Find pet food’s ‘moisture sweet spot’

Most pet food products have a “moisture sweet spot” – an ideal range that maximizes quality and profit while keeping the product safe from mold and microbes.  Water activity is the best way to find that sweet spot – and monitor to make sure you always produce to that specification.
Register at https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/149511489?linknumber=website to attend the webinar, “Update on Using Water Activity to Manage Safety and Quality in Pet food,” which will be held Tuesday, December 9, 2014, at 10 a.m. CST. This webinar is sponsored by Decagon and presented by WATT Global Media.
By attending the webinar, you will learn:


• How to identify a pet food product’s “moisture sweet spot”
• How testing can reveal a product’s moisture secrets
• How to use water activity to maximize safety, quality, and profit in your products
The speaker for this webinar will be Brady Carter, who has been a senior research scientist at Decagon since 2004. He has a master’s degree in crop science with an emphasis in cereal chemistry. His current research is focused on developing a hydrothermal time-based shelf life model. He is a popular presenter on measuring water activity in food.

Create a new feed revenue stream in the pet food market

Learn where the U.S. pet food market is headed in the pet specialty channel including data and insights on the global market and capitalize on this lucrative feed market at the 2014 Petfood Forum, March 31-April 2 at the Renaissance Schaumburg, Schaumburg, Illinois.
Petfood Forum offers a lineup of conference sessions that educate, inform and inspire pet food and pet treat professionals with the latest on nutrition, ingredient, processing, packaging and food safety technologies. Industry, academic and supplier experts will lead the conference with information you won't find anywhere else in the world.
Petfood Forum, and Petfood Workshop: Marketing to Today's Consumers, April 2-3, together feature more than 30 educational sessions, with industry experts providing the latest research, information and insights on pet food manufacturing and marketing.
Here are some feed Petfood Forum educational sessions you don't want to miss:
*FSMA preventive control rule for feed: the pet food industry's response
*Common dry beans as a novel ingredient in extruded diets for canine weight loss
*Plant-derived nutrients to fight aging in pets
While making plans, add Petfood Forum Asia 2014, April 9, Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre to your list of must-attend shows. This conference focuses on the fast-growing Asian and global pet food markets, new product development, pet food safety and production.
Here are a few educational sessions from Petfood Forum Asia you won't want to miss:
*How does pet food processing affect nutritional benefits?
*Meat or grain for dogs - or both?
Petfood Forum Asia 2014 is co-located with Victam Asia/FIAAP Asia, one of the largest agrifeed trade shows in the world. Victam Asia is scheduled for April 8-10, 2014, at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre.

USDA designated as authority to certify animal feeds, pet food for export

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has signed an agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that designates USDA as the authority to certify animal feed and pet food products for export to foreign countries.
USDA's Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) has unique capabilities in working with stakeholders to develop export certification programs that meet the specific requirements of other countries. With years of experience certifying agricultural products for export, AMS will now expand its services to support the trade of animal feed and feed ingredients.
"This agreement is a big step toward helping U.S. feed exporters take advantage of the growing global demand for these products," said AMS Administrator Anne Alonzo. "By allowing producers to obtain certification that some importing countries require, this effort opens new markets for U.S. products, generating additional economic benefits and more jobs across rural America."
Under this agreement, AMS has the authority to audit, register, and provide export certification for animal feed and pet food products for export. Once this program has been developed and implemented, it has the potential to provide new opportunities for U.S. feed exporters as well as supporting existing markets.
AMS has the ability to certify a wide range of animal feed products, including pet food and treats, dried distillers' grains with solubles, mixed-ingredient feeds, and feed additives. The total market for U.S. exports of animal feed and feed ingredients (excluding soybeans) worldwide is estimated to be $20 billion.
The USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), AMS and FDA will work together with other government agencies, and representatives from feed, grain, and pet food industry organizations, to develop a program and refine it based on stakeholder feedback.

