Nutrition: Page 308

Pet Food Market

For petfood, true innovation now lies behind the scenes

For Interzoo 2012, the organizer of the event -- arguably the largest pet trade show in the world -- invited me to give a presentation during the show's international press conference. While honored and flattered by the invitation, I was also rather nervous, initially, because of the requested topic: innovation in petfood and treats.

Pet Food Product Database

QualiTech SQM organic trace minerals

Merrick acquires natural, organic petfood company Castor & Pollux

Merrick Pet Care Inc. signed an agreement to acquire Castor & Pollux Natural PetWorks, a privately held natural and organic petfood company based in Oregon, USA. Although specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, Merrick Pet Care says the acquisition of Castor & Pollux further advances its key growth strategies of expanding the company’s brands in the super-premium petfood segment and allows for greater utilization of its manufacturing facilities located in Hereford, Texas, USA.

Pet Food Product Database

Prinova Animal Health essential oils

International Grains Program launches animal feed industry blog

The International Grains Program at Kansas State University launched a new blog with animal feed industry information as well as posts specific to the program's focus of feed manufacturing and grain management, flour milling and grain processing, and grain marketing and risk management. “We are excited about this opportunity to engage with our audience in a different capacity,” said Mark Fowler, IGP associate director.

Natura launches new petfood ingredient tracking website

Natura Pet Products launched a new website, www.SeeBeyondTheBag.com, that lets customers see how the manufacturer creates new petfood formulas and where the petfood ingredients are sourced. Natura’s new website shares the regions where Natura’s ingredients are sourced on an interactive map and presents a narrated video tour of the company’s plant in Fremont, Nebraska, USA, with profiles of employees working in manufacturing and product development at the plant.

Natura's site lets consumers track ingredients and their source on an interactive map.

Market Trends and Reports

Pet supply chain caters to nutrition-conscious pet owners

Brad Kriser, owner of Feeding Pets for Life LLC, says he’s trying to attract pet owners to his pet supply chain by providing pet nutrition-conscious customers with a wide variety of all-natural, organic and human-grade petfoods and pet treats. Based in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and Los Angeles, California, USA, the stores feature an assortment of brands of natural dog and cat food, as well as upscale pet toys and clothing and unique items like bison-tendon treats and duck-feet snacks.

Pet Food Market

Sustainability: not just for huge multinationals

A new report shows retailer Walmart and Nestle, parent company of Nestle Purina, ranking among the top corporate sustainability leaders worldwide, according to GreenBiz.com. Based on a survey of "industry experts and professionals" by GlobeScan Inc. and SustainAbility Ltd., the report names 13 such leaders, with Unilever at the very top.

ADM Alliance Nutrition to build new petfood premix plant

ADM Alliance Nutrition Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Archer Daniels Midland Company, will build a new feed premix plant in Effingham, Illinois, USA, with enhanced processes and controls to meet safety standards for petfood premixes and specialty blends. The new facility, expected to be fully operational in early 2014, will incorporate stainless steel conveyances and processing equipment, with automation enabling real-time tracking of every ingredient through bar coding and lot controlled numbering systems.

GA Pet Food Partners creates ‘Just Fresh Meat’ dry petfood concept

GA Pet Food Partners, a super-premium dry petfood manufacturer, recently created the “Just Fresh Meat” concept, in which all of meat ingredients in the dry pet food are fresh. GA has invested in a patented “Just Fresh Meat” extrusion technology, which the company says means that there is no need for dry rendered meat and bone meals to be used in a complete, dry petfood.

Petfood flavoring company AFB awarded for 2011 customer satisfaction

Petfood palatability product manufacturer AFB International was awarded the 2011 Experience Award in the Customer Experience category by research agency Integron. AFB says the award, given at a March 15 awards ceremony in Rotterdam, Netherlands, recognizes its consistent dedication to customer satisfaction.

Pet Food Market

Taking the claim 'human grade' literally

It's not uncommon for media and others to see certain marketing terms and trends with petfood -- such as humanization -- and interpret them literally. Yet recently, BloombergBusinessweek took the concept to a whole new level.

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