CENTRAL GARDEN & PET CO

To the shareholders and the Board of Directors of Central Garden & Pet Company

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Central Garden & Pet Company and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of September 27, 2025 and September 28, 2024, the related consolidated statements of operations, comprehensive income, equity, and cash flows, for each of the fiscal years ended September 27, 2025, September 28, 2024, and September 30, 2023 and the related notes (collectively referred to as the "financial statements"). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of September 27, 2025 and September 28, 2024, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the fiscal years ended September 27, 2025, September 28, 2024, and September 30, 2023, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of September 27, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission and our report dated November 26, 2025, expressed an unqualified opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current-period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Net Sales - Revenue Recognition for Consignment Arrangements — Refer to Note 1 to the financial statements

Critical Audit Matter Description

Under consignment arrangements, a component of the Garden segment net sales, the customer receives the product at its retail locations, but the Company retains the title to the product until it is purchased by the retail consumer. When products are sold under consignment arrangements, the Company recognizes revenue when control over such products has transferred to the retail consumer. The initiation, processing, and recording of certain transactions under a specific consignment arrangement with a retailer customer relies upon the accuracy and completeness of revenues reported by its customer and revenue transaction processing services provided by a third party.

We identified revenue recognition for this consignment arrangement included in net sales for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2025, to be a critical audit matter because of the nature of the information used by the Company to recognize revenue. This required a high degree of audit judgment and an increased extent of effort to evaluate the accuracy and completeness of information reported by the Company’s customer and third-party transaction processing services provider.

How the Critical Audit Matter Was Addressed in the Audit

Our audit procedures related to revenue recognized for this consignment arrangement included the following, among others:

•We tested the effectiveness of controls over recognizing consignment revenue.

•With the assistance of data specialists, we created data visualizations to analyze journal entries to (i) identify significant transaction types in the revenue population and (ii) evaluate trends in the transactional revenue data, significant transaction types, and related accounts affecting revenue.

•For a sample of transactions, we performed a test of details on those related accounts determined to have a significant relationship with revenue, including accounts receivable and cash collections.

•We performed a proof of cash reconciliation that reconciled cash deposits to revenue recognized throughout the year. For a selection of deposits received during the period, we performed detailed transaction testing, including agreeing the amount of the deposit received and the amount recognized as revenue during the period to underlying source documents, including cash receipts.

•We selected a sample of credits issued after the end of the fiscal year and performed detailed transaction testing by agreeing the credit amount to documents supporting the authorization of the issuance of the credit and to evaluate if the credit was recognized in the correct period.

/s/DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

San Francisco, California

November 26, 2025

We have served as the Company's auditor since at least 1987; however, an earlier year could not be reliably determined.

To the shareholders and the Board of Directors of Central Garden & Pet Company

Opinion on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the internal control over financial reporting of Central Garden & Pet Company and subsidiaries (the "Company") as of September 27, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO). In our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of September 27, 2025, based on criteria established in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO.

We have also audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the consolidated financial statements as of and for the fiscal year ended September 27, 2025, of the Company and our report dated November 26, 2025, expressed an unqualified opinion on those financial statements.

Basis for Opinion

The Company's management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in the accompanying Management's Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects. Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company's internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company's internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company's assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/DELOITTE & TOUCHE LLP

San Francisco, California

November 26, 2025