Connected MES + QMS + LIMS + FSMA 204 traceability

From ingredient receipt to sealed retail bag — one FSMA 204-ready batch record with AAFCO nutrient guarantee that matches the bag.

V5 Ultimate runs every step your regulated-manufacturer customers audit — Approved Supplier + FSVP qualification, barcode-scanned receipt of every super-sack, gravimetric dispense against the locked formula, ribbon-blender uniformity, moisture / aw / particle size / micro in the LIMS, per-customer release specs, kosher / halal / organic / non-GMO chain of custody, and an auto-generated current-rev AAFCO guaranteed analysis on the printed bag artwork, and a FSMA 204 traceability record ready in seconds. No paper batch sheets, no drift between the label and the batch, no recall panic.

Built for FDA 21 CFR 117, FSMA 204 traceability, AAFCO labeling, and SQF / BRCGS schemes.

Book a 30-min pet food batch walkthroughRead the pet food playbook Pet food brochure (PDF)

One thread, ingredient receipt to sealed retail bag

step 01

Supplier & receive

FSVP · CoA · cert chain

step 02

Dispense

Gravimetric · to the gram

step 03

Extrude & coat

Uniformity · live

step 04

LIMS & release

Moisture · micro · 2-sig

step 05

Bag-off & label

AAFCO GA locked

step 06

Dispatch

Retail · e-com · FSMA 204

One system, three lenses

The same batch record — seen the way you run the plant.

For a B2B kibble, treat or wet-food maker, the small wins compound with every super-sack. Finance sees higher yield on premium proteins and functional inclusions. Operations sees the next changeover clear the allergen and sanitation swab on time. Quality sees a CoA your customer's incoming QA will accept without a phone call.

The CFO view

Higher first-pass yield on premium proteins and functional inclusions — dispense drift squeezed, customer rejections killed, and true cost per bag finally on the page.

Per-batch actual cost: proteins, grains, premixes, packaging, labour and rework — visible in $, today.
Lower giveaway from gravimetric dispense and in-line nutrient uniformity checks — no over-add of expensive premix or fat.
Fewer FDA / state feed-control findings from label-vs-batch drift and missing FSMA 204 KDEs.
Most pet food plants see V5 pay back inside year one and keep compounding.

Batch yield · todaylive

Adult chk & rice

+4.4 pts

Grain-free salmon

+3.2 pts

Puppy large-breed

+2.8 pts

Senior joint care

+4.1 pts

Cat indoor formula

+2.0 pts

Premix over-add killed7-day

+$48,720

Dispense drift falling ↓

Cost per 30-lb bag · today

$34.85 / bag

● Meat/grain 62%● Pack 14%● Labour 14%● QC 10%

+11 pts

First-pass yield uplift

Formula lockdown, gravimetric dispense and in-blender uniformity catch drift at the feeder, not final release.

−48%

Batch review-and-release cycle

Self-building batch record and current-rev AAFCO label lockdown — no evenings retyping results into an Excel template.

Daily

True cost per bag produced

Actual powder, premix, packaging and labour cost posted from each blend — not month-end reconciliation.

Customer CoA rejections from transcription

Results flow from released blend data into the customer's template — no manual typing.

Walk the process

From the FSVP-qualified ingredient lot to the sealed retail bag & FSMA 204 traceability record — one formula-locked thread.

Follow one blend. Every step below is a single screen in V5 — and the FSMA Preventive Controls, allergen matrix, kosher / halal / organic chain of custody and customer-specific spec library run underneath them all.

Step 01 · Approved supplier, FSVP & receiving

Qualified supplier, verified ingredient lot, certification chain intact — before a pound reaches the extruder.

Every meat meal, grain, fat, functional inclusion, vitamin, mineral and palatant is tied to a qualified supplier with a live supplier CoA, allergen declaration, GFSI certificate and — for imported ingredients — a Foreign Supplier Verification Program (FSVP) record. Super-sacks, totes, drums and 50-lb bags are barcode-scanned at goods-in, sampled per plan, and their certification status (kosher, halal, organic, non-GMO) is carried lot-by-lot into segregated stores. A missing CoA, an expired FSVP or a broken chain of custody rejects the pallet at the dock — not after it's dumped into the extruder pre-conditioner.

Pet food ingredient receiving dock with a warehouse operator in white smock, hairnet and blue nitrile gloves scanning a barcode label on a pallet of 50-lb kraft bags of chicken meal

Step 02 · Gravimetric dispense, extrusion & nutrient uniformity

The only formula the line can run is the released, AAFCO-approved version — drift from the guaranteed analysis is physically impossible.

