ARLINGTON, Va. — The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) on Jan. 23 announced the category winners for its 2019 Feed Facility of the Year awards program.

Trouw Nutrition USA’s Neosho, Missouri facility won in the premix manufacturing category. The same Neosho facility won the premix category in 2016 as well, then went on to be crowned as the overall 2016 Feed Facility of the Year.

AFIA recognized this facility for its “extensive internal quality control procedures,” which mandates that premix is evaluated by staff members an average of 101 times before it is distributed to pet food and feed manufacturers.

“Combined with our commitment to procuring only the finest ingredients, we are fully committed to protecting our customers’ brands and ensuring pets receive the safest, highest-quality food,” said Plant Manager Doug Vanjoff. “Our team focuses 100% on animal well-being and safety. We pride ourselves on taking the necessary steps to confirm ingredients and finished products to meet or exceed our customers’ standards.”

The Neosho facility was acquired by Trouw in 2007. Since then, more than $7 million has been invested toward plant upgrades.

The company credits the facility’s food safety success to the use of automation, strict on-site quality assurance policies and a slew of certifications including AFIA’s Safe Feed/Safe Food Certification, FSC32 and FSC34, FAMI-QS, HACCP, restricted-use protein products (RUPP)-free, and Ractopamine Free.

In 2018, Trouw Nutrition’s Highland, Illinois premix plant won the FFY in the premix category.

Other category winners for the 2019 program include Western Milling in the commercial dry feed category; Koch Foods in the integrator category; and Quality Liquid Feeds in the liquid feed category.

The Feed Facility of the Year award program is considered a valuable benchmarking program for animal food manufacturers. The program has recognized 73 companies in animal food manufacturing since it began in 1985.

Stay up to date on news about the pet food processing industry on our News page.