New product safety requirements focus at annual feed, pet food conference

Feed, feed ingredient and pet food manufacturers will hear the latest on major new product safety requirements likely to be implemented by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the fourth annual Feed and Pet Food Joint Conference, scheduled for September 25-26 in Indianapolis, Ind.
More than 300 industry members are expected to attend the event, hosted by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA) and the Pet Food Institute (PFI) at the downtown JW Marriott Hotel.
"Given the Food and Drug Administration's ongoing efforts to implement the expansive Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA), the program will place a major emphasis on the anticipated regulatory requirements that feed, feed ingredient suppliers and pet food manufacturers will face, as well as the growing demands being made on these industries by their customers," said NGFA President Randy Gordon.
"The array of high-caliber industry faculty and legal experts on the program will provide insights into not only what likely will be required, but how to comply in the most cost-effective way possible," said PFI President Duane Ekedahl. "We encourage companies to send their key management and operations personnel, as they will benefit from the interaction."
This segment of the program will focus on the anticipated impacts of FDA's soon-to-be-announced proposed rule under the FSMA that will require feed and pet food manufacturers to conduct a hazard analysis and implement preventive controls to address "reasonably foreseeable" hazards to provide assurance that such products are safe. During the session, Brian Waldman, partner at the Washington-based law firm of Arent Fox, will provide legal perspectives on the pending requirements, and industry experts from PFI and NGFA will offer insights and comments on anticipated compliance issues.
Meanwhile, Dr. Martine Hartogensis, deputy director, Office of Surveillance and Compliance at the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, will review the status of FSMA rulemaking, as well as the agency's wide-ranging regulatory and guidance initiatives planned in 2014 for the feed and pet food industries. In addition, NGFA Vice President of Feed Services David Fairfield will discuss work being done by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance to develop feed and pet food education and training materials designed to facilitate FSMA compliance. And the Association of American Feed Control Official's (AAFCO) feed ingredient-approval process and other initiatives underway at the professional organization of state and federal regulators will be addressed by AAFCO Immediate Past President Robert Waltz.
The feed and pet food safety theme will continue with a presentation by Dr. Benjamin Warren, director of product safety and regulatory affairs at Land O'Lakes Inc., on how feed and pet food manufacturers can source raw materials and ingredients that meet desired safety and quality parameters.
Other topics featured on the program include:

• Issues surrounding ballot initiatives to require labeling of food products containing biotech ingredients (including feed) featuring Dr. Cathleen Enright, executive vice president for the Biotechnology Industry Organization.
• A 2014 market outlook for grains, oilseeds and other ingredients used by the feed and pet food sectors, featuring NGFA Director of Economics and Government Relations Max Fisher.
• A panel featuring top leadership from the poultry, swine and rendering industries on challenges affecting their sectors of animal agriculture.
• A focus on international trade initiatives designed to expand market access for U.S. agricultural products, including meat and poultry featuring Karil Kochenderfer, principal, LINKAGES - Global Trade, Government and Public Affairs.
• Perspectives on the need for greater transparency between feed and pet food companies and their stakeholders by Andy Vance, staff editor, marketsand economics at FEEDSTUFFS magazine.
• The legislative and regulatory outlook in Washington, featuring James Wiesemeyer, senior vice president, Informa Economic
PFI and NGFA noted that the conference will kick-off with a welcome reception from 5-7 p.m. in the conference's trade show on September 24. The official program will occur all day on September 25 and conclude by 11 a.m. on September 26.
Program, registration and hotel reservation information is available at www.ngfa.org/feedpetfood.

Denmark pet food company achieves 50 percent market share in Russia

Danish company Aller Petfood has gained over 50 percent market share in Russia, and has plans to purchase IØ-Fund's shares in the company to become the sole owner.
Currently, IØ-Fund is responsible for 30 percent of the investments in Aller Petfood's Russia branch. The company consists of a dry food factory as well as a wet food factory, and was started as a greenfield project. “Building a factory as a greenfield project in Russia is certainly not straightforward," said CEO Henriette Bylling. "It took longer than expected to achieve a complete and fully functioning factory. However, once completed, the start-up difficulties were easily forgotten."
Aller Petfood achieved ISO 22000 certification for its wet food factory in May, one of 15 companies in Russia to hold the distinction, and the first pet food company in Europe to do so with its Denmark factory.
Aller Petfood Russia sells its products to companies in the Russian private label market, as well as several other distributors in the retail and specialty trades.

French poultry group Doux sells pet food plant

French poultry group Doux has been authorized by a French court to sell its pet food plant to German company Saria, according to reports.
The €22 million sale will bring Doux, which has currently suspended all payments to creditors and is in talks with potential buyers in an attempt to save the company, a net income of €19 million. The company said it had intended to sell the plant as it was considered non-strategic.
In the meantime, Doux is discussing the possibility of a full or partial takeover with several companies, including animal feed producer Glon Sanders, French farm cooperatives Terrena and Triskalia, and private poultry group LDC.