The approved formula snapshots into every work order — immutable, rev-locked and pinned to the current customer spec. Loss-in-weight feeders and gravimetric dispense verify each minor and micro ingredient to the gram. Extruder screw speed, barrel temperature, moisture and SME stream to the batch record. Nutrient uniformity samples pull automatically along the kibble stream, and a formulation change routes through QA and — where claim-affecting — the customer's approval before a new rev reaches the line.

+11 pts

first-pass yield with formula lockdown & gravimetric dispense

−48%

blend release cycle vs Excel + email CoA workflow

Pet food twin-screw extruder with brown kibble exiting the die onto a stainless conveyor, operator at a touchscreen HMI

Step 03 · Proximate, mycotoxin, micro & nutrient assay

The batch can't ship until every AAFCO GA attribute is green — and the reviewer sees every OOS in one place.

V5 runs a full pet food LIMS in the same tenant — proximate (moisture, protein, fat, fiber, ash) by NIR and reference, water activity (aw), bulk density, kibble hardness / durability, colour, amino acid and vitamin assay (HPLC, FTIR, ICP-MS), heavy metals (ICP-MS), mycotoxins (LC-MS/MS), pesticide residue, allergen swab (ATP + protein-specific ELISA) and pathogen micro (APC, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria, yeast and mould). Any OOS opens an investigation and blocks the next operation. Two-signature release — production and QA — closes the batch record before dispatch.

Ingredients QC technician in white lab coat, hairnet and blue gloves at a lab bench with a moisture analyzer, particle size sieve stack, HPLC and small clear sample jars of powder labeled with lot codes

Step 04 · Bag-off, checkweigh & AAFCO label lockdown

One finished batch, one current-rev AAFCO label, one QA-signed bag — no drift between the bag and the batch.

Every printed poly bag, tote and super-sack is filled by net-weight, checkweighed, metal-detected and labelled with the current-rev bag artwork — SKU, lot code, best-by, guaranteed analysis, feeding directions and any AAFCO nutrient adequacy statement. At bag-off, V5 pins the current-rev AAFCO guaranteed analysis to the printed bag artwork and to the released batch data. A formula change that would shift the guaranteed analysis forces a re-approved label proof — the line cannot run with a superseded label.

Pet food bagging line filling a 30-lb printed poly bag of dry kibble on a checkweigher with a print-and-apply thermal label showing lot code, best-by date and guaranteed analysis

Step 05 · Dispatch, customer distribution & traceback

"If a supplier just flagged Salmonella — which retailers, DCs and e-commerce FCs are exposed?"

Every pallet ships with the batch record, GS1-128 SSCC, chain-of-custody marks and a bag manifest tied to the released blend lot. When a supplier flag, a customer complaint or an FSMA Preventive Controls event triggers a stop-sale, V5's lot + bag tree paints the affected bag ranges and destinations — forward from the finished blend and backward to every input powder, premix, flavour and packaging lot that built it. A CoA retraction with the recall-notice pack drafts itself.

FSMA 204 export & recall packRetail / DC / e-commerce FC traceForward & backward genealogy

The FSMA 204 pet-food CTE tree

A rendering supplier confirms Salmonella on chicken meal lot CM-6640. V5 walks the tree — the finished kibble and treat batches that used it, the bag ranges dispatched, the retail DCs, e-commerce fulfillment centers and independent pet retailers exposed. Pull the lever to see the FSMA 204 sortable spreadsheet assemble itself.

downstream · 4 retail & e-commerce shipments

Chewy · Reno FC

180 × 30-lb · PO 77420 · shipped

PetSmart · Phoenix DC

170 × 30-lb · PO 77471 · in transit

Petco · City of Industry DC

66 × 5-lb · PO 77503 · shipped

Independent pet retailers · CA/NV

50 × 5-lb · PO 77519 · shipped

2 SKU bag ranges dispatched

30-lb kibble · bag range B-9210–9560

350 bags · SKU 4402-ADULT-CHK

5-lb treats · bag range T-4110–4225

116 bags · SKU 4402-TREAT-CHK

1 finished batch · FSMA preventive controls record

PF-24-1104 · Adult Chicken & Rice — kibble + treat run

466 bags · formula rev C · AAFCO GA rev C · 2-sig released

upstream · 4 ingredient & label lots

Chicken meal · lot CM-6640

Supplier S-118 · Salmonella positive

Brown rice · lot BR-3310

Supplier S-042 · mycotoxin pass

Vitamin/mineral premix · lot VP-880

Supplier S-201 · assay verified

AAFCO label · rev PF-24-C

Guaranteed analysis rev C · QA signed

Affected bags

Customers notified

Forward depth

2 hops

Backward depth

4 lots

Running underneath · maintenance, sanitation & allergen changeover

Extruder PM, grinder verification, dust collection & Master Sanitation Schedule — on the same tablet as production.

