FAQs

We are an award-winning pet food maker that has been crafting cat and dog foods since 1985. Today we serve nearly 100 countries, providing the highest quality nutrition to pets worldwide and earning the trust of Pet Lovers.

Our two brands are ORIJEN^® and ACANA^®. Learn more about our ORIJEN or ACANA dog and cat foods.

We have long been recognized for making some of the most nutritious food you can feed your pet, with a focus on using fresh, high-quality ingredients, from trusted suppliers, and using exceptional food safety and quality standards. ORIJEN and ACANA are carefully crafted with high meat, poultry and fish inclusions according to our philosophy of making foods that best meet the nutritional needs of your beloved cat or dog.

When pet foods began to be mass produced, the focus was on creating food that was convenient. Kibble made it easy for people to add pet food to a shopping list, bring it home and store it in a pantry or shed. The ingredients used were grain-based, cheap, plentiful, and easy to store in large amounts. The result? Food that even today is far away from what nature intended.

We pioneered Biologically Appropriate, which means every one of our recipes is crafted with purpose and reflects our commitment to mirror the diet nature and evolution intended dogs and cats to eat. For meat eaters, that means higher amounts of protein from animal sources and fewer carbohydrates.

We also introduced WholePrey ingredients to give pets the most succulent, nourishing parts of the animal, including meat, organs and bones. Fresh or raw meat, poultry or fish are always the lead ingredients in ORIJEN® and ACANA® recipes to provide pets with peak nutrition, optimal nourishment and ultimate flavor.

If you are interested and want to learn more, please see our Library for additional materials.

The world’s best recipes come from the world’s best ingredients. That’s why we collaborate with a specially curated group of leading farmers, ranchers, and fisheries that we have had relationships with for decades. Our strong network enables us to source only the best, including lamb from New Zealand, fish from Scandinavia, and other premium ingredients from our neighbors. No matter what, every ingredient we choose is selected for its nutritional value, digestibility and superior flavor.

Our commitment to trust and transparency has led to a robust supplier vendor audit approval program and detailed ingredient traceability system.

Click to learn about our ingredients.

We exclusively own and operate two of the world’s most advanced pet food kitchens where award-winning ORIJEN and ACANA foods are made.

Located on the vast Canadian prairies at the heart of Alberta’s dynamic agricultural community, our NorthStar Kitchen has been making food for pets and Pet Lovers worldwide since 1985.

Conventional pet food facilities produce vast quantities of food in short periods of time using dried ingredients that are mixed with water. Our kitchens allow us to use more animal ingredients and more fresh and raw ingredients.

We opened our custom-built DogStar Kitchen in Auburn, Kentucky, USA. In 2017, DogStar was awarded the first-ever Global Markets Award from the Global Food Safety Initiative, an international award that represents one of the highest food safety achievements in both the human and animal food industries.

In December 2019, we opened our new NorthStar kitchen, in Acheson, Alberta. Our new kitchen demonstrates our passion for making Biologically Appropriate pet foods. Within two weeks of opening, this Kitchen achieved European Union certified status from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, recognizing our ongoing commitment to make our foods the best they can be, with the highest quality ingredient sourcing and most robust food safety systems. Plus, NorthStar recently received Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification, a voluntary and rigorous process that highlights our high food safety standards, in less than a year of operation.

Every ORIJEN and ACANA product we make meets our standards for Quality Assurance and are made with industry-leading Food Safety Systems.

Regardless of where our foods are made, our commitment to the highest quality food in the industry remains the same. Our Research & Innovation specialists have crafted all our Biologically Appropriate ORIJEN and ACANA recipes. We’ve chosen the best ingredients; our specifications for Quality Assurance and Food Safety are followed, and we have oversight of all finished products.

As Pet Lovers feeding ORIJEN® and ACANA® foods to our own dogs and cats, we accept no less.

Our talented team of animal food scientists and nutritionists lead the development and research of our pet foods. They possess a wide variety of education and experience including degrees in Doctorates of Veterinary Medicine, PhDs in Animal Nutrition, PhDs in Food Science, Masters of Science degrees in Animal Nutrition, Food Science, Meat Hygiene and Food Microbiology. They also hold Bachelor’s degrees in Animal Science, Biochemistry, and Veterinary Medicine.

We also partner with numerous Doctors of Veterinary Medicine as consultants. We have always created Biologically Appropriate pet foods and are proud of the research we conduct.