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A few years ago, I was out for a walk with my dog Sherman on a late summer day along a quiet road and came across a friend repairing the fortress-like fence around her vegetable garden. “Woodchuck after the greens again?” I asked. “NO!” she replied, clearly agitated, “The darn dog ate my carrots, it’s the second planting I have lost this year.” Dogs are willing vegetable eaters? It turns out that many dogs will snitch vegetables and berries right out of gardens and can thrive on vegetarian or even vegan diets. This got me to questioning: what are the advantages of vegan diets for dogs and what considerations need to be made in diet formulation?

The year was 1909. In a Chicago meeting room, owners of businesses growing an animal food industry discussed the increasing body of regulations governing the sector at both the federal and state levels. They understood the need to coordinate and stay informed of how these regulations were developing and formed an organization, which today is the American Feed Industry Association. Simultaneously, state agencies realized that together, they could develop standards, definitions and policies for the enforcement of feed laws that promoted uniformity. Thus, they created the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO).

The two organizations have been working together ever since.

The year 2015 offered few notable fashion, news or entertainment headlines, unless the unfortunate bumbling “Left Shark” of the Super Bowl halftime show counts as all three. But in the world of pet food, 2015 was a big year. It was the year the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) started to “review and consider potential changes to modernize pet food labeling…,” and now, after nearly eight years of hard work, the label changes are on the brink of roll-out.  

At today's American Feed Industry Association Pet Food Conference, we recognized an individual who has been instrumental in promoting the pet food industry, inluding developing many products, including a dairy feed supplement, a baby pig supplement, a liquid fat delivery system and an organic fertilizer brand. Please join us in congratulating Steve Thomas, former vice president at Darling Ingredients, for being awarded the 2023 Friend of Pet Food Award.

Are there links between soluble fiber and diet-related heart failure in beagles? What role does dried brewer’s yeast play in the gastrointestinal health and immune function of dogs? What is an accurate method to determine amino acid digestibility and protein quality of mealworm-based ingredients? These are just some of the questions attendees will hear addressed at the upcoming American Feed Industry Association Pet Food Conference (PFC), where researchers will present their studies for the pet food industry.

Twice a year, those interested in the animal food regulatory space make the trek to attend the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) meetings. Sometimes those treks require patience while traveling through blizzards in the winter. Sometimes, it requires fortitude to handle being in business clothes instead of in shorts watching a baseball game during the summer. For both meetings, it requires preparation from all parties to make sure the AAFCO business gets due consideration and discussion. Your American Feed Industry Association staff are there on your behalf and are busy preparing for the upcoming AAFCO annual meeting, happening Aug. 3-6 in St. Louis, Mo.

Dogs and cats have been part of my life ever since my parents brought a stray kitten home from the bustling streets of New York City. I realize how fortunate my family is to have the means to care for our pets including flying them to Europe when we moved abroad.  Not all companion animals are blessed to have stable homes and not all pet owners have the means to cover the cost of routine care or find new homes when life changes force the surrender of loved animals. Subsidized programs to neuter and rehome pets and feral cats are part of a caring culture. But should the cost of these efforts be borne by pet food businesses through legislatively mandated taxation? My response is a firm “no.”

In Vermont, grouse hunting season starts the last Saturday in September, manure spreading season (yep, it’s a thing) starts on April 1, and maple production season starts whenever the weather decides to cooperate. Across the country, “legislative season” is a combination of all three – legally mandated, fickle, and on occasion, a bit smelly. There are still a handful of state legislatures in session, and some will re-convene during the summer for special issues, however as the hectic part of the legislative year has come to a close, it is time to review the diverse bills we tracked this year so far. Pets, pot, piscis (fish) and pesky changes received our attention over the past six months as we tracked bills in Louisiana, Maine, Maryland and New York.