Privacy policy

 

1.0 Overview

This policy outlines how Freshpet maintains the confidentiality of information provided by Freshpet Paws on the Ground Group (from this point on to be referred to as "Paws Group") members and protects the identity of Freshpet Paws Group members. Freshpet Paws Group members' personally identifying information will not be revealed to any third-party without explicit consent from the Freshpet Paws Group member.   Information provided by Freshpet Paws Group members is collected only for the specified research purposes and will not be used in a manner other than for these purposes.  No personally identifiable information will be used for subsequent non-research purposes such as direct marketing, list-building, credit rating, fund-raising or other marketing activities relating to those individual Freshpet Paws Group members.

2.0 Scope

All employees at Freshpet are aware of this policy and are expected to adhere to this policy.  Only authorized employees will have access to any personal information provided by Freshpet Paws Group members.  This information will only be used for data analysis, quality control purposes, or in a manner previously agreed to by the Freshpet Paws Group member.  If personal information is provided to a third party we will require that they maintain an equivalent level of security.

3.0 Privacy Policy

Freshpet assures Freshpet Paws Group members who participate in our group related studies and blogs, regardless of methodology, the following:

  • All information provided by Freshpet Paws Group members will be treated as strictly confidential and Freshpet will protect the privacy of Freshpet Paws Group members.
  • The information Freshpet Paws Group members provide will only be used for research purposes.
  • The contact information Freshpet Paws Group members provide will be used to deliver incentives and items specifically requested by the Freshpet Paws Group member.
  • Freshpet will obtain Freshpet Paws Group members' consent prior to releasing any personal information to any third party (with the exclusion of third party partners needed to help fulfill our promises of sending gifts and incentives (i.e. FedEx, UPS, USPS, fulfillment houses, etc).
  • Freshpet will never sell Paws Group members' personal information to anyone.
  • Freshpet will respect a Freshpet Paws Group member's decision if they do not want to participate in a study, if they would like to discontinue taking a study, if they do not want answer any specific questions within a study, and if they no longer want to remain a member of the Paw's Group.

3.1 Information Collected by Freshpet

Freshpet will clearly identify itself as the company conducting the study on all surveys. The reason for contacting the Freshpet Paws Group member will be explained before the survey begins and all Freshpet Paws Group members will be given the option to participate or not. In addition, Freshpet Paws Group members will be informed of how any personal information collected during the course of the survey will be used. Freshpet Paws Group members always have the option not to answer any question or to stop taking the survey. During the survey we may ask Freshpet Paws Group members for demographic information (e.g., income level), and other information related to interests, hobbies, and product/technology usage. This information is only used for analytic purposes. On occasion, Freshpet offers gifts and sample product to Freshpet Paws Group members and incentives (e.g., cash, gift cards, entry into a sweepstakes) to Freshpet Paws Group members who qualify for and complete a survey. To provide these gifts and incentives we require Freshpet Paws Group members to provide their full name and mailing address, in addition to their email address. We will only ask for the information required to provide the Freshpet Paws Group member with these gifts and incentives. If no incentive is being offered, we will collect only the information necessary for quality assurance purposes. The Freshpet Paws Group member will always be made aware of the reason the information is being requested.

3.1.2 Children’s Privacy

Freshpet complies with all applicable national and international children's privacy regulations.  For surveys conducted in person or by telephone Freshpet complies with the age of majority laws within the Freshpet Paws Group member's state or country and never knowingly speaks to a minor without obtaining the appropriate parental consent.  The minor's parent or guardian will be made aware of the nature of the study and what, if any, personally identifiable information will be needed from the child and the reasons for which this information is being requested.  This information will always be collected from the parent/guardian and not from the minor.

Freshpet also feels it is very important to protect children's online privacy and never knowingly invite children under the age of 13 to participate in research studies without taking all appropriate measures to obtain parental consents.

