Pet food & treat storage
Pet Food Storage and FDA-Registered Holding: What the Rules Actually Require
Updated October 2026
FDA registration belongs to the building that holds your food. A 3PL storing it is the holder, while the maker and the label registrant are someone else. Some SKUs also need tighter storage conditions than others.
Storing pet food raises two separate questions. One is whether the building is registered with FDA as an animal food facility, a status the building itself holds. The other is whether each product is kept in the conditions it needs. That changes from SKU to SKU, since some treats and chews are more sensitive to heat than a bag of kibble. We hold sealed pet food and treats and record each lot and its expiry date at receiving so near-expiry units are held back before anyone picks them. Tell us your SKUs and our team will look at what each one needs.
By The Fulfillment.com team
Registration
What 'FDA-registered' means for pet food storage
FDA regulates pet food as animal food, under rules separate from those for human food and for dietary supplements. Animal food facilities generally have to register with FDA unless an exemption applies. That covers plants that make, process or pack the food, and it also covers warehouses that only hold it. A facility is either registered or it isn't. Registration is not a quality badge a 3PL can give itself, and it doesn't mean any product has been "approved."
Nor is registration a kind of approval. Our guide to the animal-food rules explains why no pet food carries an FDA or AAFCO approval.
Holding versus making
Where Fulfillment.com fits in the animal food rules
Part 507, FDA's animal food rule, asks less of a warehouse that only holds sealed product than of a plant that makes it. The holder-versus-registrant guide covers that split in full.
We are a 3PL, and we don't manufacture or co-pack. We receive finished, sealed pet food and treats and hold them until they ship, and we never produce, fill or package the product. In the rule's terms we hold sealed animal food. The brand is the registrant for the product label under state feed rules, and the labeling duties stay with it. Our pet products fulfillment page covers what else we do for pet brands, from heavy freight to recurring orders.
Ask about the building. Registration, and which Part 507 provision applies, depend on the specific facility and the specific product. When you talk to any 3PL, ask for the registration of the building that would hold your food and treats, and how that building meets the holding provisions. Our team will answer the same question for ours.
Product by product
What climate-sensitive pet food storage requires
Plenty of pet food needs no climate control at all, so a warehouse that says every bag does is overstating it. Sealed bags of dry kibble and most shelf-stable durables handle ordinary warehouse conditions. The products that do need temperature and humidity control are usually these:
- certain treats and soft chews
- freeze-dried and shelf-stable raw-adjacent items
- some supplements and chewable vitamins
- grooming liquids that break down or separate in heat
The label on each SKU usually sets what it needs, so the decision is made one product at a time rather than for the whole catalog.
Heat and humidity matter for anything with an expiry date, because they wear down shelf life faster. Soft chews and semi-moist treats can sweat or harden. The fats in some treats and supplements go off sooner in warm air, and chewable vitamins can soften. Start with the manufacturer's storage statement for each SKU, usually printed on the case or the spec sheet, and then check whether the building meets it. Our warehouses are ambient, and some buildings have air-conditioned space. If a label calls for a tighter range than that, tell us early, and our team will tell you whether we can hold it and on what terms.
Whatever the conditions, the soonest-expiring lot should ship first. We handle that through lot, expiry, and FEFO control.
Day to day
How storage runs, from the dock to the bin
Receiving is the moment to check a shipment for heat or moisture damage, and receiving is also where each lot and its expiry date go on record. That record follows the stock to every order it ships in, as our pet food lot tracking guide explains in full.
When an order comes in, BestOMS, our order system with Deposco behind it, sends the picker to the nearest-dated lot that can still be sold. Every other pet service we run across our distributed warehousing relies on that rule.
Questions brands ask about storing pet food
Is your pet food storage FDA-registered?
Registration with FDA as an animal food facility is a real status, and each building holds its own. So with any 3PL, ask which building would hold your product and where that building stands on registration and the FSMA Part 507 holding provisions. Our team will answer that for the specific building. We hold sealed, packaged pet food and treats, with each lot and its expiry date recorded at receiving. A building's registration does not replace the brand's own labeling and state feed-registration duties.
Does all pet food need climate-controlled storage?
No. Sealed bags of dry kibble and most shelf-stable durables are fine in ordinary warehouse conditions. Whether a product needs more depends on the SKU. Certain treats and soft chews can, and so can freeze-dried and raw-adjacent products. Some supplements, chewable vitamins and grooming liquids do too. The manufacturer's storage statement on each SKU usually tells you. Our network is ambient, with air-conditioned space in some buildings, so raise any SKU that needs a tighter range early and we can look at what a program of that size would need.
Is Fulfillment.com the manufacturer or the registrant of the pet food it stores?
Neither. We are a 3PL. We receive and hold finished, sealed animal food, and since we don't produce, fill or package it, we are not the manufacturer. The registrant for state feed registration is typically the brand, state by state, and the labeling duties stay with the brand too. Our part is storing the sealed product and pulling an affected lot quickly.
What is the difference between "FDA-registered" and "AAFCO-approved"?
FDA registration is a real status that a building holding pet food can have. "AAFCO-approved" is not a status at all, because AAFCO has no regulatory authority and approves or certifies nothing. It publishes model nutrient profiles and label standards that states adopt. The registration belongs to the building, and any claim that a label meets AAFCO model profiles belongs to the brand.
How do you keep near-expiry pet food and treats from shipping?
We record each lot and its expiry date at receiving, and our warehouse system sends every pick to the soonest-expiring lot that can still be sold (first-expiry, first-out, or FEFO). Once a lot falls below your threshold, it can no longer be picked and is flagged for review. Because the warehouse system decides which lot can ship, near-expiry units are checked twice, at receiving and again at pick.
Send us your food and treat SKUs
List your food and treat SKUs, and our team will go through what each one needs and how we would receive it and record its lots. The quote is free and binds you to nothing.