Smalls Earned Clean Label Project Recognition Across Nine Fresh Cat Food Recipes

Smalls put its entire fresh gently cooked cat food portfolio through Clean Label Project third-party testing and came out with nine certifications: eight Purity Awards and one standard certification.

The recognition makes Smalls one of three brands certified by Clean Label Project, alongside BIXBI and Freshpet, according to the company. The certifications span multiple proteins and textures across the brand's fresh human-grade line.

What Clean Label Project tests

Clean Label Project is a nonprofit that tests finished products for environmental and industrial contaminants, including heavy metals, pesticides, glyphosate, phthalates, and bisphenol, at an ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratory. The Purity Award goes to products that meet the organization's standards for low contaminant levels, and standard certification is a separate tier.

The eight Smalls recipes that earned the Purity Award cover multiple proteins: the list includes options built around poultry, red meat, and seafood. The ninth recipe earned the standard certification.

Nate Kredich, Smalls CEO, said the certifications provide independent validation across the portfolio. "Having eight of our fresh recipes earn the Clean Label Project Purity Award is meaningful because it provides independent validation across such a broad portion of our portfolio," Kredich said in the announcement.

The credentialing play DTC brands run when they pitch retail

Smalls said the recognition gives the company another way to demonstrate its commitment to quality as it expands distribution through both online sales and physical retail. Third-party certifications are the credentialing a DTC brand uses when it walks into a buyer meeting without years of velocity data from comparable stores.

Clean Label Project recognition gives a brand a seal to put on packaging and a testing standard to cite when a buyer asks what separates this SKU from the three fresh cat lines already on the shelf. Whether that credentialing moves product depends on whether the store's customer base asks about contaminant testing, and most don't unless a competitor or a recall makes it a live concern.

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Our read on the certification as a retail pitch

We'd separate the certification from the distribution decision. Clean Label Project recognition tells you a brand cleared a testing standard, but it does not tell you whether the brand has the margin structure, the minimum order quantities, or the sell-through history to earn the space. If Smalls or another certified brand pitches you, ask for velocity data from stores comparable to yours, ask what the dating looks like on a fresh SKU, and ask what happens to unsold product at code. The seal answers one part of the evaluation, not the parts that determine whether the line pays rent.

The broader pattern: third-party testing and certification are becoming table stakes for premium fresh pet food, the same way organic certification became table stakes for certain grocery categories. A brand without it will face the buyer's version of that question, and the answer "we source clean ingredients" will not close the gap if the competitor has a seal and you don't. That does not mean every certified brand earns the shelf, but it does mean an uncertified brand in this category starts the pitch one step behind.

If you already stock a fresh cat line without third-party testing, the risk is not immediate but it is real: a certified competitor enters, your customer notices, and you're explaining why you didn't ask before you gave the brand the space. The play is to ask your current supplier whether they've pursued third-party testing and what the timeline looks like. If the answer is no plan, that tells you how seriously they're thinking about the category's direction.

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