PFI Defeats California Pet Food Labeling Bill
The Pet Food Institute (PFI), worked closely with the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and Grocery Manufacturers Association, to defeat a proposal in California, USA that would have required a telephone number and country of origin information on pet food labels. The bill SB 1773 was authored by Senator Corbett and initially would have required that country of origin information for all pet food ingredients be listed on labels. Later the bill was amended to require that country of information be listed on company Web sites, another requirement that PFI opposed.
In California, bills estimated to cost the state more than US$50,000 per year undergo an additional approval process in the Appropriations Committee called suspense. PFI and ally organizations convinced the Appropriations Committee through strategic lobbying and information provided that the cost of the bill would be significantly higher than the threshold, thus detaining the bill in the suspense process. The Appropriations Committee reviewed the bills authored by Senator Corbett and decided not to release SB 1773. There is still a bill in California - PFI calls it "problematic" - that would ban the use of perfluorochemicals, substances often used as a grease barrier in multi-wall packaging, that is progressing through the legislative process. PFI is currently working with a coalition to oppose the bill.
In other US bills affecting the pet food industry news, Minnesota HF 5318, a bill to require that pet food companies register product recipes with the state for pet foods sold only in packages of 10 pounds or less, died when the legislature body adjourned for the year. PFI is still seeking to determine whether the proposal is backed by the Minnesota Department of Agriculture and will monitor future legislative activity in Minnesota for any similar proposals.
FDA Moves Forward on New Pet Food Protection Plan
FDA claims progress on food protection plan
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a six-month status report on its progress in implementing a pet food safety plan launched in November in response to high-profile contamination incidents - including the pet food recall - involving domestic and imported foods over the past few years. The eight-page report covers a wide range of action items, from efforts to solicit stakeholder comments to research on how to assess produce contamination risks. Progress assessments are grouped under prevention, intervention and response sections. In each category the FDA also lists steps it plans in the future.
The status report comes as the FDA is fielding criticism over its handling of the investigation of a massive Salmonella outbreak thought to be linked to fresh tomatoes or some other ingredient commonly served in combination with tomatoes. Some lawmakers have charged that the FDA has been too slow in implementing the food safety plan. For their part, FDA officials have said the US Congress has failed to grant the FDA authorities it has requested in the plan, such as the ability to require food recalls.
"Implementing the strategic approaches outlined in the plan is essential if we are to enhance our ability to respond and intervene in foodborne outbreaks," said FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach, MD, in a press release. "But there is much more that needs to be done. We are hopeful that Congress will support these efforts by providing the proposed new authorities that we requested in the Food Protection Plan."
The FDA said it is working with state and local partners to develop a strategy for implementing the food safety plan and that a 50-state meeting will be held in St. Louis, Missouri, USA from August 12-14 to collaborate and plan future food safety initiatives. Also, the FDA is seeking feedback on a variety of safety proposals for pet foods, including outreach activities and pet food labeling and safety standards.
"There have been changes in both the food industry and in the science of food safety that indicate a need for modernization," the report says. The agency said it has made progress with China and Vietnam on food and import safety issues and has also reached out to India and Jordan. It has also met with a host of other countries on rapid response and other food safety issues. When the FDA released its food protection plan in November, it emphasized that the strategy reflects a risk-based approach to improving safety. The new report says the FDA has established a risk-based steering committee to ensure that the plan adheres to that approach.
71 Million Strong: Good News for the Pet Industry
Health Concerns: Powerful Pet Food Trends
Where specifically is that growth coming from? For one thing, US owners are increasingly pampering their pets with treats; at least 69% of US pets receive them, with a full 90% of dogs enjoying them. For birds, treat usage increased from 73% in 2004 to 82% in 2006.
Judging by the number of new pet treats on display at the Global Pet Expoheld in February in Orlando, Florida, USA, and where APPMA first released the survey resultsmany of you are contributing to and capitalizing on that trend.
Besides food and treats, another large product category is pet health, according to the survey. This includes veterinary care, pet insurance, pharmaceuticals and over-the-counter medications, as well as specialty and functional food products: weight management foods, sports drinks, energy treats, treatments, supplements and natural and organic offerings.
In fact, APPMA cites pet health as the "most powerful trend across the industry." Pet owners can afford to feed this trend thanks partly to their healthy incomes, reported to be higher than those of the total US population. Dog owners, for example, have an average annual income of US$49,000 compared with the overall US average of US$43,000, according to the survey. The average annual income of all US pet owners is US$47,000.
Looking globally
Currently, North America owns 38% of the total global pet market of US$58.2 billion, according to Euromonitor International. (These are 2005 numbers, the most recent global figures available.) Experts expect that developed regions like the US and Western Europe will gradually lose market share to developing areas like Asia (especially China), Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe, but all will still continue to grow. And that's certainly good news.
Industry Moves to Recover from the Pet Food Recall Crisis
Recovering From a Crisis
Last March, there wasn't a piece of pet industry news that did not involve some sort of pet food recall. The petfood industry, at least in the US, started hearing that Menu Foods had issued a precautionary recall of cuts-in-gravy style dog and cat foods because of possible contamination.
What started as "precautionary" and "possible" quickly became a real crisis, as more than 60 million cans and pouches of petfood representing about 100 pet food brands from economy-priced to superpremium were pulled from shelves over the ensuing weeks. It seemed nearly every day brought a new recall notice, as another manufacturer's products were implicated, including a few dry foods.
Dozens of pets were reported sickened or killed by petfood contaminated with melamine that had been added to pet food ingredients such as wheat flour which were mislabeled as wheat gluten, plus rice protein imported from two Chinese suppliers.
One year later
A report issued a couple months ago by the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians showed more than 300 North American pets - 236 cats and 112 dogs - had died from eating the contaminated food. (That number may increase, because it included only verifiable cases reported to authorities at that time.)
We have ongoing signs that our industry is still strong and continuing to grow. As we were working on this issue, we received more pet industry news informing us that a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, had indicted the two Chinese companies along with ChemNutra, the Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, company that had imported the contaminated ingredients into the US.
And, as reported in recent issues, the US federal government has introduced and, in some cases passed, new laws and regulations affecting pet food safety. At the same time, many manufacturers, those that had products recalled and those fortunate enough to escape direct involvement in the crisis, have been stepping up their safety and testing programs to prevent similar contamination problems in the future. These companies and others have also begun to promote their safety measures to consumers.
The silver lining
Not all the pet industry news is negative, as some of the outcomes of the recalls will be positive. A renewed focus on pet food safety can only be a good thing, especially if it might lead to at least closer to adequate funding for US regulatory oversight.
And, we have ongoing signs that the pet food industry is still strong and continuing to grow.