Record number attend sessions on market trends, sustainable pet food formulations and packaging and the buzz around biotics.
Nearly 500 pet food industry professionals recently came together to hear the latest in pet food innovation, sustainability and emerging trends impacting the industry at the American Feed Industry Association’s (AFIA) 17th annual Pet Food Conference, held during the 2024 International Production & Processing Expo. Dog Bed Black
“This year’s AFIA Pet Food Conference brought together a record number of attendees, showcasing the pet food industry’s commitment to learning more about how they can innovate and become more sustainable to address future pet nutrition challenges,” said Louise Calderwood, AFIA’s director of regulatory affairs. “This year’s speaker lineup certainly provoked us to think bigger about how we approach current realities and latch on to future opportunities in the industry.”
The conference included sessions on global market trends, sustainable pet food formulations and packaging, industry impacts on climate change and the buzz around biotics. In addition, the conference hosted a panel discussion with two distinguished guests, Ambassador Doug McKalip, chief agricultural negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative, and Alexis Taylor, under secretary for trade and foreign agricultural affairs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The panel discussion brought about lively conversations surrounding the intersection between agriculture and trade policy and how pet food manufacturers can get more involved in educating foreign buyers about their products.
“Looking at the big picture, product and formulation personalization, products that are natural and easy for the consumer to understand and, of course, sustainability are all trends that are important for the pet food industry,” said Lynn Dornblaser, director of innovation and insight at Mintel. “Pet owners want to know what’s in a product, why it’s in it and how it got there.”
The AFIA Pet Food Committee, which is tasked with building the conference agenda every year, invited four graduate students to present on current research within the pet food industry. The research topics included, “Yeast-based Ingredient Affects Canine Gastrointestinal Microbiata Fermentation Dynamics,” “Situational Analysis for Consumer-Focused Sorghum in North American Pet Foods,” “Effects of Reformulation of a Crystalline Amino Acid Reference Diet in Dogs to Determine Protein Quality of Ingredients,” and “Pet Food Producers’ Perception of Sorghum as an Ingredient in Pet Food/Treats.”
The AFIA also announced Angele Thomas, Ph.D., founder and president of Thompson PetTech, as the recipient of its 2024 Friend of Pet Food Award.
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