Industry News
Quick hits
Some petfoods still missing from shelves
➤ Alltech has appointed Aidan Connolly
vice president of
corporate accounts
and Marc Larousse
vice president of
Alltech Europe.
➤ Bachelor Controls
Inc. has won the
2008 Control Engineering System Integrator of the Year
award, presented by
Control Engineering magazine.
➤ CSB-Systems announced Terry Mc-Corritson is the new
Canadian regional
manager.
More than a year after
the recalls, though market
sources such as the Nielsen
Co. show US sales of wet
petfood have rebounded,
large pet retailers have a
different experience to
share and say many products are still not on store
shelves. According to
PetSmart, about 20% of recalled products, mostly wet
foods, have yet to return
and 10% have been discontinued altogether.
While sales of dry food
grow, sales of wet are still
off about 25% from pre-re-call levels, said Dave Bo-len, chief merchandising
officer at Petco. Both pet
store chains say sales of dry
petfood have fared much
better, especially premium
and natural brands, and
both chains are devoting
more floor space to these
more expensive foods.
Petfood makers of all
sizes are working hard
to tighten safeguards and
boost consumer confidence.
Nestlé Purina Pet Care, for
example, no longer imports
Chinese wheat gluten and
also tests their wheat gluten for melamine. Premium
brand Natural Balance not
only tests finished products
for melamine and other
contaminants, but also pub-lishes the results on their
website. Companies also
say they’ve stepped up audits of suppliers or stationed
quality-control workers in
foreign plants.
A recent USA Today/
Gallup Poll of 574 pet owners showed that 30% had
less confidence in the safety
of petfood than before the
recall, 46% had more confidence and 17% had the
same level of confidence.
➤ Fish4Dogs has hired
Erik van Waveren
as the European
marketing & sales
manager.
Recalls spark interest in
“Made in America” labeling
➤ Food Safety Net
Services announced
the promotion
of David Bosco
to regional manager and Dr. Wendy
Maduff was named
director of technical
services.
According to a survey conducted by
CMI Market Research, 75% of American
consumers are concerned about food safety
issues and pay close attention to food packaging. Last year’s petfood recalls have made
consumers increasingly aware of where their
petfood is made, since the majority of the
problematic ingredients and food were made
outside the US.
Many pet owners, according to a Weath-
erChem report, have
lost trust in the brands
they may have been using
for years and are now more
apt to stop and take a careful look at new petfood products. According to the same report,
many consumers will only buy products that
are “Made in America,” and if the packaging
doesn’t convey this clearly, then brands are
losing important business.
➤ Nano Pet Products
LLC signed distributors Superdog
Pet Food Co. and
Southeast Pet.
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