Dog and cat food manufacturers encounter many challenges when producing high-quality, safe pet food as consumer expectations continue to increase and regulatory requirements shift.
Petfood Forum 2024 speakers dive into the latest pet food safety and regulatory updates.
Tuesday, April 30 | Concurrent session: Pet food safety and regulatory updates
>> Sponosored by Ecolab
- 1:30-1:55 — Novel method to decontaminate dry, fresh or frozen pet food — Keith Warriner, Ph.D., professor, Department of Food Science, University of Guelph
- 2:00-2:25 — Pet food FSMA compliance: Glance to the past, look to the future — Tim Lombardo, senior director for food consulting services, EAS Consulting Group
- 3:00-4:10 — Regulatory roundtable:
- 3:00-3:20 — Current state of animal feed additive regulations for pet food — Louise Calderwood, director of regulatory affairs, American Feed Industry Association
- 3:25-3:45 — Navigating state-to-state pet food licensing and regulations — Stephanie Ugalde, regulatory compliance manager, Merieux Nutrisciences
- 3:50-4:10 — Modernizing pet food regulation — Dana Brooks, president and CEO, Pet Food Institute
What significance does the concept behind your presentation have on the pet food industry?
Keith Warriner
The raw pet food sector has experienced several outbreaks and recalls in recent times due to contamination by Salmonella. This has led to a negative perception of the safety of raw pet foods leading to experts and competent authorities to recommend that susceptible pet owners avoid using the product. The gas phase-hydroxyl radical process is currently applied in a diverse range of applications from decontaminating frozen berries to hatchery eggs. Therefore, the proven technology will provide a risk management tool to ensure raw pet food products are safe thereby protecting, if not expanding markets.
Learn more about Keith’s presentation >
Tim Lombardo
Recent surveys have shown that 70% of all US homes have at least one pet, compared to 40% of US homes with at least one child under 18 years old. Indeed, 95% of respondents consider their pet to be a member of the family and 91% state that they spend more on a quality food for their pet. As consumer expectations of pet food continue to increase, regulatory focus and enforcement in pet food has also increased. Understanding and addressing previous regulatory findings will allow companies to avoid future scrutiny.
Learn more about Tim’s presentation >
Louise Calderwood
Products considered for regulation as zootechnical animal food additives can provide benefits to pets such as assisting metabolism, supporting optimal gut function and stimulating the immune system.
Learn more about Louise’s presentation >
Stephanie Ugalde
Registrations and related regulations between states are not consistent and change without proper notice, therefore management and logistics whilst keeping up to date with developments is imperative. Missing deadlines, submitting incomplete documents, amongst many other variables potentially become more costly for the business.
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Dana Brooks
Transition the regulation of pet food from a patchwork of state government approach to one authority housed under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) leadership that would provide clear and transparent national regulation for dog and cat foods.
PFI’s mission is to support the pet food industry by advocating for transparent, science-based regulation. We are proud to work on initiatives that would benefit pet food makers, pet owners, and pets.
