Pet Industry News

San Francisco, California, USA lawyers rescued Wal-Mart and a group of petfood manufacturers on March 16 from a class action that could have led to millions of dollars in damages, according to an article on www.Law.com.

A federal judge in Nevada, USA granted a motion by the defense to pre-emptively deny certification to a class of plaintiffs that would have spanned eight states, including California.

Margaret Picus, a Nevada woman, filed a class action in state court against Wal-Mart and a group of food manufacturers in April 2007, alleging that they illegally labeled their petfood "Made in USA," though some ingredients were imported from China.

The previous month, the Food and Drug Administration had announced that certain petfood ingredients imported from China were sickening and killing cats and dogs.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro of Nevada denied Picus class certification in Picus v. Wal-Mart Stores, 07-00682, ruling that subjective, individual issues made a class action the wrong way to handle the case. Specifically, Pro wrote in his decision, the law requires the plaintiffs to prove that each person who bought the tainted petfood did so because it was labeled "Made in USA."

Looking at the pet industry as a whole, Packaged Facts predicts steady performance in 2009 and 2010, although the market growth rate will drop back slightly due to cutbacks in some categories, according to a press release by Packaged Facts on their newly released report, U.S. Pet Market Outlook 2009-2010: Surviving and Thriving in Challenging Economic Times.

In the report, Packaged Facts projects sales and analyzes growth drivers and opportunities for veterinary services, petfood, non-food pet supplies and other pet services (grooming, boarding, training, etc.).

"Packaged Facts views pet humanization as a dynamic, multifaceted shift that virtually guarantees steady pet market sales not just in 2009 and 2010, but well beyond," says Tatjana Meerman, publisher of Packaged Facts, in an article by www.MarketWire.com. "In most cases … cutbacks would only seriously be considered after owners have reduced spending on their own less essential needs."

The US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition (CFSAN) issued guidance to the food industry advising manufacturers that peanuts and peanut-derived products used as petfood ingredients pose a risk of Salmonella contamination, according to a press release by CFSAN.

CFSAN also issued a companion bulletin to operators of food-service establishments and retail food stores that offer food products containing peanuts and peanut-derived ingredients.

The FDA will accept public comments on the guidance, which along with the bulletin was posted March 9 on the FDA's website (Peanut-Derived Product Guidance and Peanut-Derived Product Bulletin). Both are scheduled to be published soon in the Federal Register.

Assuming that the Canadian economic outlook stays positive over the forecast period, pet services can be expected to be the fastest growing category in the pet industry, according to an article by PETS International. 

Pet travel, including pet hotels, travel agencies, and accessories (such as car seats) will likely continue to drive growth in the sector, buttressed by a strong Canadian dollar and the resulting increase in travel to the United States and other destinations, Euromonitor predicted in the article.

Other less prominent pet services likely to benefit from increasing disposable income amongst pet-owning households include medical services, pet insurance, pet spas, pet masseuses, behaviorists who treat unruly pet behavior, pet sitters, and pet ‘communicators&rsqu o;, or psychologists, according to the article.

According to Euromonitor, there will be businesses opportunities for any company that is able to successfully market its products to consumers wishing to pamper and indulge their pets.

GA Pet Food Partners, a UK dry petfood manufacturer, has partnered with Verm-X to offer any petfood brand the opportunity to add natural internal parasite control to their own range of petfoods or treats, according to a GA press release.

Verm-X is a natural herbal internal parasite control that can be added to new or existing formulations for dog, cat, ferret and small animals, according to the release.

“Verm-X offers a simpler, more natural solution to a real problem,” said Ben Helm, sales and marketing director for GA.

AniMeals, in partnership with Meals on Wheels in Oregon City, Oregon, USA, is helping out struggling pet owners by providing free petfood, according to a video on www.CNN.com.

The petfood bank, whose donations come from area businesses and residents, supplies a month of food no matter what the size of the animal.

Linda Cloud, coordinator of AniMeals, said the program helps needy owners feed their pets because petfood is not covered under food stamps.