August 14, 2024
Update to Our Food Safety Program: Pathogen Eliminating Probiotics
We are excited to share that we have added pathogen eliminating probiotics to our rigorous food safety program! Many of our customers have already received products with this addition and starting with orders placed today, all products will include these probiotics.
Why probiotics? Our probiotics are not the same as ones you’d buy at the store for yourself or your pets for gut health. Each strain in our mixture has been chosen specifically to perform a unique “job” in controlling or eliminating pathogens. Some produce natural antimicrobial compounds, others bind to receptors on pathogens and inactivate them, and overall they outcompete and eliminate bad bacteria.
The role of probiotics in our overall safety approach: We’ve conducted extensive research & testing with microbiologists & researchers to have confidence that this technology performs in our products and we’re thrilled to be making it available to all our customers.
This is just the latest addition to our robust, ever-evolving food safety program. We continue to source the highest quality USDA-inspected meat and the addition of probiotics is a complement to the antimicrobial lactic acid spray we already use on our raw ingredients. We manufacture in a USDA kitchen with strict cleaning & sanitation protocols, including regularly testing our production environment for pathogens and using ATP tests to monitor cleanliness.
Finally, each batch of our product is always tested for pathogens before shipping and multiple samples are collected from each batch to ensure we have a high statistical confidence in our results.
Here at Viva, we believe in making each batch of our food better than the last, which means we’re always looking at the latest research & discoveries to evolve our approach to food safety and provide higher quality products for your pets.
Want to learn more? Watch the videos below to learn more about how these probiotics work and to see how we worked with researchers to test this technology!
FAQ
Why don’t I see probiotics listed on my package’s ingredients label?
Our use of probiotics is classified as a processing aid under regulatory guidelines so it is not required to be listed in our ingredients. However, we are working on updating our package labels so that the probiotic addition will be reflected on our ingredients list in the future! The ingredients list on our website is fully up to date.
What strains are in the probiotics you use?
Our probiotic mixture contains Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium animalis, and Lactobacillus reuteri.
Do I need to transition my pets?
Probiotics are well tolerated by pets and are in fact commonly used to alleviate GI upset. You can comfortably switch your pets without a transition.
Should I stop or replace the probiotics I’m adding for my pet?
Other probiotic products serve a different purpose depending on the strains & the blend, so you are welcome to continue using other products alongside our food. Our strains are specifically selected for pathogen elimination. Additionally, our probiotic strains & other strains that are FDA-approved are well tolerated by pets even in higher quantities & when used together.
Did you consider other pathogen control technologies?
Over the past year, we evaluated and tested numerous pathogen mitigation technologies including HPP & bacteriophages for their effectiveness and impact on product quality. We found probiotics to deliver the best results in our products. It’s important for any technology to be tested within a company’s specific processes to ensure the best results for that suite of products.
How are your probiotics different from fermentation? Will the food taste or smell different?
Fermentation is the process by which carbohydrates are broken down for energy without oxygen (anaerobically). From a scientific perspective, the probiotics in our products undergo fermentation since that is how these good bacteria break down and use energy. However, our process is very different from the fermentation used to produce familiar foods like yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, or kefir.
The probiotics we’re adding have been carefully selected to not produce any detectable changes in the smell, taste, or texture of the food. For example, our probiotics do not contain any strains traditionally used in fermentation that would produce noticeable amounts of gas, acid, or smells. They are specifically selected for their pathogen eliminating capabilities and are different from the strains used in making fermented foods. Our use of probiotics also does not involve adding any dairy or sugar in our recipes to “feed” the probiotics.
Our testing has shown that the batches made with probiotics look, smell, and taste the same as before!