When adversity strikes, it’s time to come together and remember our shared vision: happy, healthy lives for pets and their families.
There’s no question that events like the 2007 melamine recall and current concerns about DCM have shaken up the pet food industry. They lead to consumer panic, and their economic impact trickles back all the way to the families of farmers and ranchers. While this kind of turmoil is never desirable, it provides us with a unique opportunity to take stock of pet industry, our businesses, and how to move forward in unity and strength.
It’s easy to lose sight of this motivation amid the day-to-day demands of business. Concerns about the bottom line or competitors can cloud our vision. But when an industry-wide crisis occurs, we need to bring our focus back to that central commonality. We need to resist the temptation to point fingers and assign blame. Consumers are in a state of hypervigilance where they don’t know what to do for their pet or who to trust about pet nutrition—when we fight among ourselves, it only heightens their confusion.
Building Trust
Consumers continue to view pet food as a mystery. They have no idea that formulas are developed by dedicated professionals with the highest levels of nutritional training, or that pet food is more nutritionally complete than most human food. Often pet food purchasing decisions are emotionally driven. When misinformation spreads, consumers don’t know what to believe.
As an industry, it’s time to use information platforms to give consumers the openness they demand and deserve. By inviting consumers in, teaching them how careful ingredient sourcing, formulation, and manufacturing plays a critical role in forming balanced diets, we build trust. Consumers expect companies to share who they are, what they care about, and why they’re in business. It’s up to us to let them know about the incredible level of care and planning that goes into pet food recipes—care based on a shared love of pets.
We can also build trust in each other. Spend a couple days each year working with industry peers through professional groups like the Pet Food Industry (PFI), American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), and Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).
Moving Forward
We all share a common goal: a happy, healthy lifestyle for all pets. Keeping an eye on our common values and developing solutions together will fortify and energize the pet industry.
