Test your product. Get the data that wins trust and sales.
For Private Labels, Pet Supplements & Nutraceuticals, Pet Cosmetics & More
Lab4Paws runs lab-based tests on your ingredient or product and tells you exactly which health claims you can make — and defend. No animal testing. No guesswork.
- Independent Claim Testing Lab
- Pharma-level science.
- Built for pet food.
Are your claims building or hurting trust?
Most pet food and supplement claims trace back to human, rodent, or livestock studies — not a dog or cat.
We analysed 15,855 pet food products: the top four claim themes appear on 40–71% of them. If your brand uses any of those claims without species-specific data, a distributor or a vet can ask a question you can't answer.
Competing on price erodes margin with no floor. A validated claim doesn't just differentiate — it's the credential a vet needs before recommending your product to a client.
Pet Supplement Brands without Data Experience:
Commoditization
When every brand on the shelf makes the same vague claim — 'supports immune health', 'promotes vitality' — yours disappears. No claim, no differentiation. No differentiation, no premium.
Distributor and retailer pressure
Distributors and retail buyers are increasingly asking for substantiation. If you can't back your claim with data, you're negotiating on price — not value.
Vet Channel Barrier
Vets don't recommend products they can't explain. With a validated claim and a test report, you give the vet data they can actually use to recommend your product to patients and colleagues
Why a validated functional claim?
One test. One validated claim. A completely different commercial conversation.
Pricing power
Science-backed claims justify premium pricing. When you can prove your product works, you stop competing on price.
Customer trust
Consumers, distributors, and retail buyers trust brands that can back their claims. Trust converts to loyalty. Loyalty converts to repeat purchase.
Veterinary channel access
Vets stock and recommend what they can defend clinically. A validated claim with supporting test data is the credential that opens that conversation — for independent practices and corporate clinic groups alike.
Ingredient interaction
One ingredient, tested alone, isn't your product
Most claim literature tests one ingredient in isolation. Combine two actives that share a pathway and the effect can cancel out, add up, or multiply — a single-ingredient study can't tell you which one you got in your formulation.
Predicted vs. actual combined effect
Predicted (sum of the two ingredients alone)Actual measured combined effect
AntagonismActual below predicted
AdditiveActual equals predicted
SynergyActual above predicted
General pharmacology exampleCurcumin + piperine
Piperine (from black pepper) slows the metabolism of curcumin and raises its bioavailability by a large margin (Shoba et al., Planta Medica, 1998). Neither ingredient's own literature predicts that shift — it only shows up when the two are measured together.
Testing the finished formulation is the only way to know what your actual combination does — which is what every Lab4Paws panel tests.
Nine Functional Panels. Test your Best Candidates Head-to-Head.
Each panel is a defined set of readouts in canine and feline cell models. Claims are scoped to exactly what the panel measures. For each panel, 2 products or formulations are tested against each others.
Check Pricing
Pick the species, format and claim areas that matter to you to calculate your price estimate.
- 01SP
- 02FM
- 03PL
- 04QT
- 05CT
01
Which species are you testing for?
Not ready to pick a panel?
Download the Guide to Proving Health Benefits
Don't know where to start?
Download here a working manual for generating real biological evidence behind cat and dog health claims.
Everything a formulator's compliance team will ask you for, and how each answer is produced.
Built on Pharma Testing Standards.
Lab4Paws runs alongside veterinary pharmaceutical clients on drug and diagnostic development.
The same cell isolation and assay validation standards used there apply to every pet food panel — in-vitro only, no live animal testing at any stage.
Pharma-grade quality testing protocols
Our standards meet the rigorous demands of pharmaceutical development, ensuring your pet food claims are based on the highest scientific integrity.
Pharma and clinical-world insights applied to pet nutrition
In-vitro lab testing only — no live animal testing, ever
Our commitment to ethical and efficient research means all testing is conducted in a lab, providing faster, more reproducible, and humane results.
Ethical, Fast, and Reproducible Results
All our testing is lab-based and in-vitro — meaning we test on cell models, not live animals. This is not only a more ethical approach — it's also faster, more reproducible, and increasingly preferred by regulators and consumers alike.
The Scientists Behind the Claim
When you send us your product, these are the people testing it.
Davide Confalonieri, PhD
Founder & CEO
Davide is a biotechnology entrepreneur and scientist with a background in tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, and preclinical research. He founded Lab4Paws to close the infrastructure gap in veterinary science — and applies the same scientific standards to pet food claim validation that his lab uses daily for pharmaceutical clients. His experience spans scientific research, international commercial strategy, and building scalable platforms for veterinary preclinical science.