Built-in CMMS with pet-food-native asset types — hammermills, twin-screw extruders, pre-conditioners, dryers, coating drums, fat sprayers, sifters, gravimetric feeders, cyclones, dust collectors, magnets, metal detectors, checkweighers, bag-off / FIBC fillers, retorts (for wet food) and palletisers. PM schedules, Master Sanitation Schedule (MSS), dry cleaning + push-through / flush verification, magnet / metal-detector test-piece verification and allergen changeover sign-off run on one calendar. An out-of-cal instrument, an overdue MSS task or a failed metal-detector verification physically refuses to release a batch.

Maintenance engineer in navy coveralls and hairnet servicing a stainless steel twin-screw extruder and cooling conveyor with a torque wrench and tool trolley in a clean pet food production room

Running underneath · quality, FSMA PC & certifications

Quality, FSMA Preventive Controls for animal food and AAFCO label control run through every batch — not stapled to the record at the end.

Incoming inspection, in-process checks, two-signature release, internal audits, CAPA, customer complaints, FSMA Preventive Controls monitoring records, AAFCO nutrient-adequacy substantiation and retailer-scheme evidence packs — all in one loop, all tied to the affected blend and input lot. Operators are blocked at the workstation if allergen or FSMA PC training has lapsed. Suppliers are blocked at goods-in if a CoA, FSVP or GFSI certificate has lapsed. Audit evidence — FDA FSMA inspection, SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000 and certifying-body — is a single indexed export.

Ingredients QA reviewer in a modern office reviewing an electronic Certificate of Analysis template on dual monitors with spec limits and micro results visible

The V5 quality kit — for a pet food plant

Every quality feature in V5 — mapped to a pet food & pet supplement maker.

The same platform that runs pharmaceuticals and human food — set up for the way a pet food maker actually receives, preconditions, extrudes, coats, tests, bags-off and releases a batch under 21 CFR 507, FSMA 204, FSVP, AAFCO Model Regulations and GFSI (SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000).

Approved Supplier Program & FSVP

Configurable per powder, premix, flavour and pack. CoA + FSVP + kosher / halal / organic verified at receipt; expired qualification blocks goods-in automatically.

pet food plant: Chicken meal · supplier S-118 · CoA + FSVP · humane

Gravimetric dispense & uniformity

Loss-in-weight feeders and gravimetric dispense verify majors, minors and micros to the gram. Nutrient uniformity samples pull along the kibble stream — an OOS uniformity opens a deviation.

pet food plant: Vitamin premix · 4.2 kg · ±0.5% · nutrient RSD 2.8%

Two-signature release

Production + QA review-and-release before any blend ships. Every gate signed with a validated e-signature — identity + meaning captured.

pet food plant: Batch PF-24-1104 · 2-sig released

Deviation, complaint & customer feedback

One workflow from issue raised through root cause, action, verification and close. Linked to the affected blend, workstation, operator, supplier and customer — customer complaint routes to the correct account team.

pet food plant: CX-4408 · consumer complaint · palatability

Formula & AAFCO label lockdown

Formulas are immutable, rev-locked and tied to the current-rev AAFCO guaranteed analysis. The printed bag artwork engine refuses to render a superseded GA — the line cannot bag with an out-of-date label.

pet food plant: Adult Chicken · rev D · GA rev D

Supplier scorecards & re-qualification

On-time delivery, CoA quality, FSVP status, GFSI certification, deviation rate and audit findings rolled into a live supplier score. Expired qualifications block goods-in automatically.

pet food plant: Supplier S-042 · OTIF 96% · FSVP ok · GFSI ok

Organic, non-GMO, grain-free & humanely-raised chain of custody

Certification and marketing claims (Organic 7 CFR 205, non-GMO Project, grain-free, humanely raised) carried lot-by-lot from receiving through extrusion, coating, packaging and shipping — with mass-balance evidence enforced at each step.

