Freshpet's entire United States and Canadian product line has earned Clean Label Project's Purity Award for ingredient quality and safety, providing extra assurance to pet parents that they're nourishing their pets with options that are free from heavy metals, pesticides, and environmental contaminants.
Achieving Clean Label Project Certification involves products undergoing extensive independent lab testing for over 100 environmental and industrial contaminants, including heavy metals (lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury), bisphenols (BPA, BPS), phthalates (CBP and DEHP), acrylamide and pesticides. "Our findings show that many dry dog foods contain significantly higher levels of toxic heavy metals than fresh or frozen dog food and the average human-consumable product," said Molly Hamilton, Executive Director of Clean Label Project.
Freshpet is the first and only pet food brand to be Clean Label Project Certified and have its whole product line recognized with the organization's Purity Award.
Clean-Label Dog Foods
Freshpet is the First Dog Food to Earn Clean Label Project Certification
Trend Themes
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Clean-label Pet Foods — Consumers are favoring pet foods with verified ingredient transparency and absence of contaminants, creating space for products that compete on purity standards rather than price alone.
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Independent Third-party Certification — Wider adoption of external lab verification for safety metrics is redefining trust signals in product marketing and could shift brand differentiation toward measurable contaminant testing.
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Fresh or Frozen Pet Nutrition — A movement toward fresh and frozen formulations over traditional dry kibble is emerging due to lower detected levels of heavy metals and environmental toxins.
Industry Implications
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Pet Food Manufacturing — Manufacturers face pressure to reformulate and alter supply chains to meet stricter purity expectations and certification requirements for ingredient sourcing and processing.
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Retail Pet Supply — Retailers are increasingly curating assortments around certified-clean brands, which can transform in-store merchandising and private-label development toward higher safety credentials.
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Food Testing and Lab Services — Demand for comprehensive contaminant screening and certification services is rising, enabling specialized labs to become gatekeepers of market access for safety-focused products.