Methodology

How the Raw Score works

What we assess, what we don't, and what the number is actually telling you.

Last updated 16 September 2026

The Pawperator Raw Score is a single number summarising how a raw pet food supplier performs against a fixed set of published criteria. It is applied identically to every supplier in the directory, including the one we own.

What we assess

1. Ingredient transparency

• Is the full ingredient list published, per product, not just per range?
• Are protein sources named specifically ("turkey thigh") rather than by category ("poultry", "meat and animal derivatives")?
• Are organ meats itemised, rather than grouped as "offal"?
• Are inclusion percentages given?

2. Nutritional disclosure

• Is the calcium-to-phosphorus (Ca:P) ratio published?
• Is a guaranteed or typical analysis available?
• For products sold as complete meals, is a standard the product is formulated to stated — and for which life stage?
• Are products sold as complementary clearly distinguished from complete meals?

3. Sourcing

• Are the country and type of source named (farm, abattoir, human-grade supply chain)?
• Is meat human-grade, pet-grade, or unstated?
• Is sourcing consistent, or does it vary batch to batch without notice?

4. Safety & handling

• Is there a documented cold chain from production to delivery?
• Is pathogen testing performed, and are results available on request?
• Is batch or lot coding in place so a specific production run can be traced?
• Are storage, thawing and handling instructions supplied with the product?

5. Recall & incident history

• Any recall in the assessment window, and its severity.
• How the supplier handled it: were customers notified directly, and how quickly?
• A recall handled openly and fast costs a supplier far less here than one handled quietly. We think that's the incentive a directory should create.

6. Customer-facing conduct

• Are delivery commitments met?
• Are refund and replacement terms published and honoured?
• Are questions about formulation answered substantively?
• Verified customer reviews on this platform.

How a score is produced

1. We assess published material: the supplier's own site, labels, and product pages.
2. We contact the supplier for anything not published and give them a chance to provide it. Refusing to answer is recorded as non-disclosure — it doesn't produce a penalty beyond the score the missing information would have earned.
3. The supplier can see their assessment and correct factual errors before it's published.
4. Scores are reviewed on a rolling basis, and immediately on a recall or a substantiated incident.

What the score does not tell you

• It is not a health or safety guarantee. No raw food is sterile. A high score means a supplier discloses and handles well, not that risk is zero.
• It is not veterinary advice. It doesn't say whether raw feeding suits your animal. That's a conversation with your vet, particularly for animals that are very young, elderly, pregnant, or immunocompromised — and for households with immunocompromised people in them.
• It is not a nutritional adequacy certification. We report what a supplier states; we are not an accreditation body.
• It is not a price signal. Cheap suppliers score well and expensive ones score badly, and the reverse.

Disagree with a score?

Suppliers can request a re-assessment at any time, free, and we re-run it when something has actually changed. Anyone — supplier or customer — can challenge a factual error and we'll correct it and say that we did. Write to hello.pawperator@gmail.com with "Raw Score" in the subject line.