In 2007, Greg Aldrich wrote for Petfood Industry about chicken as the first ingredient in pet food. That topic is still popular today, as a recent blog from Debbie Phillips-Donaldson on meat-first focus, shows.
Aldrich wrote about whether formulating a dry pet food to make a meat the first ingredient on the panel is only a marketing ploy or if it truly imparts some enhancement to nutrition and quality. He said there is some real truth to the notion that the consumer is going to perceive that a food that is 'made with real meat' or has 'chicken as the first ingredient' is a higher quality product.
Aldrich said that, in this day of natural, raw and home-prepared pet foods, the notion of an extruded food with a high content of fresh chicken isn't a big stretch. In fact, it may actually be a bridge to the new pet food market.
Phillips-Donaldson, writing about the “new” pet food market, said that many people believe dogs are carnivores and need high levels of fresh, whole meat. She also questioned whether this focus and approach to feeding dogs is sustainable, as humans are competing with dogs and cats for all that meat. She asked, “Will we run out of meat?”
Chicken as the first ingredient on the ingredient panel of a dry extruded kibble has become more commonplace in the past several years. Chicken as the first ingredient on the ingredient panel of a dry extruded kibble has become more commonplace in the past several years. Why chicken?
a
Feature
By Lindsay Beaton
Pet food label modernization still a work in progress
As work continues on creating a new nutrition label that focuses on simplifying information for consumers, challenges remain.
READ MORE in Petfood Industry magazine
Feature
By Tang Yu
5 insights on China’s pet food market post-2020
Data and observations sum up how the Chinese pet food market fared in 2020, while local pet food businesses and experts offer outlooks for 2021.