Held just blocks from the U.S. Capitol at the L’Enfant Plaza Hotel, this year’s annual meeting kicked off with a welcome from PFI’s Executive Director Duane Ekedahl, who gave attendees a brief overview of the industry, its size, and economic impact, which is about $14 billion a year. Ekedahl also pointed out the key programs PFI undertakes on behalf of the industry.
“International trade, which accounts for almost $1 billion annually in sales, and our ongoing relationship with key regulatory agencies in the United States have continued to be two areas of great importance to the association,” Ekedahl told the 125 pet food executives and guests in attendance. “Since BSE [bovine spongiform encephalopathy] was found in the United States, the importance of educating consumers about the nutrition and safety of commercial pet food has never been more important.”
Amy Shever, founder and executive director of 2nd Chance 4 Pets, a non-profit organization dedicated to saving pets whose owners have passed away and encouraging owners to make arrangements for their animals should something happen to them, shocked the crowd with some alarming statistics on pet euthanasia – 500,000 pets are put down per year at shelters because their owners have died and made no arrangements. Over 800 pets were left homeless on September 11, 2001, in New York City alone.
Moving away from pet owner issues, another topic at the meeting was oil spills. Preventing and cleaning up oil spills is not something pet food executives, or renderers, normally think about in their day-to-day operations. However, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the process of developing changes to its rules on the storage of oil – petroleum as well as animal and vegetable-based oils, including tallow. These new rules, which could cost food companies thousands of dollars, were covered by special guest speaker David Ailor, a vice president with the National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA).
Ailor reviewed how EPA may require food companies to conduct detailed inspections of most oil storage tanks, which could conceivably include digest, tallow, and grease tanks. Under the draft rules, spill containment plans have to be prepared by professional engineers and inspections may even require the transfer of tank contents into other storage units, adding thousands to the already high cost of compliance. As a member of the Food Industry Environmental Committee, an ad hoc food industry group that includes the National Renderers Association (NRA) and other associations, both NOPA and PFI are keeping a close watch on what the EPA decides.
Another highlight of the afternoon session was a presentation by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) Director Dr. Stephen Sundlof, who alluded to the pending changes to the 1997 BSE prevention feed rule. Little did attendees know that a proposed rule banning some specified risk materials (SRMs) from animal feed, including pet food, was due to be released just the next day. Though he could not talk about the rule in great detail, but did say it would reduce an already small risk even further, Sundlof did share a variety of details on CVM activities on pet food.
In addition to BSE, always the topic du jour, another area Sundlof covered was the final bioterrorism rule, where feed is considered the same as human food. All firms regulated by FDA, including feed plants and renderers, must have records detailed enough to permit tracing products one step forward and one step back. Sundlof also spoke briefly on the regulation of certain dietary supplements used in animal feed.
Sundlof then covered the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission on animal feed, commenting that Codex is contemplating allowing the Animal Feeding Task Force to undertake more work. This is not the position that the United States has supported in the past, but Sundlof said that U.S. representatives would continue to participate if the task force continues to act.
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns delivered the keynote address at this year’s event. Prior to his remarks, Johanns met with members of the PFI Board of Directors to briefly hear about issues impacting their companies. In his remarks to attendees, Johanns recognized the important role pet food plays in U.S. agriculture and international commodity trade. He also remarked that the pet food industry, which tops $13 billion in annual U.S. sales, has been the victim of various unjustified trade barriers in recent years. Noting the recent flurry of activity on beef, the secretary also pointed out a return to normal trade and an opening of markets in developing countries, such as the massive China market, as key priorities for the U.S. Department of Agriculture for pet food and related products as well as beef.
Day Two
Some would say there is a debate about global warming, but not Hudson Institute’s Dennis Avery, who opened the annual breakfast on the meeting’s second day. A senior fellow at the Washington-based think tank, Avery cited a litany of statistics showing global warming is not happening and covered a wide range of topics impacting the competitiveness of U.S. agriculture. He described global warming treaties as impotent and pointed out that by helping to ban the use of DDT, some environmental groups have inadvertently contributed to a rise of worldwide fatalities. Avery strongly cautioned the group about the science and motivations behind many environmental scares.
Echoing a theme from Johanns’ remarks of the previous day, Avery also stressed the importance of international trade to U.S. agriculture.
“World food demand will continue rising, however, more than redoubling over the remainder of the 21st century,” he commented. “The increased food demand will be partly to feed an additional 1.6 billion people, but even more to provide high-quality diets for seven to eight billion affluent people in newly emerging economies.” Avery added that the same holds true for pets and their feeding.
“There will also be a pet challenge,” he continued. “When China has as many pet cats and dogs per capita as the U.S. – and it will – that will mean 500 million cats and dogs. India’s dog population is rising rapidly, driven in part by the desire of two-earner families to have a guard dog in the house when the kids come home from school.”
One of the special attractions at this year’s PFI meeting, as in years past, was a technical session offered by guest companies or organizations. This year, PFI members were treated to an educational forum developed by the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA), PFI’s strategic partner. Topics included health and safety considerations, environmental issues for pet food plants, and steps to determine better grain quality.
“We were extremely honored to be invited by PFI to develop program topics and provide speakers for this segment of the pet food industry’s annual event,” said NGFA Vice President Randy Gordon. “As part of our strategic alliance, the NGFA looks exclusively to PFI for leadership on public policy and trade issues important to pet food manufacturers. This meeting gave NGFA a chance to reciprocate by sharing its expertise in grain-handling and feed manufacturing.”
A second day tradition at the PFI meeting is the presentation of detailed market trends and retail activities during the industry luncheon, and this year was no exception. Spectra Marketing representative Steve Kent shared his firm’s data on the continued growth of big box store (Wal-Mart, Target, etc.) sales of all pet food, now at 17 percent, up from less than 10 percent in 2000. Other retail outlets continue to play an important role, but the most marked decline was in grocery store sales over the past few years, with all pet food sales down to 35 percent from 46 percent five years ago. Contact PFI by e-mail at info@petfoodinstitute.org for information on obtaining a copy of the market trends presentation.
The meeting concluded with presentations, albeit brief due to the broadcast of the FDA news conference on the proposed changes to the BSE feed rule, from American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) representatives Judy Thompson and Dave Syverson. Thompson updated attendees on the AAFCO strategic plan and the previous industry summit, attended by a variety of associations including PFI and NRA. The plan puts emphasis on the AAFCO role in maintaining the safety and health of food and feed, continuing the partnership between regulators and stakeholder groups, and promoting and enhancing greater member participation in AAFCO activities. Syverson’s focus was the recent activities of the AAFCO Pet Food Committee, including guarantees and the debate over calorie labels. Representatives from AAFCO and PFI will no doubt continue to discuss these and other topics at next October’s PFI Annual Meeting in Chicago, IL.
Newsline - December 2005 Render