Freshpet complies with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA").  We do not collect any personal information directly from children under the age of 13.  For validation reasons we may need to collect the names of individuals who participate in one of our market research studies, but we will never ask children under 13 for their name.  There may be occasions where we ask our adult Freshpet Paws Group members if there are any children under 13 residing in their households who would like to participate in a survey.  In these cases, we will never collect any personally identifiable information from the child, nor will we combine the information collected from the child with any personally identifiable information.

3.2 How Information is Used and Confidentiality of Responses

3.2.1 Emails

Freshpet is not covered by the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act ("CAN-SPAM"), however we voluntarily comply with the key privacy and disclosure provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act, including:

  • Providing truthful sender information
  • Including a physical address for Freshpet
  • Providing a clear and simple method for opt-out which is always honored

All survey invitations sent via email will include all of the following pieces of information:

  • A general description of the purpose of the project
  • Estimated length of interview
  • Statement of confidentiality and anonymity of each Freshpet Paws Group member's responses
  • Closing date for completed responses
  • Access to full disclosure of incentive terms and conditions applying to the project
  • An explanation if the invitation is sent out on behalf of another company
  • The opportunity to unsubscribe or opt out of future research
  • Appropriate privacy policy or statement

3.2.2 Sharing Information

Freshpet will never sell, share, rent or intentionally transfer your name, address, telephone number or e-mail address to our clients, other market research companies, direct marketing companies or anyone else without full consent from the Freshpet Paws Group member. We use the information you provide to us for internal purposes, and share it only for the limited purposes described here:

  • The Freshpet Paws Group member requests or consents to sharing their identifying information and individual responses with the third parties for a specified purpose.
  • Responses are provided to a third party who is contractually bound to keep the information disclosed confidential and use it only for research or statistical purposes as stated above.
  • Responses may be shared in the rare case that the information provided is subject to disclosure pursuant to judicial or other government subpoenas, warrants, orders or for similar legal or regulatory requirements.

Freshpet follows local laws and industry best practices with respect to the release of personally identifiable information. In the rare cases that clients and other third parties receive personally identifiable information they are required to sign and abide by our standards for maintaining the security and confidentiality of personally identifying information.  Any client or third party must indicate that their use of the data will be limited to research purposes and the information will remain confidential.  In these rare cases, the Freshpet Paws Group member will be notified and required to give their permission for Freshpet to transfer their personally identifying information to a third party prior to the third party receiving the information.

3.3 Use of Cookies, Log Files and Other Technologies on Our Website

Freshpet may use cookies on our Freshpet Paws Group website to help provide our Freshpet Paws Group members with a better experience, and for quality control and validation purposes.  We never store any personal information on any cookies we use.  (Cookies are small text files that are stored on a computer by a website that assigns a numerical user ID and stores certain information about your online browsing).

The Freshpet Paws Group website never uses Device Identification Technologies (Also known as machine ID or digital fingerprinting.  These technologies assign unique identifier to a user's computer to identify and track the computer.)   There may be occasions we use other technologies to ensure the integrity of survey results.  This technology analyzes information and data obtained from a Freshpet Paws Group member's computer's web browser and from other publically available data points, including for example the technical settings of the Freshpet Paws Group member's computer, the characteristics of the computer, and the computer's IP address.  This data is used to create a unique identifier assigned to the computer.  This unique identifier is an alpha-numeric ID which we retain.  We do not retain the information analyzed by the technology to create the unique identifier.  The technology does not disrupt or interfere with the Freshpet Paws Group member's use or control of the computer and it does not alter, modify or change the settings of the computer.

We may do the following in order to protect and ensure the integrity of our survey results:

  • Link or associate a Freshpet Paws Group member's unique identifier to the Freshpet Paws Group member and any of the information the Freshpet Paws Group member provides to us
  • Share a Freshpet Paws Group member's unique identifier with our clients and with other research companies
  • Receive or obtain a unique identifier linked to a Freshpet Paws Group member from a third party, including without limitation a sample or panel provider or a client of our company.

