Petfood Forum targets manufacturers and suppliers of pet food, ingredients and machinery. This year, the event once again welcomed thousands of professionals from across the global pet food supply chain to its unique conference and trade show format, featuring numerous industry-focused and informative events.
Prior to this year's event, it was announced that WATT Global Media, organizer of Petfood Forum, and Interzoo had extended their partnership until 2028, offering the pet food industry numerous opportunities for international networking and business development. One of the most significant events of the companies’ cooperation was the Interzoo Pavilion at Petfood Forum 2025, which took place April 28-30 in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. Other collaborations will occur at Petfood Forum 2027 in Kansas City as well as the Petfood Forum Europe, which will take place in 2026 and 2028 on the day prior to Interzoo in Nuremberg, Germany.
In the following interview, Dr. Rowena Arzt, head of exhibitions at Interzoo organizer WZF GmbH – Pet Industry Services, shares her impressions of Petfood Forum.
Q: How did the pet food market in the U.S. develop over the past year, and what trends are emerging for the future?
Pet food is still a growth market and showed the highest growth rates in the industry last year. According to Bloomberg analyst Diana Rosero-Pena, the pet food sector in the U.S. will continue to grow steadily to a total of US$68.4 billion in 2030. Furthermore, Bloomberg Intelligence expects total sales of US$145 billion for the pet food market segment in 2030 and revenues of US$500 billion for the global pet food and pet supplies sector.
Purchasing behavior among U.S. pet parents shows trends similar to those in Europe and Asia. For example, premium segments that promise positive effects on pet health are benefitting from the humanization of pets and the trend to consider pets fully as family members. On the other hand, pet owners with smaller budgets are the most affected by inflation and other price-driving factors impacting their product choices and shopping habits.
Q: How large was Petfood Forum overall, and what did it offer?
Petfood Forum is an annual event combining an extensive conference program with a trade fair and numerous networking opportunities. At the 2025 event, around 400 companies exhibited, offering more than 3,700 attendees the chance to learn about the latest trends and sourcing options in ingredients, packaging, processing, feed safety and more through live demonstrations, product tests and interactive displays.
Organizer WATT Global Media supports industry networking through a variety of program elements aimed at all participants or specific target groups. I was particularly impressed by the evening event at KC Live, which drew about 2,000 participants. The well-organized business breakfasts and lunches also contributed significantly to networking. Conference formats such as Women in Petfood Leadership and Petfood Essentials, with a workshop on sustainability-oriented life-cycle analysis in pet food production, addressed specific information needs of individual target groups.
Q: What trends and challenges were discussed at Petfood Forum?
Ingredients were a key topic for Petfood Forum attendees, with discussions centered around new sourcing options, additives and alternative protein sources. Regulatory approval processes and labelling of ingredients also played a significant role during the debates. Other major focus areas during presentations and product demonstrations comprised packaging, innovative production technologies, and pet food safety.
Q: What is the concept behind the Interzoo Pavilion?
The pavilion concept offers companies an additional trade fair platform to present their products and services to an international professional audience, expand business relationships in international markets, and connect with industry experts along the entire pet food supply chain.
Exhibitors participating in the Interzoo Pavilions benefit from attractive conditions and the extensive Interzoo network, which facilitates contact with key industry decision-makers.
Q: Will exhibitors and visitors of the Petfood Forum also attend Interzoo 2026?
At Petfood Forum, visitors and exhibitors expressed a strong interest in Interzoo 2026. Companies who already booked their participation in Interzoo 2026 could sign our #InterzooWallofFame at the Pavilion and thereby show that they will be in Nuremberg next May.
The upcoming Interzoo will once again deliver a unique experience for the industry with exact fitting offers for the various target groups. For exhibitors from the U.S., our US Partnership Pavilion, organized by Kallman Worldwide at Interzoo, will be particularly interesting since it will offer a turnkey solution to participants. Furthermore, many attendees at the Kansas City event have already marked Petfood Forum Europe on May 11, 2026, in their agendas.
I would like to conclude that we are extremely happy with the successful cooperation of WATT Global Media and WZF allowing us jointly to offer additional comprehensive business and networking opportunities to the pet food industry at both events, Petfood Forum and Interzoo.
