The UK Pet Food Manufacturers Association (PFMA) is taking a proactive step to address the growing problem of pet obesity: The organization is reaching out directly to UK pet owners with a "Weigh in Wednesday" campaign, complete with online tools, to educate owners on identifying their pets' body condition and working toward getting the pets to ideal weight and condition. ..Read more

If a recent US federal court ruling has any impact, we might soon, finally, see new petfood preventive controls safety regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). In the ruling, issued April 22, the court said the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must comply with a schedule set forth by Congress under FSMA to issue new regulations in seven key areas, including risk-based preventive controls. ..Read more

Petfood is unique in many ways. As an industry, it straddles the consumer packaged goods world as well as the feed industry from which it sprang. From a regulatory perspective, its products and processes do not fall under regulations for human foods but often do not quite fit within feed regulations, due to the fact that humans often directly handle petfood. ..Read more

Among 2,000 pet owners surveyed online in March, 72% agree that their pets have a positive impact on their physical health, and 79% agree their pets have a positive impact on their mental health, according to Packaged Facts. Out of many interesting and impressive numbers emanating from Petfood Forum last week, those data, delivered by David Sprinkle, publisher and research director for Packaged Facts, stood out. ..Read more

The American Veterinary Medical Association caused quite a stir last year when it issued a policy discouraging raw petfood diets. Petfood companies in that segment naturally protested, as did plenty of consumers. ..Read more

Most of us who work in the petfood industry think of it not only as our vocation but also our passion; we all own and love pets and genuinely care about their well-being. So we know first-hand the benefits that sharing a home (or office) with a pet can bring. ..Read more

Do you have questions about retaining the nutritional viability of certain ingredients during processing? Are you struggling to obtain a steady, sufficient supply of a key component of your latest formulation? Have you hit a roadblock in finding the latest novel protein or other new ingredient to expand your line? ..Read more

When the full membership of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) voted in January to adopt a regulation that requires calorie-content statements on all cat food and dog food labels, it ended an eight-year-long debate that was sometimes contentious. (If you have ever doubted that rule-making bodies take a long time to reach final decisions, here's yet another piece of proof.) ..Read more

Every two years, the American Pet Products Association releases its APPA National Pet Owners Survey, usually during or just after its Global Pet Expotrade show. So we're in luck, because the 2013-2014 survey results just came out, showing US pet ownership at an all-time high of 68% of all US households in 2012. ..Read more

With the news last week that a scientist is studying Salmonella in space and, more importantly, gleaning important insights from the study, we can hope that this pathogen might become easier to control in petfood plants and everywhere else it shows up. (Because, after all, it's in the environment nearly everywhere.) That might help decrease the number of petfood recalls related to Salmonella each year. ..Read more

Innovation is often in the eye of the beholder. What one person or company might see as innovative (or at least label "innovative" in marketing materials), another might see as just a continuation or expansion of an ongoing trend or category. Such has been the case with innovation in petfood for a few years now. The new petfoods and treats on display at Global Pet Expo last week might have changed that a little -- depending, again, on your perspective. ..Read more

A new Pet Food Market Assessment 2013 from the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute (PMMI) neatly encapsulates the opportunities and challenges for petfood manufacturers based in or selling to the US. While much of the information in the report is not new to our industry, it gives a fresh perspective on US petfood's short-term future. ..Read more

When Colgate-Palmolive, parent company of Hill's Pet Nutrition, reported its fourth-quarter 2012 results last week, they included a worrisome sign for Hill's: While sales and profit had both increased for the parent company, Hill's sales declined 1% while operating profit decreased 2%, according to theWall Street Journal. ..Read more

A new global feed tonnage report from Alltech, combined with 2012 data from Euromonitor, speaks volumes about growth in the global petfood market. (Cue groans at that "volume" pun now.) And it shows that, as with petfood sales, the markets growing the fastest are those in Latin America, Eastern Europe and, to a lesser extent, Asia. ..Read more

If you are responsible for procuring and purchasing commodity ingredients for your company's petfoods -- or you formulate with such ingredients -- you probably are already aware that 2013 is shaping up to be another challenging year. (The same is true for meat ingredients, since that meat often comes from animals that eat commodity grains.) But do you know where specific challenges lie and how to prevent or handle them? ..Read more

Surveys conducted by the pet care website petMD.com show that many pet owners are confused about pet nutrition, petfood labels and ingredients and, more importantly, their own pets' nutrition needs. While the overall results may not surprise anyone in our industry, some of the individual survey findings might provide beneficial insights on how to address the problem. ..Read more

At the start of trading today (January 9) on the Chicago Board of Trade, a bushel of corn was going for US$6.88, while wheat was at US$7.52 a bushel and soybeans, US$13.85 a bushel, according to Agriculture.com. While these prices have moderated somewhat from last fall's all-time highs, they still present challenges for the food industry and for petfood producers looking to obtain the ingredients they need at prices their budgets can accommodate. ..Read more

