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Nestle Purina PetCare unveiled the company's largest solar array at its petfood manufacturing facility in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
The solar array, designed and installed by United Renewable Energy, is comprised of nearly 1,900 solar panels, which will produce more than 585,000 kilowatt hours of clean, sustainable energy each year. The energy will be used to power equipment in various areas of the petfood production facility, including processing, packaging and warehouse.
The solar array produces enough energy to power nearly 52 average-sized homes annually, or about 5,000 light bulbs for a year. A solar array of this size has a carbon offset that equates to a CO2 emissions reduction of approximately 16 million pounds.
Nestle Purina purchases its electricity from Georgia Power Company, which derives 7 percent of its total electric energy from renewable sources, including solar, wind and biomass.
Additionally, Nestle Purina donated US$5,000 to the Douglas County, Georgia, K9 Unit in celebration of the solar array.
Mintel Global Market Navigator released a report on "Pet Food in Mexico," with annual year-end market size data, most recently updated in 2012.
The report covers packaged, prepared dry and wet food for dogs and cats. It includes data on market size, historical data, socio-economic data for Mexico and industry forecasts. The petfood market report can be purchased online.
Affinity Petcare, part of the Spanish petfood manufacturer Agrolimen Group, is forming a new joint venture with Brazil's Mogiana Alimentos SA.
Affinity Petcare will enter into the Brazilian petfood market with its purchase of a 50 percent stake in Mogiana Foods, a Brazilian animal feed producer. The joint venture is based in Campinas, Brazil, and is comprised of two manufacturing plants, one in Campinas and one in Bastos, Brazil.
Alltech's 29th Annual International Symposium is set to take place May 19-22 in Lexington, Kentucky, USA. For those that are unable to attend in person, the event will have live-streaming and on-demand videos of select presentations, blog posts, photos and more daily on the Symposium Live! Web page.
Sessions will be streamed live during the following times:
- Monday, May 20: Opening Session at 9:00 a.m. ET, Press Conference at 11:30 a.m. ET
- Tuesday, May 21: The Food Session at 8:30 a.m. ET
- Wednesday, May 22: Closing Session at 9:00 a.m. ET
Resources will be made available in both English and Spanish.
The Pet Food Manufacturers Association is asking pet owners in the UK to take part in its "Weigh in Wednesday" campaign, which began May 8, in an effort to encourage pet owners to help their pets lose weight and become healthier.
The campaign comes after new research from the association shows the mismatch between pet owners' perceptions of their pet's body condition and the reality of it. The campaign encourages pet owners to identify their pet's body condition and then work towards the ideal body condition. Pet owners can chart their pet's progress using specially designed tools and share their experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #weighinweds. The campaign involves all those in the pet industry, including pet owners, petfood manufacturers, groomers and animal welfare groups.
According to veterinarian Zara Boland: “The issue of obesity is rapidly reaching a crisis point. Obesity has been linked to health conditions such as diabetes and heart disease, whilst it’s inflammatory effect is known to worsen problems like arthritis. With estimates of up to 50 percent of pets exceeding their ideal body condition and recent reports highlighting that 18.5 million dogs and cats in the UK are regularly fed inappropriate diets, the need for pet owner’s education and positive action is now. Collectively we can achieve far more than working alone.”
Aller Petfood Group reported earnings of DKK14 million (US$2.5 million) at the end of fiscal 2012, up from DKK9 million (US$1.6 million) in 2011.
The petfood company's success is attributed to strong market share in the private-label market, where the company says it owns 50 percent in Russia.
”We have stuck to our strategy, optimised production, expanded the organisation and improved our sales and performance,” said CEO Henriette Bylling. ”Consumers have become more prudent and appreciate good quality ingredients. Their dogs and cats are part of the family and, just like the rest of the family members, must have a good and nutritious diet. Despite the economic crisis, consumers have become more quality conscious. However, they have found out that they can get high quality at a reasonable price, and this is exactly what we deliver, and it is a major reason for our success."
Pethealth Inc. published aggregate results for its third online survey of new cat and dog adopters. The April 2013 Adopter Survey revisits and provides an update on the company's first survey on petfood and pet specialty retail purchasing behavior of new pet adopters, published in May 2012.
The survey aimed to determine the difference in purchasing behavior between those who adopt from an animal welfare organization and those who adopt a pet from the same organization's satellite location within a pet specialty retailer; determine if shelter petfood programs, which feature the distribution of free bags of petfood to new adopters, create loyalty among adopters for those brands, and if animal welfare organizations or pet specialty retailers have a greater impact on that brand's loyalty; and determine the degree to which pet adopters purchase pet supplies and petfood items online.
The survey found that about 83 percent of pet adoptions took place in animal welfare organizations, nearly unchanged from a year ago. At the point of adoption, 33 percent of pet owners said they were provided a bag of complimentary petfood, 5.2 percent of which said they were subsequently contacted by the petfood company. Of those who received complimentary food, Hill's Science again remained the leader at 45 percent.
However, 78 percent of respondents indicated that they now purchase a different brand of petfood from what they were provided at the time of adoption. Purina continued to lead as the top food manufacturer with pet adopters, 16.7 percent of whom indicated they feed newly adopted pets Purina Pro Plan or Purina ONE, followed by Science Diet (11.8 percent) and Blue Buffalo (9.4 percent).
More than 7,000 pet owners completed the survey. Survey respondents included new adopters of dogs and cats during the 13-month period from March 2012-13.
