March 14, 2017

VIV Asia 2017: PETSConnect Asia makes distinction between animal feed and pet food

Cows and chickens are fundamentally identified as animals just as dogs and cats are categorised as; but concerning their diets, lies a need to make a distinction between what livestock and pets eat, according to David Primrose of Synergy Food Ingredients Ltd speaking at PETSConnect Asia 2017, a side event of this year's VIV Asia.

Happening on the eve of VIV Asia, PETSConnect aims to gather top pet food experts who share their insights with players from the Southeast Asian pet food industry.

In his presentation "Pet food: it's only animal feed, isn't it? Exploring the boundaries", Primrose firmly stated that pet food is not animal feed. Although the type of raw materials for both diets differ slightly as well as in manufacture operations and sales, the chief difference is in their objectives: pet food is made for health longevity while animal feed is focused on feed conversion ratio.   

As livestock are properly bred and fed to ensure performance – and hopefully better meat produce, pets are purposed for companionship with their human masters and today, regarded widely as family members. Thus, their food have to be "humanized" – diets that are created to be palatable to these household animals' taste buds, just as a good evening meal would be to the modern man. This renders humanisation of pet foods the ultimate goal of catering to the beloved canine in the house. These diets would be so tastefully appealing that it could even be appreciated by humans, Primrose explained.

In order to achieve this goal of pet foods, Primrose highlighted customer excellence and a refocusing on the definition of humanisation as key drivers.

VIV Asia will be held on March 15-17 in BITEC, Bangkok, Thailand.