“Certified B Corporation” gets used as a general stamp of approval, but most people — including a lot of pet owners reading it on a bag — don't actually know what it measures. Here's what the certification requires, and why it's a genuinely high bar rather than a marketing badge.
What B Corp Certification Actually Is
B Corp certification is administered by B Lab, an independent nonprofit, and it evaluates a company's entire business — not just one product line — across five categories: governance, workers, community, environment, and customers. A company has to score above a minimum threshold on a verified assessment covering all five areas, and the assessment is periodically re-verified, not a one-time badge.
This matters because it's structurally different from a lot of sustainability claims a company can simply put on its own packaging. B Corp certification requires third-party verification of the underlying business practices, not just the ingredients in a given product.
The Five Areas B Corp Evaluates
- Governance — how the company is run, including transparency, ethics, and accountability structures
- Workers — compensation, benefits, and overall treatment of employees
- Community — impact on the communities the company operates in, including diversity and civic engagement
- Environment — environmental footprint across the business, from sourcing to operations
- Customers — how the company treats and serves the people who actually buy its products
A pet food company can have great ingredients and still fail to qualify for B Corp status if its broader business practices don't meet the bar across these categories. That's part of why relatively few pet food brands hold the certification.
How This Connects to Open Farm's Other Claims
B Corp certification isn't a replacement for Open Farm's other standards — Certified Humane sourcing, non-GMO produce, sustainable seafood sourcing — it's a broader layer on top of them. Where Certified Humane verifies specific animal welfare practices and Seafood Watch/Ocean Wise standards verify sustainable fishing practices, B Corp verifies the company's overall governance and impact as a business. Taken together, they represent a more comprehensive set of third-party checks than most pet food brands carry.
Why This Matters for Your Purchase Decision
If ethical sourcing and company practices are a priority for you as a pet owner, a B Corp certification is a meaningfully stronger signal than an uncertified sustainability claim, precisely because it's independently verified rather than self-reported. It doesn't mean every recipe is automatically the right nutritional fit for your dog — that still depends on your dog's individual needs — but it does mean the company behind the bag has been vetted on more than just its ingredient list.
Shop Open Farm at The Hungry Puppy
You can browse Open Farm's full lineup, including dog food and cat food, at The Hungry Puppy, or learn more about our own store.
We've been a family-owned pet and farm supply store in Farmingdale, NJ since 1987, and we're glad to carry brands that back up their claims with real third-party verification. Call us at 732-938-4470 with any questions.