So you’ve gone into the pet food treat business and discovered that state governments regulate businesses like yours? Well, it can seem pretty daunting when all you might have had in mind was selling a few dozen bags of home-baked dog biscuits through your local specialty pet shop. Your state regulatory agency is the ultimate authority on matters of registration, labeling, and marketing, of course, but we can help you with the testing end of it at least.
Label a plastic bag with your product name and/or sample number. If you write directly on the plastic, take care to use a permanent marker, such as Sanford Sharpie®.
Put a 4 to 6 oz sample (about half of a Ziploc sandwich-size bag) of your product in the bag, press the air out, and seal it to prevent moisture gain or loss in transit. Zip-locked bags are excellent.
IMPORTANT: For dairy-based pet treats and products, please send at least 4 ounces of your sample, frozen (in a plastic specimen container with a screwcap lid), to our street address. The package must be overnighted, Monday – Thursday only.
Write us a cover letter on your company letterhead, if you have one, requesting us to test for Pet Treat Calories. Alternatively, use our cover letter form. Please be sure to put your address information and sample identifications in the appropriate places in the letter. Use our cover letter template.
Don’t bother listing your ingredients. They are totally irrelevant to our testing, although (depending on the state) you may need to put them on your eventual product label.
Pet Treats that can be easily ground to a powder (dry biscuit-like products, cupcakes (with or without icing)): $75 each
Pet Treats that must be cut/sawed or are difficult to homogenize (rawhides, jerkys, bones, dried meats): starting at $100 each; contact our lab for exact pricing
Round Minimum guarantees down by 20% (Protein and Fat): example, NJFL = 10.5% Protein, you report 10.5 * (1-.20) = 8.4% Minimum Protein
Round Maximum guarantees up by 20% (Moisture and Fiber): example, NJFL = 5.15% Fiber, you report 5.15 * (1+.20) = 6.18% = 6.2% Maximum Fiber
(Round estimates to nearest tenth, i.e. 6.18% becomes 6.2% as in the above example)
Ash, Carbs and Calories are not reported as min/max so the above does not apply to those values. If you want to list “Calories per Treat” that guideline is on our website in the Pet Treats section.
With your package, include a Money Order to New Jersey Feed Lab, Inc. for $75/per sample.*
*The $75 fee is a flat fee per sample and covers all relevant testing, homogenizing, storage, and ~3-day reporting turnaround. Exceptions in price may be made at our discretion. For instance, any sample requiring cutting or sawing prior to grinding (Rawhide, Nylon Bone, some Jerkys) will incur an additional $25 charge. If you are unsure, please contact the lab PRIOR to sending.
To calculate Calories per Treat:
Check our addresses elsewhere on this site. If it’s only one sample, your most price-worthy service is First Class Mail by the United States Postal Service (they have an excellent rate calculator online). This low-cost method will get your sample to us in (typically) three days or less from anywhere in the US. If you’re sending several samples, you should consider Priority Mail, which is often a day faster than First Class. Your post office has several shipping envelopes and boxes at their locations.
In most instances, ~3 business days elapse from the time we get your sample to the time a certificate of analysis is generated, emailed, and post-mailed. If you’re thousands of miles from New Jersey, you might think a lab closer to you will do it faster. We invite you to investigate but doubt you’ll find any lab faster than us. Or cheaper. Or easier to deal with.
Keep a file of your test results. And if you need guaranteed analysis labels, consult our guidelines.
Good luck. Running a small business isn’t easy. We know.
We are here to help. Please don’t hesitate to reach out.
All RUSH requests will be charged 100% of the base test price plus prep fees. RUSH in most cases means next-day turnaround (end-of-day), with the exception of some specialty tests (most vitamins, amino acid/fatty acid profiles, heavy metals, and some others) that may take 2 or more days. Please contact the lab for clarification on rush turnaround before submission.
In some select cases, same-day rush can be arranged for a fee to be determined before a sample submission at no less than 200% of the base test price + fees.
We Will Be Closed :
Friday, July 3rd
For July 4th Observation
[Date]
[Name]
[Street or PO Box]
[City, State, Zip]
[Phone Number and Email Address]
New Jersey Feed Lab, Inc.
PO Box 6650
Trenton, NJ 08650
To Whom It May Concern:
Please test enclosed [number] sample(s) for Pet Treat Calories. The following payment method has been selected (pick one):
Return the certificate(s) of analysis to the above address.
Sincerely,
