Natural / Organic Pet Food

Pet owners rank ‘animal welfare’ near ‘no artificial’

Nearly half of U.S. pet owners in a survey considered natural and organic pet food to be safer than regular food.

September 10, 2020

Tim Wall

Even during the pandemic, pet owners look for the same qualities in pet food as in their own.

Safe history helps novel protein from wood-eating yeast

Wood-eating torula have several things going for them as a sustainable, novel protein source. Wood is abundant, renewable and doesn’t compete with human food crops.

September 2, 2020

Tim Wall

For pet food, Torula yeast may have an advantage over other novel proteins. Torula yeast is already an approved ingredient, with a history of safe use.

4 novel functional pet food ingredients, like turmeric

In the past few years, turmeric moved to the front of pet food packages, as pet owners came to associate health benefit claims with turmeric such as anti-inflammatory, relief of arthritis pain, gastrointestinal disorder help, steroid replacement and allergy relief.

August 21, 2020

Tim Wall

Plants, such as hemp, turmeric and ashwagandha, along with other light-eaters, algae, serve as functional ingredients in both human and pet foods by aiding animals’ bodies in ways beyond calories counts and protein levels.

‘Beautiful system’ supplies by-products to make pet food

Using otherwise-wasted ingredients from the humans food chain now serves to boost pet food industry sustainability.

June 8, 2020

Tim Wall

Before recycling even entered the English language, some pet food and animal feed ingredient companies reduced the amount of waste produced by reusing byproducts of the human food system.

Pet food industry disconnected from public on byproducts

For years, there’s been a disconnect between the pet food industry and consumers about the value of byproducts.

June 4, 2020

Tim Wall

Byproduct usage serves as a huge sustainability story for the pet food industry, one executive said. People in the industry take for granted that others know the same.

Do pet food consumers still care about sustainability?

May 28, 2020

Debbie Phillips-Donaldson

The COVID-19 pandemic seems to be making some pet food shoppers and other consumers focus more on sustainability, food waste and natural/organic products.

Pet food maker nutrition, quality by ingredient studied

Knight leads an ongoing survey to examine pet food manufacturers’ approaches to ensuring balanced nutrition and quality control, depending on the main ingredient type.

May 26, 2020

Tim Wall

However, pet owners may have trepidations about novel pet food ingredients or varieties, including raw, plant protein, cell-cultured, insect, fungal or algal-based pet foods.

New pet food product launches down during 2020 pandemic

New product launches in 2019 were somewhat lower than past years, but were still more than three times higher than this year.

May 21, 2020

Tim Wall

New pet food and treat launches in the first third of 2020 fell far behind previous years’ number of product introductions.

Wet Noses: Making ‘the best damn dog food on the planet’

This independent pet food company has expanded from dog treats to jarred dog and cat food as well as toppers with a focus on sustainability and nutrition.

May 11, 2020

Lindsay Beaton

Wet Noses is an independent pet food company that has expanded from dog treats to jarred dog and cat food as well as toppers with a focus on sustainability and nutrition.