Marine-based ingredients have doubled in usage in pet food formulations and now represent the highest-value ingredient category, according to findings from the Institute for Feed Education and Research's (IFEEDER) 2025 Pet Food Production and Ingredient Analysis.
The report, which analyzed NielsenIQ data for brick-and-mortar and online pet food sales combined with product nutrient profiles, found that marine products increased 95% in usage from the previous 2020 report while their value jumped 262%.
"Marine products that were at 500,000 tons relative to poultry at 2.2 million tons are now, from a value standpoint, the highest value product ingredients right now, that's generally coming from salmon and cod," said Lara Moody, executive director of IFEEDER, during her presentation at Petfood Forum 2025.
The study examined over 600 different ingredients used across dog and cat food products, representing a significant increase from the 2020 report. Chicken and chicken products remained the top ingredient by volume at 24% of total usage, followed by whole grains at 20%, mill grains at 17%, beef cattle at 14%, and marine products at 5%.
The value rankings tell a different story, however, with marine ingredients commanding the highest prices, followed by beef products, chicken products, mill grains, and whole grains.
Overall ingredient usage increased only 7% by volume from 2020 to 2025, but values surged 91%. Pet food sales volumes remained relatively flat, with a slight decrease in cat food and minimal increase in dog food sales, while product values increased 70%.
"This trend towards more select or higher valued ingredients, like meat and poultry products or marine-based products, have an impact on the price on the value of the products," Moody explained.
The report also revealed that approximately 50% of pet food ingredients qualify as upcycled, including animal processing byproducts, co-products from corn processing such as distillers grains, and plant-based byproducts like tomato pomace and berry hulls.
From an economic impact perspective, the pet food industry represents $13.2 billion in farm product sales to manufacture 9.8 million tons of dog and cat food worth $51 billion to the U.S. economy. The report identified pet food manufacturing operations in 43 states, with Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Pennsylvania and California leading in ingredient sales to pet food manufacturers.
The collaborative study involved IFEEDER, the American Feed Industry Association, North American Renderers Association, Pet Food Institute and additional industry contributors. The full report and interactive data tools are available at ifeeder.org.
