Evermore Pet Food earns top dog food review, expands retail network

Evermore Pet Food announced that since partnering with Rhode Island, USA-based distributor Pet Food Experts in May 2011, the pet food company has quadrupled its accounts.
Evermore says its network now includes retailers in Maine, USA, and Pet Sage in Virginia, USA. Following being granted the Animal Wellness Magazine seal of approval in August 2011, the pet food company also says it earned its first five-star review on dog food review website Dog Food Advisor in December 2011.

Food Safety Validation team presented on safety of low-moisture pet foods

Members of a food safety validation team met at the 2012 edition of the Global Food Safety Initiative's Global Food Safety Conference, February 14-17, in Orlando, Florida, USA, to give a presentation on food safety of low-moisture foods, including pet food.
The Food Safety Validation team presented to the GFSI board, including representatives from Yum! Brands, Walmart, petfood manufacturer Cargill, Danone, Kroger, COFCO Corp. (China), Tyson Foods and others. Steve Akins of Petfood Industry magazine began the presentation with an overview of the team and its members, made up of representatives from Extru-Tech Inc., Del Monte Foods, Food Safety Validation LLC and Petfood Industry magazine.
Norm Schmitt of Extru-Tech presented the team’s goals and how they align with those of the GFSI. These goals are to reduce food safety risk and build on the competency of workers responsible for ensuring food safety, with a focus on low-moisture foods including petfood and pet treats that are manufactured using extrusion and baking and drying processes. Schmitt said the team aims to enhance existing food safety programs, increase food safety awareness across the food industry, reduce the number of recalls and strengthen consumer trust.
David Anderson of Del Monte Foods provided a description of the team’s extrusion equipment enhancements and plant layout and safety changes. Anderson and Schmitt also spoke about the team’s upcoming milestones, such as planned May 2012 extrusion thermal process validation testing on an Extru-Tech production machine.
Finally, Frank Yiannas, GFSI board vice chairman and Walmart’s vice president of food safety and health, encouraged retailer promotion of low-moisture food safety, including in the fast-growing petfood market, through universal adoption of the GFSI standards and a common validation approach. 

Pet Food Institute urged state Senate committee to strip pet food tax provisions from bill

The Pet Food Institute expressed its appreciation to the West Virginia, USA, Senate Agriculture Committee for amending a bill to remove pet food tax provisions.
The Senate Agriculture Committee passed an amended version of S.B. 479 that removed the pet food tax provisions, which would have funded a spay and neuter assistance program with supplemental money from the fee increase on pet food retailers and distributors, the group says. Instead, the bill now funds the program through the general state budget, and supplemental revenue is raised through an income tax refund checkoff. As part of its initiative to fight the petfood tax provisions, the Pet Food Institute launched a Facebook campaign called "Save our Pets from Onerous Taxes," which the group says received the support of more than 1,300 Facebook users within the first two days of being created.  “It is not fair to tax responsible pet owners to fix a situation they did not create. We are grateful that the concerns of West Virginians were heard and that the unfair tax provisions were stripped from S.B. 479,” said Duane Ekedahl, president. “Every state that has debated a proposal to tax petfood to fund spay/neuter programs ultimately rejected a tax on pet food. Now West Virginia joins that list.” 

Obese dogs may have lower vitality, more pain, UK study shows

Researchers at the University of Liverpool in the UK recently conducted a study to determine the effect of weight loss on obese dogs.
The study enrolled 50 obese dogs of various breeds and genders at the University's Royal Canin Weight Management Clinic. Prior to the attempted weight loss, dog owners completed a questionnaire on categories such as activity, pain, aggression, sociability, anxiety, happiness, mobility and enthusiasm.
The weight loss program involved feeding the dogs either a high-protein, high-fiber dog food or a high-protein, moderate-fiber food, along with making changes in exercise. To determine the amount of food to give to each dog, the investigators estimated the maintenance energy requirement using target weight and factors such as gender and presence of associated diseases. During the course of the study, 30 of the dogs reached their target, with an average weight-loss percentage of 24.4% of their starting weight. Following the study, owners again completed a questionnaire, from which results were evaluated based on the dogs' vitality, emotional disturbance and pain. The study found that all of the dogs that lost weight experienced an improvement in quality of life, as judged by improvements in vitality scores and lower scores for emotional disturbance and pain. Dogs that did not attain their ideal weight after the survey had lower vitality scores and higher emotional disturbance scores. “This research indicates that, for obese dogs, weight loss can be important for staying both healthy and happy,” said Dr. Alexander German from the University of Liverpool. “Obesity is a risk for many dogs, affecting not only their health, but also their quality of life."

Interzoo cautions exhibitors of EU pet food importation requirements

Interzoo show organizers are encouraging exhibitors for the pet product show to check in well ahead of the May event to ensure the pet food from their country is allowed to be imported into the EU and Germany and avoid problems with Border Inspection Posts.
According to show organizers, in principle, food for pets and ornamental fish that contains animal by-products may only be imported from third countries that meet requirements of the valid version of Chapter II Section 1, Table 2, No. 12 of Regulation (EC) 142/2011. In exceptional cases, companies can apply for an import license if petfood from unlisted third countries and companies is to be imported for exhibition purposes only, which requires the petfood must be rendered harmless and disposed of at the importer's cost at the end of the exhibition. The pet product exhibition's organizers say each consignment of petfood must be registered for inspection by the official veterinarian at an approved Border Inspection Post by submitting a Common Veterinary Entry Document, at least one working day in advance, in accordance with Regulation (EC) 136/2004.  

Pets live longer as veterinary care advances

Since 2001, nearly 1,000 people have applied to Guinness World Records with claims to have the oldest pet for its species, says a recent FT Magazine article that looks into the growing obsession with pets' ages.  
With overall pet spending in the US of more than US$50 billion in 2011, according to the American Pet Products Association, pets are being treated to better veterinary care as owners become more attached to their pets and try to keep them alive as long as possible.
“During the 20th century, human life expectancy increased 30 percent, [due to] clean food, water, hygiene. The same thing has happened, no doubt, to pets,” says Steven Austad, a professor and expert in ageing at the University of Texas. “The feeling is that pet animals are living longer,” says Dan Brockman, a professor at the Royal Veterinary College. “We certainly see more old cats in particular, and old dogs. The three cornerstones are the genetic coding, better understanding of nutritional needs and the care [the animals] receive.” 

Polish market for dog, cat food worth more than PLN1 billion (US$2.15 billion) in 2011

Reports estimate the value of Poland's petfood market for cat and dog food products surpassed PLN1 billion (US$3.15 billion) in 2011, an increase of 7% year-on-year, which has one petfood manufacturer looking to capture a largest market share.
Currently, petfood manufacturers Mars and Nestle are the largest in the Polish market.
But, Polish food company Mispol may be looking to invest, according to president Petras Jasinskas, who expects Poland's petfood market will grow by an additional 10% in 2012. The company has not yet disclosed the amount it plans to invest.