pet food plant: Organic mass-balance · in 3,200 kg → out 3,188 kg · 99.6%

AAFCO label proofing & guaranteed-analysis roll-up

V5 rolls up the batch's proximate, vitamin and mineral results into the printed bag's AAFCO guaranteed analysis. A GA drift triggers a re-approved label proof before the next bag can print.

pet food plant: SKU 4402 · GA rev D · protein 27% · fat 15%

Retain samples & stability

Retain samples booked into the retain library per lot with location, disposition and expiry. Stability studies scheduled per blend and pack — appearance, moisture, aw, assay and micro pull-points tied to formulation.

pet food plant: PF-24-1104 · retain 2 × 500g · stability 18-mo

Talks to your kit

Live on your extruders, feeders, coating drums and bag-off lines — no rip-and-replace.

We connect at the level your engineers and QA team expect — OPC UA, Modbus, MQTT, REST, EDI, file drops, SQL. Most plants are live on day one with the extruders, dryers, coating drums, gravimetric feeders, sifters, metal detectors, checkweighers, retorts and bag-off lines already installed.

Extrusion, dispense & grinding

OPC UA and Modbus links to Wenger, Bühler, Clextral, Extru-Tech twin-screw extruders and pre-conditioners; K-Tron, Coperion, Schenck, Acrison loss-in-weight and gravimetric feeders; Bühler and CPM hammermills; Sweco and Russell Finex sifters. Screw speed, barrel temperature, moisture, SME and dispensed mass logged straight to the batch.

Magnets, metal detect & checkweigh

Bunting and Eriez magnets; Mettler-Toledo Safeline, Loma, Anritsu, Ishida metal detectors and checkweighers. Reject events, test-piece verifications and giveaway data streamed to the batch — a failed verification hard-stops the line.

Bag-off, FIBC fill & label

Concetti, Premier Tech, Haver & Boecker, Choice Bagging bag-off and FIBC fillers; Videojet, Domino, Markem-Imaje, Zebra thermal-transfer and print-and-apply labellers. Current-rev AAFCO guaranteed-analysis bag artwork and lot code pinned per bag at the line.

Lab instruments & LIMS

NIR, HPLC, FTIR, ICP-MS, LC-MS/MS, moisture analyzer, aw meter, bomb calorimeter, kibble hardness tester, texture analyzer. Direct connectors for Waters, Agilent, Thermo Scientific, PerkinElmer, Mettler-Toledo, HunterLab and Malvern Panalytical.

ERP, WMS & customer portals

SAP, NetSuite, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Oracle, Infor, JustFood, Aptean. Retailer EDI (Chewy, PetSmart, Petco, Amazon Vendor Central), ASN and FSMA 204 traceability exports per retailer preference — email, SFTP, portal upload or API.

BI & data warehouse

Power BI, Tableau, Looker, Snowflake, Databricks. Direct SQL access to your tenant — your data, your queries, your validated reports.

See the full integrations overview

Audit-ready, every day

21 CFR 507, FSMA 204, AAFCO & GFSI — at the data layer.

The records build themselves as the blend is executed. When the FDA FSMA inspector, an SQF / BRCGS / FSSC 22000 auditor or a state feed control official walks in, the evidence pack is one click — not a week of re-assembly.

21 CFR 117

FDA Preventive Controls for Animal Food

FSMA 204

Food Traceability Rule (KDEs / CTEs)

AAFCO Model Regulations

Pet food labeling & nutrient adequacy

ISO 22000 / FSSC 22000

Food safety management

SQF / BRCGS / GFSI

Retailer-required scheme audits

Go-live in 10 to 16 weeks

Fixed-price, named team, one product family live before you pay for the next.

Week 1–4·step 01
Discovery & floor scan
We walk one product family with your team — formulas, AAFCO guaranteed analysis library, printed bag artwork, allergen matrix, organic / non-GMO / humane certifications, existing ERP and WMS fields. Out: a fixed scope and price.
Week 5–9·step 02
Configure & integrate
Material master, formulas, AAFCO GA per SKU, LIMS methods (proximate, mycotoxin, vitamin/mineral assay, pathogen), printed bag artwork templates, extruder / dryer / coating drum / feeder / metal-detector / bag-off integrations and ERP feeds loaded.
Week 10–13·step 03
Pilot & train
One product family live in pilot. Three-shift operator training on the floor with the actual UI — not slides. UAT signed by QA, production and operations.
Week 14–16·step 04
Go live & hyper-care
Cut over. Two weeks of hyper-care with your named delivery team on-site. KPIs published on the wall before we leave.

