How Does Butternut Box Source Its Ingredients?

When it comes to your dog’s dinner, knowing what goes into it matters.

That’s why we’re careful about the farms and suppliers we work with, and why we take the time to understand where our ingredients come from. From the meat in the recipe to the vegetables that give it colour, flavour and goodness, we choose each ingredient with your dog in mind.

What does “human-quality” mean to Butternut Box?

You may have heard the term “human-grade” or “human-quality” used to describe dog food. At Butternut Box, we talk about human-quality ingredients. That means the ingredients we use come from the human food supply chain. 

So when you see chicken, beef, carrots or peas on the ingredients list, that’s what you’re getting. Real ingredients, chosen carefully and traceable back to their source. We think that’s important. Because you should be able to recognise what’s in your dog’s bowl, even if your dog would happily eat something they found under the sofa. 

Using ingredients from the human food supply chain also means we can work with suppliers who follow established food-safety and quality standards. Each ingredient is assessed before it reaches our kitchen, and we keep records that help us trace it through the supply chain. Our food is made with human-quality ingredients. It isn’t food for humans, though. Your dog gets the good stuff.

What ingredients are never used in Butternut Box recipes?

We’re particular about the ingredients that go into our recipes. That means you’ll never find rendered meats, animal bone meals or powdered meat meals in our food. 

We choose real meat and vegetables instead, and we work closely with our suppliers to make sure ingredients meet our requirements before they’re used. Because if an ingredient isn’t good enough for us to feel comfortable eating, we don’t think it belongs in your dog’s bowl either.

Where does Butternut Box source its meat and vegetables?

Most of our fresh meat comes from the UK and the EU. Wherever possible, we source as locally as we can, while making sure we have a reliable supply of the ingredients needed for our recipes throughout the year. Real food is seasonal, so our suppliers can vary depending on availability.

Here’s how that works for some of our ingredients: 

• Venison - High-quality venison can be seasonal, so we sometimes source it from trusted farms in New Zealand.

• Lamb livers and hearts - When local availability is limited, we may source these ingredients from trusted suppliers in the Southern Hemisphere. 

• Vegetables, botanicals and lentils - Our produce sources change with the seasons and harvests. We always aim to source as locally as possible and regularly use British wonky veg, helping perfectly good produce avoid going to waste. 

Wherever an ingredient comes from, we work with suppliers we trust and check that it meets our food-safety and quality requirements.

What is Butternut Box’s Animal Welfare Policy?

Animal welfare is an important part of how we choose and work with our meat suppliers. Our suppliers must meet requirements covering areas such as animal handling, transport and farm management. 

We also don’t use meat from animals raised solely to be shot for sport. We know that choosing ingredients responsibly involves more than looking at what ends up in the bowl. It also means paying attention to the people, farms and processes behind them.

What happens when we change a recipe, ingredient or supplier?

Before we approve any change, we assess its risk. A brand-new ingredient from a brand-new supplier receives a higher level of scrutiny than an ingredient we already use from a new supplier. 

Whatever the risk rating, every ingredient follows the same core onboarding process. We don’t skip steps because we’ve used an ingredient before or worked with a supplier for years.

A new supplier for an ingredient we already use

We aim to have at least two approved suppliers for every ingredient, and more for those we use in higher volumes. We compare specifications, assess samples, run testing where needed and make a full trial batch. 

Our raw materials, technical and product development teams review the results together, and the batch stays on hold until every test result is approved.

A new ingredient in an existing recipe

We don’t make changes lightly. A new ingredient goes in only when it makes the meal measurably better. 

Where it could affect nutrition, we re-test against FEDIAF standards, and our taste clubs help us understand whether dogs and their owners prefer the new version. If it doesn’t come back stronger, we don’t make the change.

We tell you before it reaches your box

Dogs have allergies and sensitivities, and you know your dog better than we do. So any recipe change is communicated to affected customers in advance. We email you, publish the change on our website and update ingredient declarations online and in your box.

From ingredients to your dog’s bowl

Once our ingredients arrive at our kitchen, they’re checked before being prepared and gently cooked by our team. Every part of the process matters, from choosing the right suppliers to keeping ingredients traceable and maintaining high food-safety standards in our kitchen. 

So, when your dog is staring at you while you prepare their dinner, you can feel good knowing there’s a lot of care behind it. Even if they still think it’s taking too long.