Shrinidhi Thottangal Mohan, MSc MSc
Head of Laboratory Operations
Shrinidhi holds a Master's degree in Microbiology and Molecular and Cellular Biology. She leads laboratory operations at Lab4Paws, specialising in the isolation and expansion of animal primary cells, development of in vitro models, and optimisation of cell culture systems. The biological assays behind every validated pet food claim run through her hands.
WHY LAB-BASED TESTING
Why lab testing - and how it compares to clinical studies.
Your way to proofing health benefit.
The formulation screening advantage
In the lab you test candidates. In a trial you test a finished product. If you want to optimise before you manufacture, the lab is the only option.
Lab lane:
50+ formulations/day, starting from the raw materials
Start months before production
best performer out
optimise, retest, go to production
Clinical lane:
1 finished product , dependent from production
3–6 months trial
pass or fail
if fail: start over
What lab results tell you
If it doesn't work on the cells, it won't work in the animal. A negative lab result kills a bad claim before you invest in it.
If it works on the cells, it can work in the animal — depends on the mechanism. We'll tell you what works before you spend money.
Not all clinical evidence is equal. A controlled trial with measured biomarkers is strong data. A pet parent questionnaire is an anecdote. Both get called "studies." They're not the same.
Screen in the lab first. Optimise. Then go clinical if you need to.
Embeddable certification
Show the proof right where customers decide
A lightweight widget you drop onto your product page. It carries your validated in-vitro claims from our lab straight to the shelf — with the detail behind each one a click away.
Live on your store in minutes
Same widget, wherever you sell.
ShopifyOne-click app install
WooCommercePlugin for WordPress
Any websitePaste one line of code
What your customers see
01
The trust badge
A compact, tap-to-open badge sits on the product page. It names the lab, counts the validated claims, and links straight to the proof.
02
The full proof panel
Open the panel and every validated claim is laid out in detail — cell model, challenge, readout, and the measured response against an untreated control and a reference comparator.
03
You choose what shows
From your dashboard, toggle which validated claims appear on each product. Only claims from a completed study can be shown — a claim you did not test has no toggle, by design.
2–3 Weeks From Sample to Claim
Week 1
Sample preparation and cell culture setup
Week 2
Testing and biological analysis using validated canine and feline cell models
Week 3
Data interpretation, scientific reporting, and claim formulation
Delivery
Final validated claim statement + supporting test summary ready for packaging and marketing use
What the law actually requires — in the EU, UK, and US
Health claims on pet food and supplements are not unregulated. In every major market, the person putting the product on the market is legally responsible for being able to substantiate what they claim — on request, at any time, to the competent authority. Most brands are not ready for that conversation.
EU
Under EU Regulation (EC) No 767/2009, Article 13(1)(b), health claims on pet food must be backed by scientific evidence — available before the product goes to market, not after a challenge arrives. The FEDIAF Code of Good Labelling Practice confirms that in-house and proprietary data counts. An in-vitro biological study on your finished formulation is valid substantiation under this framework.
UK
The principles of the EU feed regulations were retained in UK domestic law after Brexit. The FSA is responsible for controlling claims and the implementation of safety measures. The substantiation standard is the same: scientific evidence, available on request, before market entry.
US
The FDA, AAFCO model regulations, and FTC truth-in-advertising standard all require the same thing: claims must be truthful and supported by competent scientific evidence. In-vitro biological data on finished formulations is accepted as part of a substantiation package for functional and structure/function claims.
Frequently Asked Questions
Find answers to common questions about our testing process, results, and how we can help your brand succeed.
How long does testing take?
2-3 weeks from sample submission to final validated claim statement.
What if I don't know which claim to test?
Contact us at customer-service@lab4paws.com for a strategy call. We help you identify the most commercially valuable claim your formulation can support.
Do I need to disclose my recipe or proprietary formulation?
No. We test your finished product as-is. No formulation disclosure required. For more advanced testing it might be necessary to disclose the formulation. In this case, we'll sign a NDA before discussing any proprietary information.
Is this animal testing?
No. All our testing is in-vitro — conducted on cell models in a laboratory setting. No live animals are used at any stage.
What if results show something I didn't expect?
We work with you to identify an alternative claim the data supports — one that's equally defensible and commercially compelling.
Can I test multiple products?
Yes. We can co-run multiple SKUs, contact us for bulk pricing with the "Check Pricing" form above.
Can a vet use our test results to justify recommending our product?
Yes. The test report we provide includes the methodology, cell models used, and quantified biological outcomes. It is written to be scientifically legible — meaning a veterinarian can read it, evaluate it, and explain the mechanism to a client or colleague. It is not a marketing summary. It is a scientific document.
We want to approach vet clinics or a clinic group. Is this the right starting point?
It is the most important starting point. Vets are trained to ask 'how do you know this?' If your answer is 'our supplier says so' or 'it's on the label,' the conversation ends. A validated claim with a test report gives you a credible, specific answer to that question — in terms a vet recognizes.