Freshpet Earns Full-Line Clean Label Project Certification and Purity Award

Bedminster disclosure: Freshpet wins full-line Clean Label certification

Freshpet, the leader in fresh pet food, announces that its entire U.S. and Canadian product line earns Clean Label Project™ Certification and the organization’s Purity Award, the company says on Feb. 12, 2026. Freshpet is the first and only pet food brand whose complete portfolio meets the nonprofit’s thresholds for contaminants that include heavy metals, pesticides and industrial chemicals. The certification follows more than a year of testing that Freshpet presents as third-party validation of its long-running focus on fresh, minimally processed ingredients prepared in company kitchens.

Full-portfolio purity certification underscores food-safety strategy

The nonprofit tests products for more than 100 environmental and industrial contaminants, and Freshpet’s recipes clear thresholds for heavy metals such as lead, cadmium, arsenic and mercury, bisphenols (BPA and BPS), phthalates (CBP and DEHP), acrylamide, pesticides and other toxins. Certification work begins in early 2025 and covers the company’s grocery and pet specialty SKUs in both the U.S. and Canada. The Purity Award is reserved for the top third of performers in a category, placing Freshpet’s foods among the highest-scoring pet products in the Clean Label Project’s assessments.

Freshpet frames the achievement as a supply-chain and ingredient-quality milestone rather than a marketing badge, saying the tests evaluate contaminants consumers cannot see on labels and thus provide quantitative assurance about ingredient integrity. Company executives stress the result supports retailer, veterinarian and pet-owner confidence by documenting independent limits on contaminants across its full assortment. Freshpet positions its own manufacturing and ingredient sourcing controls as central to meeting the independent limits and sustaining what it calls a two-decade commitment to premium quality and food safety.

Mission reinforcement and executive comment

Scott Morris, Freshpet co-founder and president, says the company set out 20 years ago to create different pet food from “real, simple ingredients,” and that the certification reinforces that mission by confirming the portfolio meets rigorous independent limits on industrial and environmental toxins.

Certification process and industry context

The Clean Label Project’s testing and the resulting Purity Award provide a metric that retailers and veterinarians can use when advising pet owners, and Freshpet’s public announcement positions the company to leverage independent testing as part of broader industry efforts to raise transparency and safety standards in pet food.