Petfood Forum recently spoke with Aurélie de Ratuld, CSR Director for Diana Pet Food, to learn more about her 2021 Petfood Forum presentation. Aurélie will speak on on lifecycle assessment and eco-design of pet food products during the “Sustainability in pet food” concurrent sessions on Thursday, September 23, at 3:10-4:15 pm. Register here to learn from Aurélie, and 30+ other industry experts.
During this session, Aurélie 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.
Petfood Forum: Why are sustainable pet food products critical to the industry’s growth?
Aurélie: With an increasing pet and human population, feeding everyone everywhere on the planet will be challenging, especially with a pet parent population demanding high-quality standards for pet food. In addition, global warming may introduce uncertainty in resource availability and force the need for better food chain wastes management. Moreover, the sanitary crisis we have recently experienced – creating difficulties for the industry to get ingredients from other countries and animal based material shortage – showed that it is time to source differently.
Petfood Forum: How can manufacturers move beyond sustainable ingredients to a fully sustainable value chain?
Aurélie: We have to make it logically simple: being close to raw materials and close to the markets to avoid transportation, push side streams valorization, turn when possible to vegetal originating raw materials and ingredients. All of this without forgetting cats’ and dogs’ nutritional needs and sensorial preferences.
Petfood Forum: What is the #1 initiative a pet food manufacturer can take now to begin developing a sustainable process?
Aurélie: Sustainability is often linked to efficiency. Focusing first on energy efficiency is important and can help to avoid a lot of direct GHGs emissions or water usage when scarcity occurs. Efficiency programs can be held in every manufacturing site and benefit from global programs to enrich each other: Zero Waste, Waste valorization, and green energy, for instance.
Petfood Forum: What is your next vacation plan now that we’re coming out of lockdowns?
Aurélie: As usual, I plan to sail with my family on the south coast of Brittany in France. We also fish for our food and when we are lucky, enjoy lobsters, crabs, mackerels or sea bass! No fossil energy, only local food, just what we need.
About Petfood Forum
The 2021 edition of Petfood Forum is scheduled for September 22-24 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Petfood Forum includes an agenda packed with opportunities to network and collaborate with industry professionals, learn the latest in pet food innovation and discover new tools for business success.
