The Humane League recently released a new report, “U.S. Food Manufacturing Industry Eggsposé.” Besides the groaner of a pun in the title, some may view the report with a certain level of questioning about its agenda, given the source and the focus on cage-free egg sourcing among food companies. Of note, though, is that the report covers pet food manufacturing, too, not just human food — and it includes some interesting consumer data.
Namely, 90% of the consumers surveyed said they would likely switch pet food brands if they learned competitors sourced from farms with better animal treatment. That puts companies like J.M. Smucker, cited for sourcing 100% cage-free eggs for its pet food products since 2022, as well as Goodness Gracious and Evermore Pet Food, mentioned as transitioning to cage-free eggs, in good stead in this regard.
And, that data point aligns with similar data from an ongoing study launched in 2025 by Lonnie Hobbs Jr., Ph.D., assistant professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University: The 1,000 U.S. pet owners he surveyed rated animal welfare at 8.29 on a 10-point scale of importance for the pet foods they seek.
What is ‘ethical nutrition’?
As with so many other aspects of pet food, this pet owner data related to animal welfare also aligns with movement in the human food world. To wit, a concept dubbed “ethical nutrition” is on the rise, according to Gaynor Selby, writing on FoodIngredientsFirst.com.
“For decades, the idea of ‘good’ food has been closely tied to its nutritional credentials — less sugar, more protein, added fiber, vitamins, minerals or a recognized health benefit,” she wrote. “But the way consumers assess food is becoming more complex. Increasingly, consumers want to understand not only what a product delivers nutritionally, but what sits behind it: how ingredients are sourced, how people and animals are treated and what impact production has on communities and the environment.”
According to Selby, elements falling under this concept include trust and transparency, ethical ingredients (e.g., cage-free eggs), sustainable sourcing and animal welfare. She provided examples from around the world and quoted experts from various stages of the food industry; no consumer data was provided.
Pet owners prioritizing animal welfare
Hobbs’ survey has generated data that offer a deeper dive into the importance of animal welfare to pet owners. For example, for the 1,000 he surveyed, ethical concern ranks second (at 63%), only behind nutrition (83%), in terms of the pet food attributes they’re looking for. (Respondents could choose more than one attribute.) Sustainability came in third at 53%.
Looking at specific concepts and claims from a different angle — with an index of relative importance — certified animal welfare came in first, at 1.82, followed by environmentally friendly at 1.58, ethically raised at 1.45, pasture raised at 1.09, cage free at 0.9 and reduced carbon footprint at 0.89. The data showed a consistent pattern of animal welfare trumping sustainability for these pet owners. For the 10-point-scale question I mentioned above, environmental impact was at 7.02 compared to that 8.29 for animal welfare.
And, perhaps of more interest to pet food brands, these pet owners seem more willing to pay for animal welfare claims than sustainability ones: The survey respondents said they’d pay US$1.34/pound for certified animal welfare, $1.03/pound for ethically raised, $1.01/pound for pasture raised and $0.83/pound for cage free. The amounts they said they’d be willing to pay for environmentally friendly and reduced carbon footprint were lower, $0.75/pound and $0.36/pound, respectively.
Of course, consumers are infamous for saying they’d pay more for something — particularly a somewhat nebulous, feel-good-sounding concept like animal welfare or sustainability— and then sales data don’t bear that out. So, Hobbs’ survey also probed the results to get at what these pet owners value. In terms of psychological importance and economic trade-offs, certified animal welfare and ethically raised, plus environmentally friendly, all scored high in both areas, making them core value drivers for these pet owners.
Consider the trade-offs
No attribute or label claim exists in a vacuum; pet food brands need to weigh this data in relation to other claims, product features and consumer demands. As Selby put it regarding human food, “Ultimately, ‘ethical nutrition’ may be less about finding a single definition of ‘good’ food than acknowledging the trade-offs involved in creating it. A formulation can improve nutritional value while increasing environmental pressure; a sourcing decision can strengthen resilience while raising costs; a welfare commitment can add complexity to an already stretched supply chain.
“The challenge for the F&B sector, therefore, is not simply to produce products that satisfy one ethical criterion,” Selby continued. “It is to consider the wider impact of innovation and find ways of improving nutritional value without creating new barriers elsewhere in the system.”
Wise advice for the pet food sector, too.