Cloud-hosted, US & EU regions· SOC 2 controls, SSO, audit log· Validated change control, QA-signed release

What buyers ask us

The first six questions on every pet food RFP.

How does V5 keep the AAFCO guaranteed analysis on the bag in sync with the batch actually made?

Each SKU has a current-rev printed bag artwork with the AAFCO guaranteed analysis pinned to the released formula. V5 rolls up the actual proximate, vitamin and mineral results per batch and compares them to the label. A formula change or a proximate shift that would move the guaranteed analysis flags the artwork as out-of-date and routes a new label proof through QA and marketing before the next bag can print. There is no drift between what the bag says and what the batch actually is.

How does V5 handle FSMA Preventive Controls and FSVP for imported ingredients?

21 CFR 507 preventive controls for animal food (sanitation, supplier, process, allergen where declared) live as structured records with monitoring, corrective action, verification and validation — all signed and version-controlled. FSVP hazard analysis, supplier verification activities and reassessment schedules are tied to each foreign supplier and ingredient. An expired FSVP verification blocks the pallet at goods-in, not after it is dispensed.

How does V5 handle FSMA 204 traceability KDEs and CTEs for a pet food lot?

Every FSMA 204 Critical Tracking Event (receiving, transformation, shipping) is captured automatically as the batch runs, with the required Key Data Elements — traceability lot code, product description, quantity, location, date and reference document. The 24-hour FDA sortable-spreadsheet export is one click, and forward + backward traces from a finished bag range to every ingredient lot resolve in seconds — not the days a paper reconstruction takes.

Will V5 talk to our extruders, dryers, coating drums, metal detectors and bag-off lines?

Almost certainly. We support OPC UA, Modbus, MQTT, REST, EDI and direct SQL — with working connectors for Wenger, Bühler, Clextral, Extru-Tech extruders and pre-conditioners; K-Tron, Coperion, Schenck, Acrison feeders; Bühler and CPM hammermills; Sweco and Russell Finex sifters; Bunting and Eriez magnets; Mettler-Toledo Safeline, Loma, Anritsu, Ishida metal detectors / checkweighers; Concetti, Premier Tech, Haver & Boecker bag-off; and Videojet, Domino, Markem-Imaje, Zebra label printers.

We contract-manufacture private-label pet food for multiple brands on one line — how does V5 keep them separate?

Brand ownership is explicit on every formula, batch, e-signature and audit event. Each brand's formulas, AAFCO GA library and printed bag artwork sit in their own tenant workspace with an audit-log wall between them, and QA sign-off routes to the correct brand's spec. A brand sees its batches and label history; the co-manufacturer sees the site — both defensible under 21 CFR 507 and brand supply agreements.

What about IT — validated change control, SOC 2 and GFSI / certifying-body audit prep?

Cloud-hosted in US and EU regions, SOC 2 controls, SSO (SAML / OIDC), full audit log and validated change-control process applied to every regulated screen. Where an SQF, BRCGS, FSSC 22000, FDA FSMA or state feed-control audit is scheduled, the evidence pack maps section-by-section — supplier program, formulas, dispense, extrusion, proximate, pathogen, allergen, FSMA 204 traceability, recall — from released batch data.

Ready to see it on your batch record?

Book a 30-minute walkthrough with a pet food specialist.

We'll show a live self-building batch record, formula lockdown, gravimetric dispense and extruder-parameter capture, proximate / mycotoxin / pathogen in the LIMS, two-signature release, current-rev AAFCO label lockdown at bag-off and a mock supplier Salmonella traceback — on a workspace seeded for a working pet food plant.

Book a walkthrough Read the full pet food playbook

Fixed-price go-live · No platform lock-in · Onboard in 10–16 weeks

Different operation?

Pick yours — every industry gets its own compliance posture.

Medical Devices

Class I/II/III device manufacturers — eDHR, UDI, design controls.

Pharmaceutical

Drug manufacturers, compounders, OTC — full cGMP batch records.

Dietary Supplements

Vitamins, sports nutrition, nutraceuticals — 21 CFR 111 ready.

Food Processing

FSMA 204, HACCP, GFSI — preventive controls and traceability lots.

Bakery & Confectionery

Allergen control, label accuracy, sanitation cycles — without paper.

Produce Packing

FSMA Produce Rule + 204 — field to case in one clean record.