Popular New Year's resolutions for people include losing weight, getting in better shape or similarly improving their health. Considering that so many pets are, like their owners, also fighting overweight or obesity, it would not be surprising if some pet owners put everyone in their families -- including the furry members -- on weight loss plans. ..Read more

I know, at this time of year, everyone does one of these blog posts or columns trying to sum up the year for an industry or assign accolades and criticisms to entities within the industry. But as cliché as they may be, people tend to read such posts or columns, so I'll jump on the bandwagon and issue my "purrs and growls" for the petfood industry for 2012 and look ahead to opportunities for the coming year. ..Read more

Though China's torrid economic growth has cooled down somewhat, specific industries still show huge potential for continued increases in the country. Those industries include pet care and petfood. ..Read more

If you're looking to expand your knowledge about petfood and the many facets of our industry, you have two great opportunities to do so on Tuesday, December 11, sitting at the comfort of your own desk or wherever you might access your computer.  ..Read more

The Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Illinois, USA, has one of the world's leading--and very few--programs devoted to studying and researching companion animal nutrition. Its faculty and students are involved in much of the research that is published in top scientific journals on animal nutrition and that leads to breakthroughs in understanding pet nutrition and developing new ingredients and products for our industry. ..Read more

"Natural: present in or produced by nature; of, relating to or concerning nature; not altered, treated or disguised." Those are just some of the definitions for the word that is showing up more and more on all types of consumer products, including petfood. ..Read more

No surprise, but financial analysts focused on the agricultural sector are starting to predict lower suppliers -- and thus, higher prices -- for meat to hit in 2013, especially for beef, according to Reuters. That will likely push more consumers to buy chicken and pork, making those meat sources also in shorter supply for petfood producers. ..Read more

Proposition 37, an initiative on the California election ballot that would have required manufacturers and retailers to label any products made with genetically modified ingredients and prohibited use of the label claim "natural" for any processed food products (including petfoods), has been defeated. As of the latest election results on Wednesday, November 7, the ballot measure trailed 53% to 47%, with 98% of the vote counted, according to Silicon Valley MercuryNews.com. ..Read more

When I was in Shanghai, China, a few weeks ago for Petfood Forum China and Pet Fair Asia, I was somewhat surprised by the number of people who asked about the US presidential election on November 6. I suppose I underestimated how integrated China is becoming into the global economy and political scene, and how much news from outside the country reaches its citizens despite government censorship and blocking of certain media. ..Read more

The global pet care market will reach US$94 billion in sales by the end of this year and continue to grow through at least 2017. That's according to Euromonitor International's latest report, "Pet Care Forecast Revisit 2012: How Resilient is the Global Market?" ..Read more

In 2010, the Chinese pet products market reached 40 billion yuan (US$6.4 billion) in sales, according to Jia Tong, vice president of Goumin.com, which bills itself as the largest social network for pet owners in China. She was one of the featured speakers during Petfood Forum China on October 12 in Shanghai, which drew more than 170 petfood professionals from China as well as Japan, Thailand, the US and Europe. ..Read more

After one of the worst droughts in US history this past summer, along with hot, dry weather in other parts of the world, it's no surprise that projections for crop supplies are continuing to decline. According to BloombergBusinessweek, a new report from the International Grains Council projects global corn production for the 2012-2013 harvest year to come in at 833 million metric tons, down from August's prediction of 838 million metric tons and 2011-2012's actual crop of 875 million metric tons. ..Read more

In another sign of the seemingly ever-resilient pet industry, last week's SuperZoo pet trade show in Las, Vegas, Nevada, USA, drew a record number of participants, according to the World Pet Association, the show's organizer. Those numbers included a 12% increase in attendees from 53 countries, 871 exhibiting companies and 160,000 square feet of (sold-out) exhibit space. ..Read more

It's not just people in the petfood industry who are getting antsy about when the US Food and Drug Administration will finally issue pending regulations in accordance with the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). The human food industry has definitely noticed the delay, and now two organizations are trying to force FDA's hand. ..Read more

Consumer surveys routinely show the same wants and needs for packaging of consumer goods products: convenience, ease of opening and closing (and, increasingly, ease of resealing the package), product freshness and sustainability -- though the majority of consumers surveyed don't seem willing to pay more for eco-friendly packaging. These all hold true in a survey conducted by Packaged Facts earlier this year and reported by Marketing Daily. ..Read more

Though parts of the US Midwest have finally received some rain over the last few weeks, it's a case of too little, too late. The 2012 US drought has done irreparable damage to this year's crops of corn, soybeans and other grains (and the farmers who grow them) and will likely have a long-lasting impact on meat supplies and prices, too. This will definitely affect the prices of food, feed and, likely, petfood in the near future; food prices are already soaring in some parts of the world. ..Read more

The process by which new petfood ingredients are approved and defined in the US is, well, complicated. But for the most part, the process has worked, based on cooperation between the Association of American Feed Control Officials and US Food and Drug Administration. Last week, the memorandum of understanding that underpins that collaborative process was extended. ..Read more

