How sustainable is your supply chain?

Growing eco-consciousness

Sustainability in the pet industry is being driven by consumers’ desire to reduce their impact on the environment. Millennial consumers are especially attuned to the environmental effects of their practices and are willing to pay more for sustainable pet products.

This is no niche segment. As the trend of pet adoption continues to move beyond affluent consumers in developed regions to middle class population in developing economies, consumer spending on pet products is defying gravity. And conscientious consumers today are increasingly examining what goes into pet food and packaging.

Beyond natural and organic

It is clear that sustainability is becoming a critical aspect of today’s business. It is visible as a growing interest in claims such as natural, organic and clean label, but not only. Animal welfare is also a key consideration.

In fact, an ongoing research project by the Pet Sustainability Coalition, in partnership with Iowa State University, looks into four areas around pet food and sustainability: environment, nutrition, social, and animal welfare.

Sustainable humanisation?

As the pet humanisation trend grows stronger, owners increasingly expect pet food and its ingredients to meet the highest possible quality standards while being sustainable. In order to set their products apart from the competition, pet food companies are responding, and turning to co-products of the human food industry to address both humanisation and sustainability aspects.

But, while ‘human-grade’ ingredients are taking the pet food industry by storm, the jury is still out on the pet health benefits of these ingredients and whether they provide the appropriate level of nutrients. And while using co-products of the human food industry is eco-efficient, the sustainability of these protein sources as a whole is also coming under close scrutiny, as they often come from beef and poultry, followed by pork, fish, and lamb – which are among the largest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile the social aspect of sustainability in pet food largely centres on animal welfare, namely that the animals providing the protein were ethically raised and grass-fed.

Alternative protein sources

Addressing concerns about the sustainability of animal protein sources, alternative protein sources such as insects or cellular-based, cultured products are attracting growing interest. But to what extent do they address the need for nutritional sustainability? Today, pet food ingredients need to be not only culturally acceptable to the pet owners, but also nutritious and palatable to the pets.

Finding the sweet spot

Amidst technological revolution and economic transformations worldwide, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ strategy is not possible to achieve sustainability goals in the pet food industry. Leveraging new ingredients, identifying white spaces in terms of their application potential, and discussing opportunities within the industry are all important to be able to achieve greater sustainability in the future.