News & Newsletters: Page 761

Petfood maker Purina, Jenny Craig help pets, owners lose weight

Petfood manufacturer Nestle Purina is teaming up with Jenny Craig in a new online program that aims to help pet owners and their pets lose weight. The program, "Project: Pet Slim Down," lets pet owners that sign up obtain tips for exercising with their pet, record exercise performed, track weight loss and share photos with other users.

Petfood Forum China 2012 seeks abstract submissions

The Petfood Forum China 2012 content advisory board is seeking abstracts for its noncommercial oral and poster presentations at the petfood industry event. Potential speakers may submit abstracts on topics including, but not limited to, the petfood market in China, Asia and around the world; nutrition and ingredients; packaging; safety and regulatory issues specific to China or export countries; processing and production; company profiles and case studies; and new product development.

Market Trends and Reports

Pet chew maker Nylabone launches grain-free biscuits

Nylabone, pet chew maker, launched new grain-free biscuits that will be made available to consumers in select US states through Costco Warehouse. The grain-free biscuits are turkey-flavored and include ingredients such as peas, turkey meat, blueberries, cranberries and flaxseed, according to Nylabone.

Joint-venture petfood deal gives Unicharm stake in Hartz

Sumitomo Corp., Sumitomo Corp. of America and Japanese petfood manufacturer Unicharm closed a joint-venture deal on December 30, 2011. The deal gives Unicharm a significant stake in the common share of small animal food and pet treats manufacturer Hartz Mountain Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sumitomo Corp.

New all-natural dog food company ships petfood nationwide in US

A new petfood company, DooD, recently entered into the pet industry with its all-natural dog food shipped right to the pet owner's home. Dood petfood, a combination of the words "dog" and "food," was formed by Alireza Niroomand and brother-in-law, Andrea Carrano, after struggling with managing the stomach and health issues of their own dogs.

Horizon Pet Nutrition launches grain-free Pulsar petfood line

Petfood manufacturer Horizon Pet Nutrition launched a new grain-free diet program, Pulsar, which will be sold at petfood stores beginning in January. The company says its Pulsar line, available at a lower cost to consumers, incorporates petfood ingredients like peas and lentils as the key carbohydrate and fiber source.

Raw petfood manufacturer grows through investment, exports

Mark Stewart invested more than $10 million in ZiwiPeak, a small New Zealand raw petfood manufacturing company with revenues of about US$1 million at that time, but has since grown the petfood company's revenue to more than US$15 million per year and is looking to its export business to raise revenues even higher, according to a report. The company exports 97% of its petfood products to 25 countries, Stewart said, focusing on achieving profitiability for the petfood company with revenue growth of about 60% annually.

Japan pet suppliers show Interpets planned for August

Interpets, the Japanese "pet event of the new era," will be held in Japan in August, open to petfood and pet supply industry suppliers as well as the public. This pet suppliers trade show will be held at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan, from August 23-26.

Halo survey: pet owners to buy higher quality petfood in 2012

Petfood manufacturer Halo, Purely for Pets polled 1,045 pet owners in its "Pet Parents' New Year's Resolution Survey," which found that 69.4% of pet owners plan to purchase a higher quality petfood in 2012. Pet owners (45.9%) surveyed also pledged to help their pets lose weight in 2012.

Petfood companies, pet owners to blame for pet obesity, vet says

A Canadian veterinary pet nutrition specialist says pets are becoming more overweight not only because petfood is high in calories, but also because pet owners may also be overfeeding and under exercising their pets, according to lfpress.com. Monica Snedden, a veterinary nutrition specialist and registered veterinary technician at Princess Animal Hospital in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, says pet owners are contributing to their pet's obesity by “feeding them the wrong thing, overfeeding them, just leaving the food down and leaving the bowl full all the time.”

Pet owner unhappy with melamine-tainted petfood lawsuit settlement

A woman whose cat died from eating tainted petfood is unhappy with the settlement pet owners received compared to the compensation lawyers received in a class-action lawsuit related to the 2007 melamine-tainted petfood imported from China, NBC reported. Kathy Forcier's cat, who died from eating "Special Kitty" food purchased at Walmart, was one of as many as 50,000 dogs and cats sickened or killed by the 2007 melamine-tainted petfood incident, in which as many as 150 Menu Foods petfood brands were recalled.

Chinese petfood found to be mislabeled by Taipei city officials

The Taipei City Government yesterday ordered four petfood products to be taken off store shelves because of incorrect labeling, according to the Taipei Times. City officials inspected 140 petfood products, of which four were found to be falsely labeled.

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