Pet Product Fulfillment Glossary

21 CFR Part 507: The FDA regulation setting current good manufacturing practice and preventive controls requirements for food for animals, including expectations for facilities that hold animal food.
AAFCO: The Association of American Feed Control Officials, a voluntary organization of state and federal feed regulators that publishes model regulations, ingredient definitions and nutrient profiles used in pet food labeling. Many states adopt AAFCO models into their feed laws.
ASN (EDI 856): An advance ship notice sent electronically to a retailer detailing what is in a shipment, often down to cartons and lots, before it arrives.
Autoship: A recurring order program in which customers receive the same products on a set schedule, common for pet food, litter and supplements.
Best-by date: The date through which a manufacturer expects a product to retain its intended quality. In fulfillment it drives FEFO picking and shelf-life rules.
Dimensional weight: A carrier pricing method that bills a parcel based on its size rather than actual weight when the package is large relative to its weight.
EDI 850: The standard electronic purchase order transaction a retailer sends to a vendor to order product.
EPA registration number: The number EPA assigns to a registered pesticide product, printed on its label; many flea and tick products carry one.
FEFO: First-expiry, first-out: a picking method that ships the units with the earliest expiration or best-by date first, regardless of when they were received.
FIFO: First-in, first-out: a picking method that ships the oldest received inventory first. Suitable for non-dated goods but less precise than FEFO for food.
FIFRA: The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, under which EPA regulates pesticides, including many topical flea and tick products, collars and sprays.
Food facility registration: FDA registration required for most facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold food, including animal food, for consumption in the United States, renewed every two years.
Freeze-dried pet food: Raw or cooked food with moisture removed by freezing and vacuum, producing a shelf-stable product that is light but often fragile in transit.
FSMA: The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which shifted food regulation toward prevention and led to rules covering animal food, including current good manufacturing practices for facilities that manufacture, process, pack or hold it.
GS1-128 label: A standardized barcode label for cases and pallets that encodes data such as the serial shipping container code, and is commonly required by retailers.
Guaranteed analysis: The section of a pet food label stating minimum or maximum percentages of nutrients such as crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber and moisture.
High-pressure processing (HPP): A non-thermal process that uses very high pressure to reduce pathogens in raw and fresh foods, used by some raw pet food makers.
Integrated pest management (IPM): A documented program of monitoring, prevention and control used to keep insects, rodents and birds away from stored products, especially food.
Kitting: Assembling multiple items into a single sellable unit, such as a variety pack or gift box, before or at the time of order.
Limited quantity: A DOT and international transport provision that allows certain hazardous materials, such as many aerosols, to ship in small inner packagings with reduced requirements.
Lot number: An identifier assigned to a production batch so units can be traced back to when and how they were made, and forward to where they were shipped.
Lot-to-order traceability: The ability to identify which customer orders received units from a specific lot, essential for precise recalls.
Minimum remaining shelf life: The shortest amount of shelf life a channel or customer will accept on delivered product, often set by retailers and marketplaces.
Mock recall: A practice exercise in which a brand and its 3PL trace a chosen lot to every order and remaining unit to test recall readiness.
NASC Quality Seal: A seal from the National Animal Supplement Council indicating a company participates in its quality and labeling program for animal health supplements.
Nutritional adequacy statement: A label statement indicating whether a pet food is complete and balanced for a life stage, or intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only.
Retort pouch: A flexible, heat-sterilized package used for shelf-stable wet pet food; durable but vulnerable to punctures and compression.
Vendor chargeback: A fee or deduction a retailer charges a supplier for not meeting its requirements, such as late shipments, incorrect labels or short-dated product.

Pet Product fulfillment glossary