Pet Food Solutions

What Pet Food Solutions does

Pet Food Solutions LLC is a privately held, Illinois-domiciled B2B ingredient supplier founded in 2018 that produces and sells refined chicken fat for pet food manufacturers. The company operates a single production facility in Clinton, Indiana, with a corporate office in Mokena, Illinois, and a staff of 11-50 employees led by President Jodi McCarthy and Head of R&D David L. Meeker, PhD, MBA. Its customer base consists of major and high-end U.S. dog and cat food manufacturers, with export capability for global delivery via sea container shipments.

The company's single product line, Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat, is built on a patent-pending refining process that removes up to 4-5% of non-fat impurities from standard rendered chicken fat using a highly automated combination of water, pressure, heat, and time. The process eliminates Salmonella within five minutes (documented 7.3-9.89 log reductions), inactivates HPAI H5N1 avian influenza at 74°C for ten or more seconds, removes trace metals (iron, calcium, phosphorus, cadmium, lead, mercury, arsenic) to undetectable levels, and yields a finished product with less than 0.2% insolubles versus the 3-4% typical of commodity chicken fat. Production is HACCP-certified through Validus WFCF with every batch third-party tested for Salmonella-free status, and byproducts of the refining process are diverted to biodiesel production and fertilizer, resulting in a zero-waste operational model.

Revenue is generated by selling Gold Shield on a B2B ingredient basis, priced as the Mid-South Stabilized/Poultry Fat Index (reported by The Jacobsen) plus a premium for refinement, with flexible delivery in totes (single tote MOQ up to a 22-tote truckload), bulk tankers, railcars, and Flexitank sea containers under net-7 payment terms. The company operates an enterprise field-sales motion augmented by a content-driven marketing stack that includes a branded podcast ('The Clear Difference', launched 2025), YouTube and LinkedIn channels, technical white papers in English and Spanish, and an ongoing co-development partnership with extrusion equipment vendor Extru-Tech established in 2022. No external equity funding rounds have been disclosed, and the firm appears to be independently owned and operated.

Name

Pet Food Solutions

Legal name

Pet Food Solutions LLC

Website

https://petfoodsolutions.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Pet Food Solutions LLC is a private B2B pet food ingredient supplier that produces Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat, a patent-pending refined fat ingredient eliminating Salmonella and trace-metal impurities, sold directly to major U.S. and international dog and cat food manufacturers from its Clinton, Indiana production facility.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Pet Food Ingredients

NAICS

Rendering and Meat Byproduct Processing (311613)

SIC

Fats & Oils (2070), Poultry Slaughtering And Processing (2015)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYAFANACAK

Poultry Rendering & Fat Processing (Poultry Meal, Feather Meal, Poultry Fat)

Agriculture & Food Production/Meat, Poultry & Seafood Processing/Poultry Processing (Broilers, Turkeys, Further Processing)

Keywords

• Pet food ingredients
• Refined chicken fat
• Rendered poultry fats
• Animal feed additives
• Pet food safety

Headquarters

HQ city

Mokena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Gold Shield Refined Chicken Fat Sales: B2B ingredient supplier selling refined chicken fat to pet food manufacturers. Revenue generated through product sales with pricing based on market poultry fat index (Mid-South Stabilized/Poultry Fat Index by The Jacobsen) plus a premium for refinement. Volume-based pricing with flexible delivery options including totes, bulk tankers, railcars, and sea containers. Payment terms net 7 days.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Pet Food Solutions manufactures and sells Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat, a patent-pending refined chicken fat ingredient designed for pet food manufacturers as a replacement for standard rendered chicken fat. The product is produced through a proprietary refining process that removes non-fat impurities (salts, trace metals, biological contaminants, and insolubles), eliminates Salmonella and inactivates Bird Flu pathogens, and delivers improved stability, palatability, and operational efficiency. It is supplied globally in totes, bulk tankers, railcars, and sea containers to dog and cat food manufacturers.