Any unique identifier linked to a specific Freshpet Paws Group member will be protected in accordance with this privacy policy.  We shall use and distribute the technology in an ethical and professional manner in accordance with our privacy policy, any statements and/or disclosures made by our company to the Freshpet Paws Group member, and applicable laws and industry codes.

3.4 Recording of Interviews

Freshpet may record or monitor interviews conducted by telephone or in-person.  The Freshpet Paws Group member will always be notified at the start of the phone or in-person interview if the interview is being recorded or monitored.  We use the recordings and monitor the interviews for quality assurance purposes and to verify the information stated by the Freshpet Paws Group member during the course of the interview.  If the recordings will be used for any other the purpose, the Freshpet Paws Group member will be notified before the recordings are made and must give us their permission to use the recording in this manner.  The Freshpet Paws Group member can opt not to continue with the interview at any time.

3.5 Safety and Security of Information

The Freshpet Paws Group website and servers have security measures in place to prevent the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control.  We employ standard technology and internal processes to protect the personal information of Freshpet Paws Group members.  We take reasonable steps to ensure the security of all information that is collected.

Freshpet also safeguards all information it collects through its websites from unauthorized access. Only authorized Freshpet employees or agents carrying out permitted business functions are allowed to access this information.

In the unlikely event that Freshpet suffers a breach of its security systems and an individual or entity gains unauthorized access to any information stored on Freshpet servers, Freshpet will immediately investigate the security breach, and will provide prompt notice to any individual whose information was affected.

A Freshpet Paws Group member's survey responses may be collected, stored or processed by our affiliated companies or non-affiliated service providers. All subcontractors are contractually bound to keep any information they collect and disclose to us or we collect and disclose to them confidential and must protect it with security standards and practices that are equivalent to our own.  All subcontractors that we utilize have signed off on an agreement with our company and are expected to comply with this policy.

Only select, authorized employees have access to process the data collected and maintain databases that store Freshpet Paws Group member personal and contact information.  All employees are made aware of our policies and procedures regarding confidentiality, security, and privacy, and we emphasize the importance of complying with them.

3.6 Accuracy of personal information

Freshpet makes reasonable efforts to keep personal information that is used on a regular basis accurate, complete, current and relevant, based on the most recent information that has been made available to us. We rely on Freshpet Paws Group members to help Freshpet keep all personal information accurate, complete and current by answering questions honestly.  Access can be given to any Freshpet Paws Group member, allowing them to review and correct any inaccuracies that may be present within our database.

To request access to personal information that we have access to, we require that Freshpet Paws Group members submit a request to Freshpet.  Freshpet Paws Group members may be able to access their personal information and correct, add, or delete the information where it is inaccurate, except as follows:

  • Providing access to the Freshpet Paws Group member's personal information would be likely to reveal personal information about others;
  • Disclosing the information would reveal the confidential commercial information of Freshpet.
  • The burden or expense of providing access would be disproportionate to the risks to the Freshpet Paws Group member's privacy in the case in question.

We will strive to provide a Freshpet Paws Group member's requested personal information within 60 days of receiving the request. If Freshpet cannot fulfil this request, a written explanation of denial will be sent to the Freshpet Paws Group member.

3.7 Notification of material changes to this policy

Changes may be made to this policy if Freshpet feels necessary.  After changes are made, the date of the revision will be stated on this policy.  If we will use Freshpet Paws Group members' personally identifiable information in a manner different from that stated at the time of collection, we will notify Freshpet Paws Group members via email or phone.  If Freshpet Paws Group members have opted out of being contacted again, then they will not be contacted, nor will their personal information be used in this new manner.

3.8 How to Contact Us

Name: Kelley Peters
Email: kpeters@freshpet.com
Mail: Freshpet Paws on the Ground Group
400 Plaza Drive, 1st Floor
Secaucus, NJ 07094

If you have any questions or concerns regarding an incentive payment please contact our research partner (Russell Research) by email at info@freshpetpawsontheground.com.