Agenda & Speakers

8:30 - 9:30

Registration and check-in

9:30 - 10:15

Welcome and opening session: Global and Asian pet food market update: the power of online shopping
Sunny Kyungsun Moon, food and nutrition consultant for Euromonitor International Korea
Moon explains the rising influence of e-commerce in the Asian pet food market, particularly among consumers in China and Korea. Plus, she provides an update on the global and Asian pet food markets overall, including key data and trends driving growth.

10:15 - 10:55

At the crossroads of pet food brand and product
Marcel Blok, owner of Change Stranamics
Blok puts marketing back into its proper and rightful place in the business process by highlighting how brand and product interrelate and are interdependent, using a hypothetical case study. In addition, he explains why brand and product are different in online and offline channels, with the choice for distribution also defining the development of brand and product, and why understanding the trends behind the trends can help make your brand and product special, not just different.

10:55 - 11:30

Coffee break

11:30 - 12:10

Eco-design: a practical method to sustainably innovate in pet food 
Aurélie De Ratuld, Ph.D., CSR director for Diana Petfood
De Ratuld introduces a new approach for developing sustainable pet food products that takes into account their environmental performance through tools such as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-Design Matrix. Pet food manufacturers wishing to address sustainability must now consider their products in the whole value chain, from the extraction of raw materials through to processing, transportation, usage and up to end-of-life of the packaging. LCA identifies the environmental critical points of a product, while the Eco-Design Matrix assesses and improves the environmental performances of palatants focusing on sourcing.

12:10 - 12:50

Reducing waste in extruder treat production 
Paul Morlock, managing director, and Matthew Cottam, engineering director, for Frazer-Nash Manufacturing
Morlock and Cottam examine the sources of waste in the extrusion of treats and what can be done to minimize or eliminate them. Variability in processing, particularly extruder output, is often poorly controlled or understood, but can be mechanically controlled without individual flow restrictors and manual intervention, thus lowering process variability costs.

12:50 - 14:00

Lunch

14:00 - 14:40

Sustainability as a key driver of innovation: How can pet food become a game changer?
Paola Cane, Ph.D., CEO of Mia Solution
Cane provides information to support companies in setting their strategic direction by looking to sustainability as a possible differentiator that is able to attract consumer trust and tie business growth to communities and the environment. Her presentation addresses developing consistent environmental and social claims and ensuring they are appropriate, effective and able to assess compliance. The recent consumer demand for more sustainable products is evident, and the quest for sustainability is already starting to transform the competitive landscape in many industrial sectors, forcing companies to change the way they think about products, technologies, processes and business models.

14:40 - 15:20

Kibble disc size and its effect on feline palatability 
Kristopher Figge, senior technical sales manager, and Greg Hibbard, customer engagement scientist, for AFB International
Figge and Hibbard present ongoing research focusing on feline palatability. This latest study sought to understand and evaluate the potential effect of kibble disc size on cat palatability, following up on previous research showing that this disc shape was preferred most by cats.

15:20 -15:45

Coffee break

15:45 - 16:25

Comprehensive review of the impacts of animal proteins in pet food 
Will Henry, director of technology/R&D for Extru-Tech Inc.
Henry discusses in detail the multiple aspects of how pet food diets with above-normal inclusion rates of fresh meat impact the development, production and commercialization of the finished products. Drawing on first-hand experience and actual commercial results from private-label pet food founders, he focuses on the challenges and benefits of bringing these products to market.

16:25 - 17:05

Pet food safety management systems: introducing one system for all needs 
David Rosenblatt, DVM, director of learning for Sher Consulting and Training
Rosenblatt explains new 2019 requirements of FSSC 22000 (version 5), which is based on ISO 22000:2018, and how these requirements can be efficiently and effectively aligned with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requirements for animal feed as set forth in the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA). This understanding will enable pet food manufacturers to make better decisions while satisfying the expectations of top management, customers and regulators, while also better competing in the international market and lowering their chances of facing a pet food safety incident.