American Feed Industry Association hosts Pet Food Conference

The American Feed Industry Association hosted a Pet Food Conference in conjunction with the 2012 International Poultry and International Feed Expo in Atlanta.
The association announced a new third-party facility certification program designed specifically for manufacturing pet food and pet food ingredients. The Pet Food Manufacturing Facility Certification Program and the Pet Food Ingredient Facility Certification Program were developed by the association's pet food and quality committees with input from third-party food safety experts. These two programs build upon the association's Safe Feed/Safe Food program, and are designed to monitor the process controls specifically related to the manufacturing of pet food.
“AFIA sees this as a model program for the entire pet food industry,” said Joel G. Newman, the association's president and CEO. “I commend the pet food committee for developing this program to help ‘raise the bar’ for their own industry.” The PFMF and PFIF certification programs were designed to meet requirements of the Food Safety Modernization Act regulations, and the american feed industry association says it is seeking Food and Drug Administration recognition of these programs. “In 2004 AFIA launched the first third-party feed facility certification program, Safe Feed/Safe Food program, addressing the needs of the feed industry. And then in 2010 the International Safe Feed/Safe Food program was added to provide a tool for companies that wish to meet the EU requirements. Now today, adding the Pet Food Facility program to the family of third-party certification program makes sense not only for our members, but for the pet food industry,” Newman said. 

AFIA to hold Pet Food Conference at 2012 IFE/IPE

The 2012 Pet Food Conference will be held in Atlanta on Tuesday, January 24, at the International Feed Expo/International Poultry Expo, organized by the American Feed Industry Association and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association.
The conference covers a variety of topics ranging from regulatory issues to the technical aspects of production, food safety, marketing and use of ingredients. Expert speakers will include: Svetlana Uduslivaia, Euromonitor International, addressing domestic and global pet food industry trends; Dr. Dale Hill, ADM Alliance Nutrition Inc., discussing ingredient variability; Douglas Marshall, Eurofins Scientific Inc., and Duarte Diaz, Novus International Inc., addressing petfood safety topics; a U.S. Food and Drug Administration update on the one year anniversary of the Food Safety Modernization Act; and Leah Wilkinson, AFIA, covering third-party certification programs.
The conference will also feature a number of panels. The FDA/AAFCO panel will include officials who will deliver a regulatory update of ingredient approvals, unapproved animal drugs, calorie labeling and the future of GRAS listings in the AAFCO Official Publication. An ingredient supplier question-and-answer panel will offer insight into establishing supplier relationships and issues facing the petfood ingredient sector. The concluding panel will highlight the future of food and feed safety.
The day-long conference, which will be held from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., has an add-on registration fee of $40, in addition to the initial IFE/IPE registration fee of $40. After January 6, the rates for both increase to $60 each. Those interested in attending may register online.

AFIA sells out inaugural Import & Export Seminar

The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) sold out its inaugural Import & Export Seminar, which was held last week.
Nearly 100 representatives from the livestock feed and pet food industries attended the event, which focused on the latest issues, events and other matters relating to the import and export of feed, pet food and ingredients. Jane Doherty from the United States Trade Representatives' office gave the opening presentation on promoting the trade of feed, feed ingredients, pet food and other agricultural products. Other presenters included representatives from AFIA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)'s Foreign Agricultural Service, the USDA's Veterinary Services Program, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service's National Center for Import & Export and the Food and Drug Administration.

Chinese seeks to limit feed imports

China’s State Council has released the Administrative Rules of Feed and Feed Additives (Revision Draft for Comment) to address the issue of melamine contamination in pet food and animal feed. The rule emphasizes the strict management of feed additives and restricts the direct sale of imported feeds and feed additives by foreign-funded enterprises. According to China Research Intelligence, the restrictions on foreign feed suppliers have more to do with protecting state-owned enterprises than enhancing food safety.
The research group reports that the rules address three areas of enforcement: monitoring new feed and feed additives, restricting imports and enhancing monitoring procedures for imports that are permitted, and regulating producers of feed and feed additives. However, the Chinese government has yet to establish a content standard for melamine.
The rules would:
*Restrict the direct sale of imported feeds and feed additives by foreign enterprises and individuals.
*Set up a supervisory system for the entire production process, including quality and safety control measures.
*Define the responsibility of businesses in product recalls.
*Require operators to track purchases and sales and prohibit them from repackaging and adulterating products.
*Prohibit breeders from adding substances to feeds and feed additives without regulatory approval.
*Define the responsibilities of administrators and producers during the monitoring period for new feeds and feed additives.