Ainsworth makes celebrity chef Rachel Ray’s line of dog and cat food at the plant.
From Petfood Industry:
Ainsworth Pet Nutrition is undertaking a pet food facility expansion in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, USA, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Ainsworth makes celebrity chef Rachel Ray’s line of dog and cat food at the plant. The company has hired 92 new employees this year, as the pet food facility expansion continues.
Ainsworth’s business model focuses on marketing their product as a premium pet food, like those sold exclusively in pet specialty stores, but selling the pet food in supermarkets and similar mass market retail outlets.
History of Ainsworth
In 2010, Dad's Pet Care changed its name to Ainsworth Pet Nutrition, following a restructuring of the company and a series of acquisitions made to expand its product offering, reported Petfood Industry. The company is based in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
The name harkens back to the company's founder, George Ainsworth Lang Sr., and his father, who began Dad's in 1933. In addition to the renaming, the company was restructured so that Dad's Pet Care, Ainsworth Specialty Brands and Ainsworth Custom operate as three business units, all part of Ainsworth Pet Nutrition.
Ainsworth also made a series of investments to diversify its products and expand the company, including the acquisition of Hampshire Pet Products, Targeted Pet Treats, Gaines of Canada, Back to Basics and Arkat Animal Nutrition.
Ainsworth, a privately owned company founded in 1933, has virtually doubled its sales in the last decade.
Amid the whir of conveyor belts and machinery comes a loud, rhythmic slap, as one after another, a worker takes a stack of empty dog food bags and smacks each one on a metal surface to make sure the top is open.
Tim Wall covers the dog, cat and other pet food industries as a senior reporter for WATT Global Media. His work has appeared inScientific American, Live Science, Discovery News, Honduras Weekly, Global Journalist and other outlets. He holds an M.A. in journalism and an M.S. in natural resources, both
from the University of Missouri - Columbia, along with a bachelor's degree in biology.
Wall served in the Peace Corps in Honduras from 2005 to 2007, where he coordinated with the town government of Moroceli to organize a municipal trash collection system, taught environmental science, translated for medical brigades and facilitated sustainable agriculture, along with other projects.
Many hours, efforts, dollars and brainpower go into pet food companies’ and regulatory bodies’ efforts to ensure that products on the market are safe and healthy for pets.
