If natural petfood sales continue to grow, does that mean no legal or regulatory definitions are necessary?

Natura Pet Products has decided to stop selling its products in Quebec, Canada, due to the country's bilingual packaging requirements. The packaging changes would have been a costly undertaking for the company, said Manon Lapierre, communications manager for Proctor & Gamble Canada, Petcare.

The Honest Kitchen has renewed its formal Statement of No Objection with the US Food and Drug Association (FDA) to use the term “human grade” on all of its petfood labels. The company’s human grade foods are produced in a human food facility, not in a petfood plant, using 100% human edible ingredients.

The Global GMO Free Coalition launched on May 20, 2014, bringing together GMO Free groups across six continents with a partner membership of more than 4.5 million people. The Global GMO Free Coalition, with more than 60 partner organizations, is the first globally coordinated network to address the genetically modified (GM) food and crop industry in both the media and in public and government advocacy areas.

A new survey on US consumers’ choices in human foods could have implications for the petfood industry, particularly in how these consumers are focusing on “healthfulness,” the sources they trust for nutrition information, their level of confidence in food safety and the information they seek on product labels. Some of the findings are good news, some not so great.

The Blue Buffalo Company Ltd. officially filed a lawsuit against Nestlé Purina PetCare Company on May 14, 2014. The lawsuit, in response to a lawsuit filed by Purina against Blue Buffalo, claims defamation, unfair competition, false advertising and violations of trade practice statutes.

In suing Blue Buffalo Co. this week over false and disparaging advertising claims, Nestlé Purina PetCare threw down the gauntlet in terms of competitive marketing claims. Does Purina have a case – and perhaps more significant, if it does, could this be just the first step in a sea change in how petfoods are labeled and marketed? (Not to mention formulated.)

Nestlé Purina PetCare Company has filed a lawsuit in federal court in St. Louis, Missouri, against The Blue Buffalo Company Ltd., for false advertising, disparagement and unjust enrichment—including violations of the Federal Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)).

As yet another US state considers mandating labeling of food products with information on inclusion of ingredients that have been genetically modified (otherwise known as GMOs), a new paper looks at the potential impact—positive and negative—of such mandates. The latest state jumping into the GMO labeling debate is Vermont. Its legislature recently passed a bill that would make it the first state to require mandatory labeling of any foods containing ingredients that had been “genetically engineered.” The governor is expected to soon sign it into law.

The Council for Agricultural Science and Technology issue paper 54, "The Potential Impacts of Mandatory Labeling for Genetically Engineered Food in the United States," examines arguments for and against the mandatory labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods, the costs involved with labeling and experiences in countries that use mandatory labeling. Led by Task Force Chair Dr. Alison Van Eenennaam, the authors gather factual information to produce a peer-reviewed publication that clarifies the potential impacts of mandatory labeling.