The Honest Kitchen releases short film about petfood brand

The Honest Kitchen, a producer of human-grade petfood products, released a short brand film, in which employees' own pets deliver the company message by "talking" about ingredients, procurement, production and quality control.
The short film is shot inside The Honest Kitchen's company headquarters and on the streets of San Diego, California, USA, and was produced by Emota, a local digital story-telling agency. The film centers on the company's human-grade petfoods and also discusses health effects from other diets. 
"We really felt that allowing our office dogs to do the talking would be a unique and fun way to get our story across," commented company founder and CEO, Lucy Postins. "Our pets are the focus of everything we do at The Honest Kitchen. They're the reason we choose to invest in better quality human-grade ingredients, and why we produce our recipes in a human food facility. The choices we make around product integrity and quality are centered squarely, around what is right for the health and wellbeing of pets because we believe they deserve to eat proper food that's healthy, natural and honest. So it makes perfect sense that they should be the ones to convey our message."

Pet Food Experts to build new distribution center in Pennsylvania, USA

Pet Food Experts, a distributor of petfood and suppies, announced plans to develop a 170,000-square-foot facility on 18.9 acres at 561 S. Muddy Creek Road in Denver, Pennsylvania, USA.
Glenn J. Frill, president of professional design and construction, said that while the building's footprint will be 170,000 square feet, a mezzanine would boost the total square footage to 197,000 square feet. The building is being designed so it could be expanded by an additional 58,000 square feet, said Frill.
All 30 of Pet Food Experts' current local workforce will be offered jobs at the new location, and once the new building is complete, at least 30 new jobs will be added, said Jim Alden, CFO.
The larger distribution center will accommodate Pet Food Experts' expanding portfolio of pet food brands.
Pet Food Experts hopes to settle on its purchase of the property and break ground on the project soon, with completion set for late 2014.

AFIA comments on FSMA at public meeting

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) on November 21 along with 90 other industry members attended the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) Public Meeting to provide industry feedback on the proposed rule to establish current good manufacturing practice and hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for animal food.
The meeting, held in College Park, Maryland, USA, was the first of three nationwide to be hosted by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to answer questions and take part in dialogue surrounding the proposed animal food rule. The other two FSMA Public Meetings will be hosted in Chicago, Illinois, USA, on November 25 and in Sacramento, California, USA, on December 6.
Richard Sellers, AFIA senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, spoke on behalf of AFIA, stating that the organization and industry's main worry is the court-mandated comment period. 
According to Sellers: "This industry has never seen the magnitude of such rulemaking with such a major impact on all of the feed industry. We are expected to review, answer questions and provide comments in just over four months. In fact, except for medicated feed, this industry has never seen good manufacturing practices regulations, and FDA is proposing to implement those, as well as hazard analysis and risk based preventive controls in a very short timeframe. We think FDA and the industry will have their hands quite full in the next decade implementing these rules."
FDA has filed an appeal in attempt for an extension for the comment submission time frame, but AFIA believes an extension is unlikely based on previous appeal attempts in similar scenarios. 
Sellers commented to the panel that AFIA hopes "FDA prevails on appeal of this unrealistic comment timeline. Please note, FDA took almost two years to draft the rules, held a back and forth with the Office of Management and Budget for some 11 months and now expects the feed industry to review them and provide comments in some 14 weeks."
A separate concern Sellers stated at the meeting are the similarities between the proposed animal feed rule and the human food rule. He said although the FSMA language divides the two, there are too many references and requirements that lead AFIA to think FDA does not understand the congressional intent to separate human and animal food requirements.  
"We hope you will hear from Congress during this rulemaking, as some of the provisions in the proposed rules have requirements with little or no benefit from this overzealous approach to impose human food requirements on the animal feed industry," remarked Sellers. "We hope FDA will reign in its approach and publish a final rule that recognizes the clear food/feed risks and goals for human food products and animal food products and establishments and how these differ. At some point, it makes sense to separate human and animal food in the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. We have begun talking with our attorneys about these changes."
Sellers stated the proposed rule will be difficult for feed mills nationwide to implement, especially given the short time frame of one to three years based on business size to do so. 
"What does concern us is the likelihood that a majority of the feed mills, not the majority of the feed tonnage, will have much difficulty in understanding, crafting programs and fully implementing these rules," Sellers said. "In my 85 presentations across the U.S. in the past three years about this law, facilities in the heartland that are small to medium operations have the most difficulty understanding these concepts.  One, two and three years may not be sufficient time to fully implement the final rules, but we'll be back to FDA with data and rationale if we need additional time."
AFIA proposes FDA use a phase-in on continued good manufacturing practices (cGMP) for one year and then add preventive control rules on a two to four year phase-in pose final rule publication allowing for better compliance.
In his comments Sellers applauded FDA for drafting a "fairly well-constructed set of rules," stating AFIA "believes these rules provide a clear guidepost for compliance that can coalesce the feed industry around a basic feed safety standard." He added the organization is pleased to be involved with the Animal Feed Steering Committee on the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance and offers FDA assistance in AFIA's expertise moving forward. 

