Walmart launches new ultra-premium dry dog food line

Walmart is launching its own line of ultra-premium dry dog food to compete directly with specialty pet product retailers such as PetSmart and Petco.
The new brand, Pure Balance, is an expansion of Walmart's Ol' Roy brand of dog food that is currently sold and is expected to appear on store shelves in the coming weeks. The Pure Balance line will include a chicken and brown rice variety and a lamb and brown rice variety, which will be sold in 30-, 15- and 5-pound bags. Walmart says the new brand contains no chicken by-products, as well as no soy, wheat or corn additives, artificial colors and preservatives.

TV vet Joe Inglis launches line of dry petfoods, sauce supplements

Joe Inglis, founder of the Campaign for Real Pet Food, launched his own range of dry petfoods and pet supplements called Vet’s Kitchen.
The supplement line includes an "Active Joints" chicken sauce recipe in 300 ml squeeze bottles and two more sauce-supplements that will be launched in November. Concentrated dry dog food recipes include Puppy; Adult Chicken & Brown Rice, Adult Salmon & Potato and Senior and Light. Dry cat food recipes include Adult Chicken & Brown Rice and Adult Salmon & Rice.
“The development of the range has been based on extensive consumer and market analysis, which identified four key trends in the pet food market – a trend to dry, a trend to superpremium, a trend to natural and a trend to additional supplementation for specific health conditions – which led to our core consumer proposition,” said Inglis, former Blue Peter veterinarian and presenter on The One Show on BBC 1 channel.

Evanger's launches 2011 calendar contest for best pet photos

Evanger's Dog and Cat Food Co. is now accepting photographs for its 2011 annual nationwide pets calendar contest.
The company will choose 12 winners as "pet of the month," with winners selected for featured spreads under the calendar themes of Evanger's sport exhibitors, service dogs, rescued pets and most creative pet photo. The 12 winners will receive Evanger's Super Premium canned and dry petfood and a 2011 calendar.
To submit photos for the contest, send a high-resolution image as an E-mail attachment to contest@evangersdogfood.com by Monday, September 20 at 6 pm Eastern Standard Time (US). In the E-mail, write "2011 Contest" in the subject line and include the following information in the body: applicant's name, photographer's name, names of all pets in the photo, address, phone number and theme the entry is being submitted for.

Two sides to petfood safety

It seems every day brings notice of a new petfood recall due to potential Salmonella contamination. Most people in the industry would tell you this is not because petfood manufacturers are making more unsafe products or not following safety or hygiene protocols; rather, it's because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has greatly stepped up its inspections (many unannounced) of manufacturing facilities and rules on reporting the findings from those inspections.
And with Salmonella and all its various strains being among the organisms that are nearly always present in minute amounts, it's very likely to show up in an inspection, even if it's nowhere near the raw materials, processing areas or finished products and even if the amount present is nowhere near enough to cause any sort of problem.
We all know food safety is of the utmost importance and that consumers demand not just the highest levels of safety but also transparency and communication about it. This is especially true in petfood since the massive 2007 recalls in the US. Though those were caused by intentional adulteration with melamine, a substance that normally does not even enter the same conversation as petfood, the 2007 situation made pet owners, especially in the US, keenly aware of what goes into their furry charges' food and how it's made.
But are the stepped-up inspections and reporting regulations a classic case of overkill? One industry member says many small companies don't have the costs to meet the increased regulations built into their business models and even larger companies that can afford the latest equipment, programs and consultants will never recoup their costs, though they'll likely try by raising the prices of their products. Will that cause upscale pet owners--who to date have proven wonderfully recession resistant--to finally say "enough!" and draw the line at what they'll pay for a bag of superpremium dog food?
What's your experience and opinion on ensuring safety without breaking the bank?

Bil-Jac Foods releases book about company’s founder

Manufacturer of superpremium dog foods and treats Bil-Jac Foods is launching its first book, Feeding Champions: The Story of Bil-Jac, The Life and Passion of Bill Kelly in bookstores nationwide on April 1.
The new book gives a history of dog food in America and the story of founder Bill Kelly’s passion for dog nutrition.