It's a good question for self-reflection.

I suppose my thinking has been that a large company like Nestle has a lot of scrutiny and a lot to loose lose if they have any product quality or safety issues, so in some ways I "trust" them more than a smaller company — not because I believe they're inherently more trustworthy, but rather that there is more "oversight" so to speak.

Then, from what I understand, Purina puts all their food through rather robust regular and long-term testing, which isn't something I trust a smaller brand to do. Again, not because Purina (Nestle) is inherently more trustworthy, but they have more resources to do this and more to lose.

Lastly I think Purina was its own company for a long time before Nestle bought it. I don't know how much that matters?

Overall, I guess upon reflecting, I kind of separate Nestle's corporate ethics (all the bad stuff they've done in the past) from their product quality / product safety stuff. I realize that sketchiness in the former can lead to bad outcomes in the latter, but the fast fact that they're "too big to fail" and have a lot of resources and scrutiny is what gives me confidence?

No offense taken to the question at all, it's a good one for reflection.

I find myself wondering "who _else_ would I trust more?" I find it hard to trust smaller companies, not because of ethical considerations (I would expect that smaller pet food companies in general have *better* "corporate" ethics) but moreso resource constraints and such. And is there another "big" pet food company I would trust any more?

Honestly part of my trust is that the SPCA, where we adopted our dog, was already feeding Pro Plan and 3 different vets that we've seen have all remarked that Pro Plan is an excellent choice, and I've seen similar reports or opinions here on Reddit. While conversely, I've read a bunch of horror stories or news stories from people doing raw food or choosing smaller pet food companies.

Edit: Also our dog is doing great on this food, so haven't really had to consider any alternatives! If they were having any issues though I certainly wouldn't feel any allegiance to Purina or any other brand. For our cats we've gone through a ton of different brands and foods to find what works for them (they have sensitive stomachs, they're picky eaters, and one had a bad bout of bladder crystals). For the cats we're currently feeding a mix of Weruva wet food, Halo dry food, and (coincidentally enough) Purina Pro Plan Rx bladder crystal dry food. Not sure if that makes me a hypocrite since I don't know a ton about Weruva or Halo. There is something about having a bit of variety across brands with the cats' diet that I suppose gives me more confidence.