Innovations in pet food

Success depends on a variety of factors. In the manufacture of a new pet product, innovative recipes and raw materials promising added value play their part as muach as the latest machine technology that processes the different ingredients to create a tasty end product.Since the food market is subject to constant changes, pet food manufacturers must keep themselves continuously up to date with innovations in the market. The Victam International show in Cologne presents them with an opportunity to do just that. According to the organisers, the 2011 event will be very different from the last Victam International exhibition, which was held in the Dutch city of Utrecht. The co-located shows FIAAP (for animal feed ingredients, additives and formulations) and GRAPAS (for flour milling, grain processing and pasta production) will be staged simultaneously with Victam International between 3 and 5 May.Demand for the new Victam International show is very high and the organisers hope to surpass the success of the Utrecht fair four years ago, when visitors from 118 countries travelled to Victam International. This year visitors should be able once again to see all the components that comprise the complete feed production process - ingredients, technology and ancillary systems. In parallel to Victam International, Watt, the US-based publisher of the trade magazine "Petfood Industry", will organise the Petfood Forum Europe on 4 May.Key growth factorsThe high level of interest in innovations in the development and processing of pet food products can be explained among other things by the high growth that the pet sector continues to experience worldwide. Shifts in preference for dry pet food, the emphasis on nutritional and functional aspects and easy availability of options are considered by the fair organisers to be the key growth factors in developing countries, including in eastern Europe. Added to this is the increasing tendency of pet owners in developing markets to switch from feeding table scraps and homemade foods to commercially prepared pet food. The market research institute Euromonitor International cites Russia as an example, where the proportion of pet owners feeding commercial foods has increased from less than 5 per cent in 1998 to about 15 per cent in 2009. The potential exists, therefore - a good opportunity for pet food companies to drive market growth. Download: Innovations in pet food (PDF file)