Where Food Comes From Inc., a firm specializing in third-party verification of food production practices, developed Feed Verified to improve the efficiency of product approval and to help establish transparency within the industry.
Over the years, Where Food Comes From Inc. has had to disqualify businesses that didn’t meet specific brand label requirements related to animal production practices and procedures. Doug Stanton, vice president of operations for the company, recalls an instance where an auditor was conducting a verification procedure and discovered a feed product that made the cattle nonconforming to the particular market standard.
“This producer thought he was buying feed products that met the requirements. His intentions were good, but the feed dealer wasn’t completely aware of the requirements and thought he was selling a product that would meet that claim,” Stanton says. “So we began to think about establishing a web-based listing service that our customers could access 24-7, without having to call or send in a feed tag to be approved. This way producers can feel comfortable about using a certain product without having to worry about being disqualified because they didn’t meet a particular standard.”
Stanton points out that this is the first and only resource producers can use for this type of information. The Feed Verified site houses a real-time listing of approved products and ingredients, while indicating those verification or certification programs each product is approved for use in. The listing is species neutral and includes direct hyperlinks to the individual product websites for easy access to additional information and purchasing opportunities.
“Consumers want to know more and more about where their food comes from,” Stanton says. “It is tough to look at the product and tell if it meets the non-GMO or organic standard, so in most cases, producers are relying on the product dealer to know the requirements they are looking for. This listing service will hopefully alleviate those kinds of issues.”
The launch of Feed Verified includes 16 newly approved products from industry brands such as Alltech and Bio S.I. Technology. From the beginning, Alltech has been a huge supporter in the development of this listing service and has seen the present need for this resource within the company.
“Our biggest hope with all this is to simplify the process,” says Brian Lawless, a beef sales specialist at Alltech. “Sometimes the whole certification process just gets muddled in a lot of other technologies and ingredients, and we want to make the process become clearer with producers and ultimately with consumers.”
The approved products have been evaluated and meet the requirements of the verification claims indicated in the listing. Feed Verified assures that segregation and traceability practices are in place at the manufacturer and these products are verified to meet the requirements of the programs selected. 
To view the Feed Verified listing resource, click here.
