Page 3 - PET worldwide issue 04/2021

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Reversing the trend

In the international pet food industry, processes that tives, colourings and flavour enhancers from food.
had their tentative beginnings in pre-coronavirus It is much more far-reaching. In many countries, the
times are now being implemented at a remarkable question is now even being asked of how animal
pace. The discussion topic here is not digitalisation, proteins, which make a demonstrable contribution
but the changes currently emerging in the pet food to global warming and have become scarce and
assortment. expensive during the pandemic, can be replaced in
the short to medium term by plant proteins. Insect-
based proteins have also gained significant traction
in the market in recent months, because their carbon
footprint is much better than that of other animal
sources of protein.
These trains of thought have been prompted pri-
marily by a change in consumer behaviour. Many
pet owners have become more health-conscious,
not least as a consequence of the pandemic. They
look more closely at the packaging of pet food prod-
ucts to determine the contents and demand greater
transparency from the branded product industry.
Under the influence of social media, so-called “green-
washing” by industrial and retail companies is
quickly sanctioned, forcing companies to come up
The subject of sustainability with regard to prod- with new solutions to meet the high expectations of
ucts and packaging materials has acquired an im- consumers in the minimum of time.
portance in the last few months that hardly anyone The fluctuating global supply chains are proving
would have foreseen a year ago. We examine this to be another gamechanger. Importing products from
new development in this issue of PET worldwide, other continents is becoming more complex, more
taking cat food as an example. It is a segment that expensive and, in this era of climate change, more
has experienced a substantial upturn during the difficult to justify from an environmental perspective.
coronavirus pandemic. One observation is that trends It is high time, therefore, for the trend to be reversed.
known from the dog food segment are being assimi-
lated in this segment ever faster – and successfully.
Gertjan Willems, managing director of the Dutch
pet food manufacturer Prins Tiernahrung, has a
plausible explanation for this: “Cat owners are more
open to buying high-quality products and to learn- Ralf Majer-Abele
ing more about cats.” The entire pet supplies sector
is currently benefiting from this. Phone +49/72 43/575-230
The change in thinking in the pet food industry is r.majer-abele@daehne.de
by no means limited simply to eliminating preserva-

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