Frequently Asked Questions - Answered
Q. Who makes your products?
A. We manufacture all of our own products at our Mills in Suffolk. This means we have total control of every aspect of production from the sourcing of raw materials through to manufacture, distribution and most importantly - quality control.
Q. Do you test your products on animals?
A. We utterly condemn the practice of animal testing and no animals are used, or tested on, in any way by our company.
Q. How long have you been in business?
A. The Stradbroke Mill has been in the Skinner family for seven generations. We have been manufacturing our petfoods since the early 1970's. Our Original Dog Food and Dog Meal are still made to these same recipes.
Q. Who are you owned by?
A. The Skinner family owns the business in its entirety. We are completely independent.
Q. Where can I buy your products?
A. We have a database of over 4,000 outlets in the UK who either stock Skinner's products, or are able to get our products to order within a few days. We have always supported the independent pet trade and our products can be found in pet shops, country stores and agricultural outlets up and down the country. Our products are not available in mainstream supermarkets.
Q. Can I buy your products overseas?
A. Under current legislation, only products manufactured from chicken, duck and salmon are permitted to be exported to other countries. Currently we have distributors in Ireland, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Greece and Kenya.
Q. Do you have any hypoallergenic diets?
A. In our Field & Trial range, Duck & Rice and Salmon & Rice are both completely hypoallergenic being free of wheat gluten, maize gluten and barley gluten as well as soya and dairy products. Field & Trial Puppy and Field & Trial Superior are both free from wheat and wheat gluten. In our Skinner’s range, Chicken & Rice Sensitive and Lamb & Rice Sensitive are both free from wheat and wheat gluten, dairy, beef, egg and soya whilst Puppy & Junior and Light & Senior are both wheat and wheat gluten free.
Q. What is Taurine?
A. Taurine is an amino acid, that has been shown to have beneficial effects on the heart, helping to regulate the heartbeat and maintaining cell membrane stability. Taurine can be found as an ingredient of many of the commercially available sports drinks. We add Taurine to Skinner's Chicken & Rice Sensitive, Lamb & Rice Sensitive, Light & Senior and Premier Large Bite diets.
Q. Can you explain the extrusion process?
A. The extruder is rather like a giant pressure cooker that cooks the ingredients by the introduction of steam. Two long corkscrew-shaped barrels rotate in opposite directions and the ingredients are introduced at one end and are cooked under high pressure as they are forced down the barrel. After extrusion, the food is dried, cooled and is given a coating of fats and oils to enhance its flavour and digestibility.
Q. Do you add any chemical preservatives?
A. No, we do not add any chemical preservatives to our foods. Instead, we use a blend of mixed tocopherols and rosemary oil, which are natural antioxidants. In addition, organic selenium is added to some of our diets, which again has proven to be an extremely beneficial antioxidant.
Q. Do you have a diet for fussy eaters?
A. Humans are very often responsible for encouraging their dogs to be fussy, by offering them too wide a range of foods, titbits and treats. When it comes to mealtimes, dogs are then more interested in what other foods might be available if they leave their regular food. Of course, there are many dogs who do not have very good appetites, and our Ruff & Ready with its mixture of real meat, steam cooked flaked cereals and vegetables usually does the trick with even the fussiest of eaters.
Q. Do you have a hypoallergenic diet?
A. Our Field & Trial Duck & Rice and Field & Trial Salmon & Rice are both completely hypoallergenic being free of wheat gluten, maize gluten and barley gluten as well as soya and dairy products. Our Health & Vitality Sensitve Lamb & Rice is wheat and maize gluten free whilst our Field & Trial Puppy, Health & Vitality Puppy and Field & Trial Superior and Skinner's Light & Senior are all wheat gluten free.
Q. Do you use only British ingredients?
A. Wherever possible we use locally grown cereals. However many of the ingredients we use, such as rice, are not grown in the UK and these are obtained from reputable sources in other countries.
Q. What are Glucosamine and Chondroitin?
A. We add Glucosamine and Chondroitin to Skinner's Light & Senior and Premier Large Bite and Field & Trial Salmon & Rice diets. Chondroitin Sulphate and Glucosamine Sulphate are key structural components in cartilage and are classed as amino-sugars. These have proven benefits to both older, and larger breeds of dog, where joint mobility is often challenged.
Q. What is Taurine?
A. Taurine is an amino acid, that has been shown to have beneficial effects on the the heart, helping to regulate the heartbeat and maintaining cell membrane stability. Taurine can be found as an ingredient of many of the commercially available sports drinks. We add Taurine to Skinner's Light & Senior and Premier Large Bite, Health & Vitality Sensitive Lamb & Rice and Health & Vitality Adult diets.
Q. What are FOS and MOS?
A. FOS (Fructo-Oligosaccharide) and MOS (Mannan-Oligosaccharide) are both classed as pre-biotics and are derived from natural sources. They help to promote a healthy digestive system and can aid in the resistance of pathogenic colonisation. We add a blend of MOS and FOS to our puppy foods, and these aid the production of healthy bacteria in the digestive system.
Q. Are your foods GM-free?
A. Yes. Our raw materials have been carefully sourced and are guaranteed to be GM free.
(Revised March 2008) |
