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Petfood Essentials 2025 will tackle one of the hottest topics in pet food: sustainability. Petfood Essentials is scheduled for April 28 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, followed by Petfood Forum on April 29-30.
“As with most industries and categories, sustainability in pet food is becoming increasingly essential to business success,” said Debbie Phillips-Donaldson, editor-in-chief of Petfood Industry. “Not only are pet owners and other entities in the pet food supply chain expecting and demanding more environmentally responsible practices and results, but companies are also finding that following such practices often results in cost savings.”
Because of that growing interest and necessity, people in the pet food industry need more actionable information, which is what the Petfood Essentials program will provide.
The Petfood Essentials team partnered with the Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC) to develop the Essentials’ education program, which will discuss consumer trends and demands for sustainability, plus sustainability in pet food ingredients, packaging and processing.
Activities include a group exercise that participants will work on throughout the day, offering hands-on experience with a pet food Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) aimed at developing a more intuitive understanding of the important stages for managing the environmental footprint of pet food products.
Sessions at a glance
Welcome and opening session: How to start your sustainability journey — Allison Reser, director of sustainability and innovation, Pet Sustainability Coalition
Reser will provide insights on where to start on a sustainability program, how to get buy-in inside your company and with other stakeholders, how to build a roadmap and decide where to focus first.
Demystifying life cycle assessment for the pet food industry — Marty Heller, senior consultant, Blonk Sustainability
Heller will explain what a life cycle assessment (LCA) is, how to use it and how it can support your sustainability goals. The LCA has become the standard method for evaluating the environmental impact of a product or service, and is behind the environmental footprinting data increasingly used to characterize supply chains, calculate Scope 3 corporate emissions and even drive choices between competing ingredients.
The session introduces a group exercise that participants will work on throughout the day, offering hands-on experience with a pet food LCA aimed at developing a more intuitive understanding of the important levers available for managing the environmental footprint of pet food products.
How human food and pet food can work together to deliver sustainability outcomes — Gail Tavill, global chief sustainability officer, OSI Group
Leveraging learnings on climate accounting from the human food sector, Gail Tavill, global chief sustainability officer, OSI Group, shows what is possible for pet foods and pet food ingredients in terms of setting baseline footprint targets, developing strategies for achieving those targets, sharing lessons learned and methodologies for making claims. She will share real-world examples of co-creating value for customers to deliver claimable carbon reductions through custom supply chain solutions.
Standardizing the environmental footprints of pet food ingredients — Janjoris van Diepen, footprint director North America, Mérieux NutriSciences/Blonk Sustainability
This session will explain how companies setting targets to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions creates a strong pull for data in the supply chain, requiring pet food producers to initiate carbon footprint management strategies and develop decarbonization pathways. Ingredients are the main driver of carbon emissions for pet food production, and their footprints can vary significantly by source, while also being influenced by choices in accounting approaches and data quality.
Allison Burdick, sustainability analyst, Pet Sustainability Coalition (PSC), will also provide information on PSC’s ingredients database tool through its partnership with HowGood.
Rethinking pet food packaging: How sustainability shapes the future — Antonio Cabras, CEO, Velvet Srl
The transition to sustainable packaging materials, such as recyclable and compostable options, is reshaping the pet food industry, driven by consumer preferences and increasing regulatory demands. Cabras will explain the balanced trade-offs and benefits of sustainable materials and provide case studies of successful implementations to demonstrate necessary production chain modifications.
Group presentations of their LCAs.
The seminar includes lunch and coffee breaks, and will be followed up by a mixer at the Kansas City Convention Center. The full Petfood Essentials agenda can be found here.
Purchase the Petfood Forum 2-Day & Petfood Essentials Combo Pass for the best value.
About Petfood Forum
The 2025 edition of Petfood Forum is scheduled for April 28-30 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Petfood Forum includes an agenda packed with opportunities to collaborate with industry professionals, learn the latest in pet food innovation and discover new tools for business success.