Debbie Phillips-DonaldsonDebbie Phillips-Donaldson is editor-in-chief of Petfood Industry magazine and Petfood Forum.From the Author - Page 71HomeDo you have a mobile and social marketing strategy for your petfood brand?More than 300,000 mobile Apps have been developed in the past three years, according to MobiThinking.com, and they’ve been downloaded 10.9 billion times. Another tech source, Flurry Blog, puts the number of App downloads at 40 billion.Pet Food MarketExtrusion short course highlights strengths of global petfood marketIf you are new to the petfood industry -- or work in another function besides dry petfood production and need to learn much more on that subject -- one of the best ways by attending the annual Feeds and Petfood Extrusion Short Course at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, USA. The course, just concluding its 22nd edition, offers a nearly week-long immersion into grinding, mixing, extruding, drying, cooling and coating dry petfoods and feeds, combining classroom sessions by industry experts with live demonstrations on machines designed to do all those petfood production steps.Pet Food MarketWho's posting what about your products or brand online?Earlier this year, comScore, an online and digital tracking firm, released a report showing nearly everyone in the US who is online -- a whopping 98% -- uses social media. That usage equates to US females spending an average 7.9 hours a month on social media and US males spending six hours.Pet Food MarketIdeas to ramp up your cause marketing this yearCause marketing -- promoting a brand, product or company through donations or other giving to charitable causes -- is growing worldwide. In the US alone, spending on causes reached US$1.68 billion in 2011, according to IEG, a branding and sponsorship support firm (and reported by Matt Carmichael on AdAge.com).Pet Food MarketNo surprise: FDA misses important FSMA deadlinesJanuary 4 -- a year after the Food Safety Modernization Act was signed into legislation -- was the date several of its key provisions were to take effect. According to FDAImports.com, the Food and Drug Administration has failed to finalize these provisions by the deadline.Market Trends and ReportsAuspicious start to year for petfood industry?Rising sales plus declining costs add up to a positive direction for any business or industry. Based on news wrapping up 2011, that may be the direction for petfood this year.Pet Food MarketGood news for the new year: lower ingredient prices?A panel of experts convened in December 2011 predicted the price of corn and other commodity ingredients would moderate this year after record-setting price hikes last year. Though these experts are part of the poultry industry, their predictions might hold insights (and good news) for petfood manufacturers, too.Pet Food MarketFDA's new food safety alliance: help for the 'little guys'?To help US food, feed and petfood producers be prepared to meet new regulations under the Food Safety Modernization Act and prevent foodborne illnesses, the US Food and Drug Administration has announced a new Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance. Forged from a partnership with the Illinois Institute of Technology's Institute for Food Safety and Health, the alliance's mission is to develop training courses and materials aimed at preventing contamination of human and animal food during production, FDA says.Pet Food MarketGlobal petfood sales grow 4% in 2011Petfood sales continue to grow at a modest pace, accompanied by anemic volume growth. Data available as of the beginning of December show global petfood sales have increased 4% this year, according to the folks at Euromonitor International, who generously provided year-to-date figures along with comparisons to 2010.HomeAre consumers willing to pay for petfood proven safe?January 4 marks the first birthday of the Food Safety Modernization Act (see pp. xx). I imagine most manufacturers that produce, market or import petfood to the US aren’t celebrating the milestone, because the new law means new regulations to comply with, along with the added costs of doing so (including myriad new fees from the Food and Drug Administration).Pet Food SafetyPetfood safety: update on FSMAThe US Food Safety Modernization Act has reached its first birthday, after passage in January 2011. Some provisions took effect immediately but to date have had minimal impact on most petfood manufacturers.Pet Food MarketWhat is industry's role in fighting obesity in pets?While humanization has definitely been a good thing for the petfood industry, it has its downsides, too. One negative for pets, arguably, is that as the human population goes, at least in developed markets, so goes the pet overpopulation. Specifically for food, that means the percentage of overweight or obese pets is increasing at a pace similar to the rise of obesity in humans.Previous PagePage 71 of 80Next Page
