facility, it streamlines our process and makes our quality assurance more efficient.

Our facility meets the same stringent standards required for human-consumption meat production and operates under Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) certification.

Quality recipes start with quality ingredients  

The foundation of our reputation for high-quality foods starts with the ingredients we choose and the suppliers we trust, because even the strictest processes can’t compensate for poor ingredients.  

That’s why we source fresh Aussie produce through the human supply chain every day. All produce that arrives at Big Dog HQ undergoes a thorough product integrity check inspecting temperature, appearance and smell.

We’ve partnered with some of our suppliers for over 25 years.  The trust we’ve built is invaluable, helping ensure consistency, quality, and a smoother manufacturing process every step of the way.

Minced eggshells and lettuce, carrots, green beans and Tasmanian salmon with production staff in hair nets and lab coats checking produce quality
Fresh ingredients used in Big Dog recipes

Working with natural ingredients

We manufacture our food using fresh, natural produce which we are very proud of. With this, comes a natural and acceptable level of product variation. Different cuts of meat result in changes to our product primarily from a colour and texture perspective. We do get questions from time to time when we have batch-to-batch variation, so we do our best to maintain our product consistency as best as possible, allowing for the natural variation that comes with a 100% natural product. 

Nutritional consistency

The nutritional foundations of our recipes are tightly controlled, with no tolerance for variation. From meat to offal, every component is consistent to ensure that every meal delivers balanced, reliable nutrition as outlined in our Typical Analysis.

QA lab technician using a FOSS machine to test the typical analysis of Big Dog Pet Foods products
Our QA team uses our FOSS machine to ensure the Typical Analysis of each product.

In addition to our raw material checks, we check our product throughout the stages of manufacturing for colour, consistency and smell. All these checks must be signed off by a member of our QA Team.  

QA team checking colour, consistency and smell of Big Dog Pet Foods products
Inspection of the final product by Big Dog’s QA team.

Weight checks

Each product is weighed using an inline checker, any product that does not pass the weight check is automatically rejected. Our QA team is responsible for routinely checking final product weight throughout each batch of food, as well as testing our scales and ensuring they are working accurately.

QA team checking final weights of Big Dog Pet Foods products
Our QA team checking our final product weight records.  

Temperature control through the entire process

Raw food naturally contains bacteria, and canine and feline digestive systems are designed to handle this. Even so, we carefully monitor bacteria levels to ensure they remain within safe limits.

Temperature control is imperative to a safe, healthy product, therefore, temperature checks are an important part of our quality processes. Given our product is raw, we need to monitor the temperature of our food throughout our entire process, to keep bacterial levels at a safe threshold that pets can handle. 

We temperature check all raw materials. Anything that is too high, gets rejected and sent back to the supplier. We manufacture our food in a purpose-built temperature-controlled production facility and check the temperature of our finished product before it gets frozen down to be shipped to pet stores. 

We freeze our food down in blast freezers at -35 oC -40oC for a minimum of 23 hours before moving it to our purpose-built industrial freezers at -18oC.  This process allows us to produce a raw product that is 100% natural and doesn’t need any preservatives.  

We check, and we check again

For every product we produce over the day, we freeze a sample of each product overnight and then thaw for assessment in our lab. Only batches that get the tick of approval from our QA team are released for distribution to retailers. 

Cleaning and safety  

Every stage of production is supported by strict cleaning and maintenance protocols, including protein swabs on food-contact surfaces to verify hygiene and consistency in our cleaning procedures. Alongside the multiple quality checkpoints mentioned throughout this article, we also include metal detection systems to ensure product safety.

Metal detectors used throughout the Big Dog production facility
One of the metal detectors in the Big Dog production facility

Third party audits

We are audited by Safe Foods QLD for compliance against their standards, which is the same standards for human-consumption meat production, as well as HACCP audits for our certification.

Because we manufacture pet food for sale in corporate retail stores, our customers also require their auditors to thoroughly review our processes and manufacturing for compliance.  

Keeping the product safe at home

Thermometer icon with snowflake to indicate frozen temperatures

Store frozen

Be sure to keep raw food frozen until ready for thawing. Thaw before feeding, avoid re-freezing.
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Icon of a Big Dog pattie in an airtight container for proper storage

Defrost Properly


To thaw, place portion in a container and allow to thaw in the fridge. To accelerate the thawing process, place in sink of lukewarm water for 15 - 30 minutes, ensuring not to cook.
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Icon with clock, snowflake and water icon to indicate safe ways to store Big Dog Pet Foods

Storage and Safety

This is an all-natural product with no preservatives; once thawed it must be used within 2-3 days. Keep thawed portions in a sealed, airtight container in your refrigerator. It is important to discard any thawed product that no longer look or smells fresh.
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Icon for washing hands and keeping area clean when feeding raw dog food

Wash Well

Standard safe hygienic practices should always be followed when handling fresh, raw food; ensure all utensils, work areas and hands are thoroughly washed with warm soapy water after being in contact with raw food.

If you have any questions regarding Big Dog’s QA, reach out to us customercare@bigdogpetfoods.com, or if you have a question relating to a specific batch, please get in touch via this form.

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