Pet Product News - January 2017

Made Versus Sourced
In response to consumer demand, more pet edibles manufacturers
detail their product ingredients’ origins, processing and handling.

BY WENDY BEDWELL-WILSON

Ingredient sourcing matters in pet foods that bear the made in the USA label.

Retailers and their customers want to know where each and every component originated— and more and more product manufacturers are responding with transparency about their ingredients, where they came from and how they were handled.

“Our biggest request is for the
edibles to be sourced and made
in the USA,” said Terry Brlecic,
co-owner of Pet Things in Doug-
lasville, Ga. “We are getting more
folks asking us to find products
made locally in treats, foods and
nonconsumables. When we were
at SuperZoo, we found many of
the manufacturers were aware
that the end consumers were in-
terested in having the products
their pets use and eat made in
the USA. Most were working on
getting to that goal.”
Lorin Grow, owner of Furry
Face in Redlands, Calif., agreed,
but she noted that some in the
industry aren’t as forthcoming
as others.

“Consumers are most concerned that all foods and treats be sourced and made in the U.S.,” she said. “This almost always means it not be China-made or -sourced. If it comes from another country other than China, most consumers seem to be OK with that. Manufacturers run the gamut from extremely transparent, open and truthful all the way to deliberate obfuscation, creatively constructed verbiage and, often, outright lying. As a retailer, I require complete transparency by manufacturers or we can’t do business together.”

LABELS AND CLAIMS

Both the Association of American
Feed Control Officials (AAFCO)
and the Federal Trade Commis-
sion (FTC) have regulations in
place that require manufacturers
that use the made-in-the-USA
claim to be able to prove it.

For instance, the FTC’s web-
site states, “For a product to
be called made in the USA or
claimed to be of domestic origin
without qualifications or limits
on the claim, the product must be
‘all or virtually all’ made in the
U.S. … ‘All or virtually all’ means
that all significant parts and pro-
cessing that go into the product
must be of U. S. origin. That is, the
product should contain no—or
negligible—foreign content.”
Adrian Pettyan, CEO and
co-founder of Caru Pet Food in
Vero Beach, Fla., said AAFCO re-
quires something similar on pet
food labels claiming products are
made in the USA.

“According to the American
Association of Feed Control Of-
ficials, all or virtually all signif-
icant parts and processing that
go into a product must be of
U.S. origin,” he said. “Now that
manufacturers are more closely
monitored by the pet communi-
ty, some of them are working to
fully comply.”

INGREDIENT TRACEABILITY

By law, companies must sub-
stantiate their claims, and
above-the-board food makers
are doing so by carefully track-
ing where they get their ingre-
dients and sharing that infor-
mation with their vendors.

“Manufacturers are paying increasingly greater attention to ingredient supply line traceability,” said Bill Chilian, marketing vice president at Barkworthies in Richmond, Va. “An ever-growing segment of shoppers wants to know precisely where the edibles they feed their pets are being sourced. These trends, which are part of a mass migration toward

SELLING USA SOURCED AND MADE

Manufacturers offer inspiration for merchandising made in the USA pet edibles.

Section within a section: “The best advice I can offer retailers is to establish a special made in USA products section within a category aisle, whether they’re merchandising consumable or durable products,” said Bill Chilian, marketing vice president at Barkworthies in Richmond, Va. “That will help busy shoppers quickly locate the safe, high-quality products they want.”

Utilize endcaps: “We recommend pulling together a specific made in the USA section near the register or on an endcap,” said Adrian Pettyan, CEO and co-founder of Caru Pet Food in Vero Beach, Fla. “It allows store owners and employees to openly discuss these products and lead customers to this section with ease.”

Educate your staff: “The savvy retailer is the one who has an educated staff that can point to three or four products that could match the customer’s need and be able to explain what makes each brand different,” said Bette Schubert, co-founder and senior vice president of sales for Bravo Pet Foods in Manchester, Conn. “Retailers who can do that successfully are not only going to get the sale, but they’re going to earn customer satisfaction and loyalty.”

Communicate clearly: “The vast majority of pet parents are aware that safer, more responsibly sourced products are the best choice for their pets,” Pettyan said. “Our job is to reinforce this message through every medium available, from social networking to television commercials to pet-centric events.”