Guinness World Record for 'largest petfood package in the world' set by SPF-Diana

SPF-Diana and customers set the Guiness World Record for "the largest petfood package in the world."
At its recent IV Latin American Symposium event held in Águas de São Pedro, Brazil, SPF-Diana and its customers broke a record for "the largest petfood package in the world," certified by Guinness World Records.
The petfood package, at 3 meters (9.8 feet) high and 1.78 meters (5.8 feet) tall wide, was specifically created for the event with the support of ABINPET, the Brazilian Industry Association of Pet Products, and Incoplast, a Brazilian packaging company.
Attendees were able to put their dog kibbles inside the bag, helping to achieve a record 563.2-kilogram (1,240-pound) petfood bag. At the end of the symposium, the petfood collected in the bag was donated to the dog shelter of Descalvado/SP community, the city where the SPF-Diana Brazilian facility is located. 
"Until now nobody was able to establish a record due to the difficulty of the challenge. SPF-Diana has shown great creativity and innovation…and relied on their clients, representatives of the petfood industry from across Latin America, to help them achieve this new goal...We, Guinness World Records, were delighted to see this level of participation from the members of the reunion," said Ralph Hannah, adjudications executive at Guinness World Records. "We also fully support, and encourage, SPF-Diana decision to donate the collected petfood…it will benefit hundreds of stray dogs in the area." 

Maryland passes petfood fee to support spay-neuter assistance programs

In Maryland, USA, state legislation SB 820 was passed in 2013, imposing a fee on petfood to fund a statewide spay-neuter program to help low-income communities. The bill passed overwhelmingly in both houses, despite opposition from the petfood industry, and was signed by Gov. Martin O'Malley to take effect October 1. 
Proponents of the legislation argued that a survey of public opinion showed a majority of pet owners in the state favored the "petfood tax" to support spay-neuter programs. However, a recent blog on the subject notes, similar legislation was defeated in Oregon and West Virginia, USA, after social media campaigns targeted pet owners and urged legislators to defeat it.
The approved fee in Maryland did not have a social media campaign, and unlike the proposed fee in Orgeon, which would have financed state agriculture programs for food animal production, it mandates funds are used only on spay-neuter initiatives for companion animals. 

Combination of five packaging companies unveils new COVERIS name

Exopack Holdings S.A., formed in May by the combination of five packaging companies in North America and Europe, unveiled "COVERIS" as the organization's new name. COVERIS is the sixth-largest global plastics packaging company, with revenues in excess of US$2.5 billion and operations in 21 countries. The company, an affiliated portfolio company of Sun Capital Partners, Inc., produces flexible and rigid plastic and paper packaging, as well as advanced coatings.
"Today's rebranding announcement marks an important milestone for us, signifying the successful integration of five packaging companies into a global industry leader," said Jack Knott, CEO. "More than a global business, COVERIS is a 'multi-local' business partner, close to our customers in many regions and markets around the world. We're confident that the COVERIS name will become synonymous with our passion for excellence in high-performance packaging products that add value to our customers' products and businesses."
The selection of COVERIS comes after a thorough process to create a new brand identity that would differentiate the company in the marketplace, the company says. The new COVERIS graphic identity and website will be rolled out over the next few months.
In May 2013, US-based Exopack joined with four European packaging companies-Britton Group, PACCOR, Kobusch, and Paragon Print & Packaging. The combined businesses have operated as one global entity under Exopack Holdings S.A., although the five brand names remained in use. Going forward, the COVERIS brand will ultimately be used for all of the company's operations.
COVERIS also implemented a new organizational structure to optimize delivery of service to global customers and enhance the company's investments in technologies and people. The Global Flexibles business is now organized in two markets, Europe and North America, with three main product lines: Food & Consumer, Industrials and Advanced Coatings. The Global Rigid business is organized by geographic markets serving mainly customers in Europe.
"Uniting all of our operations as COVERIS is much more than just a name change," said Michael Cronin, CEO of the Global Flexibles business. "It enables us to more efficiently deploy our technology and capabilities to our customers in every market, and is a clear indicator of our commitment to upholding the highest standards of excellence in all of our working relationships."
Since combining, the companies that now comprise COVERIS have integrated back-office functions and have made new investments to strengthen the company's IT infrastructure. The businesses recently unified under a single financial structure.

AFIA, NGFA to host free FSMA webinar on December 11

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and Feedstuffs will host a free webinar from 2-5 p.m. EST on December 11, which will address current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) and hazard analysis and risk-based preventive controls for food for animals.
Registration for the webinar, Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) - What You Need to Know Current Good Manufacturing Practice and Hazard Analysis and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Food for Animals, is available for free online.
The webinar will cover information published in the Federal Register October 29. The release marks the latest set of proposed rules issued by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to implement FSMA.
"The proposed preventive control rule for animal feed and petfood is another important step in FDA's ongoing implementation of FSMA," said David Fairfield, NGFA vice president of feed services. "This webinar will help those impacted gain a better understanding of the proposed requirements."
Key questions that will be answered during the webinar include:
•     When will the rule be effective?
•     How are different sized companies impacted?
•     What CGMP are proposed; who needs to comply?
•     What needs to be in my written hazard identification and preventive controls plan?
•     How do I develop preventive controls for the facility?
Richard Sellers, AFIA senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, said, "These rules will have a major impact on our members. In the webinar, we will help attendees create a plan to implement the preventive control rules."
Featured speakers are:
•     Richard Sellers, senior vice president, legislative and regulatory affairs, AFIA
•     David Fairfield, vice president, feed services, NGFA
•     Jolyda Swaim, principal attorney, and John Dillard, associate attorney, OFW Law
•     Dr. Daniel G. McChesney, director of the Office of Surveillance and Compliance, FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine.