Custom Research Diets

Ensuring quality and consistency in the manufacture of our diets is of the utmost importance. Our Teklad custom research diets are manufactured at a facility dedicated exclusively to the manufacture of diets for laboratory animals. Established quality procedures, which are certified to ISO9001 standards, demonstrate our commitment to excellence in providing consistent products and services to the global research community.

Among the thousands of formulas in our files, each formula is assigned a unique product code that is archived and can be referred to even years later. Upon receipt of an order, a production record with a unique lot number is generated. This production record accompanies the order through all stages of production and packaging, providing traceability. If contacting us with a question or quality concern, it is helpful to identify your diet with the product code and lot number.

If you want to identify your product, look for the following:

• Teklad custom diet product codes begin with “TD” or “CA” followed by a unique five or six digit identification number.
• Each specific batch of a given product is also assigned a unique seven digit lot (Rx) number.

Barrier facilities or certain animal models require sterilized diet. Most custom research diets do not withstand autoclaving; however, we can arrange for qualified diets to be irradiated. Irradiation significantly reduces the bioburden (number of viable organisms) contained in a product by indirectly exposing the product to gamma ionizing radiation from cobalt-60. The irradiation dose range is two to five MRad (20-50 kGy). If you have technical questions about irradiation or need help determining if a formula is suitable for irradiation email our nutritionists at askanutritionist@inotiv.com.

There is a nominal fee for our irradiation service and additional time required for the procedure. We recommend that you plan for up to an additional two weeks.

Vacuum packaging may be helpful in delaying oxidative processes that occur in diet and should be considered for diets with potentially unstable compounds like long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids or cuprizone. If ordering a high-fat diet with irradiation, vacuum packaging may reduce irradiation-induced peroxide formation. Vacuum packaging is also common for irradiated diet that will be fed in isolator units as the smaller size and impermeable packing facilitate disinfection and passage through isolator ports.

Vacuum packaged diet is placed into an inner white bag which is folded and taped. This bag is then placed into the thick plastic bag that is heat sealed after the vacuum has drawn air out. Standard vacuum packages “SVP” have most air drawn out and form a tight package around the pellets. For high fat or other fragile pellets, soft vacuum packaging “SFVP”, where some air remains in the package, may offer additional protection during shipping.

Typical vacuum package sizes are one or two kg. To inquire about different package sizes or vacuum packaging of a powder please email our nutritionists at askanutritionist@inotiv.com.

We care about the confidentiality of your information and our relationship. Therefore, we are careful about the information exchanged with others, and we will consider formal agreements to protect information, if necessary.