The Honest Kitchen – Fact Sheet
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Overview:
The Honest Kitchen is a one-of-a-kind line of holistic dehydrated pet food, all-natural gourmet treats and herbal supplements. All products are made with wholesome, human-grade food ingredients and aim to promote nutritional awareness, environmental responsibility and a sustainable community. Made from 100 percent all-natural ingredients without any chemicals, fillers or by-products, The Honest Kitchen uses only certified organic grains, hormone and antibiotic-free meats, non-GMO fruits and vegetables and certified fair-trade quinoa. It’s pet food with passion and principles!
History:
The Honest Kitchen founders Lucy and Charlie Postins have always believed that their pets deserve the same high-quality, healthy food that they would choose for themselves. In 2001, after experimenting in her San Diego kitchen making home-cooked and raw pet foods for her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Mosi, Lucy began formulating recipes. It was then that she began to search for a human food manufacturer who would agree to produce her concept for gourmet, human-grade quality dehydrated raw pet food.
In 2002, The Honest Kitchen began offering products that combine the health benefits of a raw diet with the ease and convenience of dry food. Since its beginning, the company has remained committed to providing superior nutrition for pets by using 100 percent human-grade ingredients that you would recognize from your own kitchen – honest!
The Pantry:
The Honest Kitchen offers a comprehensive line of nourishing pet products, each carefully blended to to help four-legged friends achieve and maintain optimum health with a diet rich in amino-acids, phyto-nutrients, minerals, vitamins and enzymes.
Dehydrated Raw Dog Food – healthy and delicious recipes that offer something for even the most discerning palates
- Verve – The original dehydrated raw dog food made with beef and organic grains for adult maintenance.
- Force – A grain-free recipe made with chicken for dogs with sensitive stomachs and chronic ailments related to the consumption of gluten-containing grains. Wheat and gluten-free.
- Embark – A grain-free and low-carb recipe with turkey for all stages of life including active adults, puppies, pregnant and nursing dogs. Gluten-free.
- Preference – An easy and convenient grain-free base for any dog food recipe! Simply add any meat to create a custom home-made dog food.
- Keen- An affordable recipe. Keen is made with a ‘down to earth’ ingredients list that provides great low-gluten nutrition, without compromising quality. Suitable for adult maintenance, gluten-sensitive pets. .
- Thrive – A gluten-free, low-carb dog food made with chicken and designed for dogs of all life stages including adults, puppies, pregnant and nursing. Contains no fruits, potatoes or flax.
Dehydrated Raw Cat Food – Delectable, grain-free diet perfect for a feline’s delicate system
- Prowl – The first dehydrated raw cat food option. Made with 60 percent pure chicken meat. A high protein, grain-free cat food, this formula can stand alone or act as a base for a homemade cat food diet.
Supplements – Offers support for the skin, coat, immune system and digestive tract, with proprietary combinations of natural, wild crafted herbs and botanicals
- Sparkle – A natural herbal supplement. Made with a careful selection of natural herbs to support healthy skin and a shiny coat.
- Invigor – A natural antioxidant supplement to help improve a dog or cat’s overall wellbeing. Made from herbs that help combat free radicals and support proper immune function while helping to cleanse and revitalize for overall health and vitality.
- Perfect Form – Created to support normal and healthy functioning of a pet’s digestive tract. Combats gas, facilitates regularity, firms up loose stools, soothes and protects the GI Tract; ideal for pets with Irritable Bowel (IBD) and Colitis.
Treats – Scrumptious treats are made without wheat, corn, soy, beet-pulp or rice
- Smooches – Hand-made heart-shaped gourmet dog cookies made in a local bakery with all human-grade ingredients.
- Nuzzles – Cookies made for fussy pups with duck and cherries for a luxurious, rich and irresistible flavor.
- Pecks – Hand-made, bite-sized buffalo and blueberry cookies for pups of all sizes. Perfect for training; ideal for toy and small breed dogs.
- Ice Pups – A unique make-at-home frozen snack or beverage for pooches. Refreshing and cooling; great for sunny days, puppy parties and post-hike hydration. Grain-free.
The Pack:
Lucy and Charlie Postins: co-founders and “top dogs”
Willow, Taro, Charlie, Makai, Kylie, Stitch, Coco, Ollie, Texi, Roxi and Harry: quality control; canine and feline advisers
Where to Buy:
The Honest Kitchen is sold in more than 1000 resellers – including veterinary offices and specialty pet stores – nationwide and in Canada, Japan, Singapore and Hong Kong.
Address:
The Honest Kitchen, Inc.
145, 14th Street
San Diego, CA 92101
Web site:
The Honest Kitchen Wins Its Battle For Commercial Free Speech
For Immediate Release, November 8th 2007.
San Diego, CA. The Honest Kitchen has prevailed in its six-month lawsuit against Ohio Department of Agriculture. The result of the trial means the pet food company will be granted a license to sell its producs in Ohio – and continue to label its products as human grade, without being forced to amend the labeling in any way. The department earlier this year refused to grant a license to The Honest Kitchen, to sell its dehydrated pet food products in the state, citing the fact that the labels were misleading because they describe the company’s pet foods as “human food grade”.
The court has ruled in favor of The Honest Kitchen, citing the company’s right to truthful, commercial free speech. Ohio Department had acknowledged that thepet food products were human food grade, yet claimed that stating the fact on the labels could be confusing to customers, who might be unable to determine if the diets were intended for animals or humans.
The court determined that the labels were not in fact untruthful or misleading and ruled that the company had a constitutional right to make truthful statements about the human grade quality of its products, on the labels.
The Honest Kitchen has been the only pet food manufacturer in the United States to have proven to the Federal FDA that every ingredient it uses in its products are suitable for human consumption, and the products are manufactured in a human food facility. The cat and dog diets are made right along side bakery mixes, and other products for human consumption.
Ohio regulatory authorities originally denied the company a feed license in January, 2007. The company responded by providing documentation to the department, which they refused to acknowledge. The company then requested an internal ‘non-oral administrative hearing’ in February. The hearing officer ruled in favor of its own department and at that point the company decided to hire legal counsel. Lawyers filed a notice of appeal. An appellant brief was filed in August. The judge reversed the decision of ODA and ruled in favor of The Honest Kitchen on November 6th.
“Food Grade and Feed Grade are references to quality of a finished product. Our products are made with ingredients of a quality or grade that makes them safe for a human to consume, yet formulated to meet the nutritional requirements of dogs and cats, in terms of actual nutritional content. They meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles like most other pet foods, but are made with ingredients of a higher grade.” Stated Lucy Postins, the company’s founder.
“We have received so many letters of support for our fight with the regulatory authorities. We even heard of customers driving across state lines to pick up their pets’ food, or having orders shipped to friends in neighboring states, because they were so desperate to continue feeding the products which helped with various conditions their dogs suffer from, on other commercial, feed-grade foods” Postins stated.
Nancy Winrod owner of The Grateful Dog Bakery (N. Ridgeville, OH), one of the company’s resellers, had commented, “I am a small business owner and have had to pull 3 quality products so far…. Yet the companies that sold tainted food are able to continue with their horrendous bi-products, rendered meats, and chemical preservatives. It is SO time the pet food industry turns around in favor of the pets in this state!
The Honest Kitchen was founded in 2002. It proved to FDA in 2004 that its products are legally human food grade and received a statement of no objection to the human food-grade claims, at that time. Business in Ohio is expected to continue as usual, very soon.
For more information on this case, contact Lucy Postins, the company’s founder, at Lucy@thehonestkitchen.com