Product overview

Pet Food Solutions offers a single core product line: Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat. This is a premium refined chicken fat ingredient designed specifically for pet food manufacturers as a replacement for standard rendered chicken fat. The product is delivered in multiple formats (totes, bulk tankers, railcars, sea containers) to suit different manufacturer scales, and is supported by technical resources including white papers, video series, and a company podcast. The product's value proposition centers on its multi-benefit formula addressing safety (Salmonella elimination), stability, operational efficiency, and palatability.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Gold Shield®: Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat is the company's flagship product - a multi-benefit refined chicken fat ingredient designed to replace standard chicken fat in pet food, offering reduced Salmonella risk, improved stability, and operational efficiency.

Products and services

• Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat A multi-benefit refined chicken fat ingredient for pet food manufacturers that reduces Salmonella contamination risk, increases product stability and shelf life, and improves plant operations by removing non-fat impurities (salts, trace metals, biological contaminants, and insolubles) from standard rendered chicken fat. Produced through a patent-pending refining process and delivered globally in totes, bulk tankers, railcars, and sea containers.

Named customers2 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Extru-TechcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Partnership created in 2022 to develop a 3-part video series featuring Gold Shield Refined Chicken Fat as a key ingredient upgrade for the industry. Benefits, operations, and R&D were covered in depth. Extru-Tech is an ongoing working partner with plans to continue developing solutions together. Pet Food Solutions is featured as a key ingredient partner by Extru-Tech.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Symrise: Global ingredients supplier with a dedicated Pet Food segment (palatants and functional ingredients) serving major pet food manufacturers. Comparable as a B2B specialty ingredient platform serving the same customer set as Pet Food Solutions.
• Cargill Animal Nutrition: Global agricultural and animal nutrition business producing fats, proteins and specialty ingredients used in pet food. Comparable as a broad-line supplier of chicken-fat-derived ingredients into pet food customers.
• Pilgrim's Pride: Major poultry processor producing rendered chicken fat and poultry meal as by-products, sold into feed and pet food applications. Comparable to Pet Food Solutions as a large-volume source of the underlying chicken fat input.
• Darling Ingredients: Global rendering and animal byproducts processor producing fats, meals and proteins used across feed and pet food. Overlaps with Pet Food Solutions on poultry fat refining, but operates at vastly greater scale across multiple protein streams and geographies.
• Tyson Foods: Vertically integrated poultry processor that generates rendered chicken fat as a by-product of slaughter operations, supplying pet food and feed customers. Comparable upstream of Pet Food Solutions' value chain, with potential to vertically integrate a Gold Shield-style refining step.

Direct peers

• BHJ North America: Specialty protein and ingredient supplier serving pet food manufacturers with functional animal proteins. Comparable to Pet Food Solutions as a niche B2B ingredient partner targeting premium pet food brands with safety/differentiation claims.
• AFB International: Specialty animal protein ingredients supplier (spray-dried plasma and protein ingredients) into the pet food industry. Directly comparable to Pet Food Solutions as a B2B ingredient supplier serving pet food manufacturers with functional, safety-driven ingredients.
• Kemin Industries: Ingredient supplier providing palatability enhancers, antioxidants, and safety solutions to pet food manufacturers. Comparable to Pet Food Solutions as a functional-ingredient supplier addressing oxidation, stability, and safety in pet food formulations.
• American Proteins: Rendering company (now a Darling Ingredients subsidiary) producing poultry meal, feather meal, and poultry fat used in pet food and animal feed. Closest large-scale comparator to Pet Food Solutions' poultry-fat refining activity.
• Alltech: Animal nutrition and ingredient company producing functional feed and pet food ingredients, including proteins and specialty fats. Comparable as a science-driven, B2B ingredient supplier serving feed and pet food markets.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/@petfoodsolutionsllc5276
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/pet-food-solutions-llc

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Pet Food Solutions