The US Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) is seemingly becoming a classic case of "hurry up and wait." When the act was signed into law by President Obama in January 2011, many players in the human food, petfood and animal feed industries began making an urgent case that food producers in all three industries needed to prepare, and fast, for new rules and regulations emanating from the law. Some experts even sounded notes of doom and gloom over concern that the new regulations would prove costly and onerous, especially for smaller manufacturers. ..Read more

Ownership of dogs and cats in the US has continued to rise in the two decades that the American Pet Products Association (APPA) has been conducting its National Pet Owners Survey. That's the good news. The not so rosy news is that since 2006, the increase in ownership has been very small -- for example, dog ownership increased just 1.5% in the 2011-12 survey from the previous one (2010), while cat ownership grew just 1.8%. ..Read more

The US Department of Agriculture will issue its latest supply-and-demand report tomorrow (Friday, August 10), and all expectations are that the agency will again reduce its corn production forecast, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll of analysts. These analysts project USDA will cut production another 15.4% after a devastating drought has decimated much of the US corn crop. ..Read more

If you hear anyone still expressing doubt that today's economy is global, just point them to all the recent news about the price of corn, soybeans and other commodities. As recently as early to mid June, the US Department of Agriculture and others were crowing about the record US corn crop expected this year, potentially 9% larger than the 2011 crop, which itself set a record. ..Read more

This site and Petfood Industry magazine often highlight reports from Euromonitor International, Research and Markets and others indicating the continued growth of the global -- or, in reports from Packaged Facts, the US -- petfood market, despite ongoing economic crises and slow recovery from the recession. ..Read more

If you rely on data from the US Department of Agriculture on grain crops and prices -- or data on other petfood ingredients -- you may have cause for concern. Possible US federal budget cuts may affect the agency's ability to continue to provide such timely and accurate data, according to Joe Prusacki, director of the statistics division at USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). ..Read more

Despite Facebook's less than stellar initial public offering, there's no doubt it remains a force to be reckoned with. With more than 800 million users worldwide -- a number that is expected to reach 1 billion by next month (August 2012) -- along with nearly 47% revenue growth from 2010 to 2011 and many other impressive statistics, this leading social medium has become a household word and daily habit for many consumers. Which means it's also become an invaluable marketing platform for many consumer goods companies, including those that make, market or distribute petfood. ..Read more

Like other experts and analysts, Euromonitor International is bullish on the global pet industry. "Overall retail growth should be stronger than in 2011, with total sales approaching US$95 billion worldwide in 2012, writes Paula Flores, the firm's new global head of pet care research, in a blog. "This represents a year-on-year constant value gain of 2.5%." ..Read more

The global corn harvest may set another record this year, with a 9% increase in yield over the 2011 crop, itself a record, according to Dr. Joseph Glauber, chief economist at the US Department of Agriculture. The rise in the global crop is being driven by an almost 20% increase in the US harvest, he said. ..Read more

The good news is that no further incidents from the Diamond Pet Foods recalls have come out since the end of May. The bad news, of course, is that the recalls happened at all and especially that people and pets were sickened by Salmonella-contaminated petfoods produced at Diamond's Gaston, South Carolina, USA, plant. ..Read more

Despite petfood recalls in the US, problems with chicken jerky treats from China and the still-stumbling economy -- especially in Europe -- the global petfood industry seems to keep humming along. For example, a new report from Research and Markets shows the nearly 200 US-based petfood manufacturers (including huge multinationals like Mars and Nestle Purina) earn a total annual revenue of about US$47 billion. ..Read more

Interzoo 2012 has ended, with 1,539 companies from 53 countries exhibiting and more than 37,000 people from 115 countries visiting -- and petfood products galore. While the number of exhibitors and and exhibit space were records, the number of visitors to the show in Nuremberg, Germany, decreased slightly. But most petfood exhibitors I talked with were happy with the show traffic and number of leads or amount of business they received from the show. ..Read more

Recalls in our industry are nothing new, of course, and with new food safety regulations bringing new reporting requirements, petfood recalls seem to have increased within the past two years -- even though industry professionals know that's not the case. Rather, manufacturers have become more proactive and complied with the new regulations by reporting any incidence of Salmonella or another pathogen found in a facility, even if no products were contaminated (which is usually the case). ..Read more

May 6-12 is National Pet Week, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association, which says the week is celebrated in the US and other parts of the world to "promote responsible pet ownership, celebrate the human-animal bond and promote public awareness of veterinary medicine." Perhaps your company is planning a special promotion or at least timing promotional activity with local celebrations at pet retail outlets. ..Read more

Recent reports from the US Department of Agriculture offer good news for petfood manufacturers that use corn- or wheat-based ingredients in their formulations: Planting of corn and wheat in the US is ahead of schedule so far this year thanks to favorable weather. As of April 15, about 37% of the spring wheat crop had been seeded and 17% of the corn crop had been planted, according to reports. ..Read more

For Interzoo 2012, the organizer of the event -- arguably the largest pet trade show in the world -- invited me to give a presentation during the show's international press conference. While honored and flattered by the invitation, I was also rather nervous, initially, because of the requested topic: innovation in petfood and treats. ..Read more