The United States alone is home base to over 85 million dogs and nearly 78 million computerized axial tomography . All those beast have to exhaust , and that ’s going to become a problem eventually . The environmental shock that the pet food industry has is huge . Just like humans , dogs and cats consume fish , meat , wheat , corn , and many other unwashed element . This puts press on the global food market .
Until now nothing much has been done to make the pet intellectual nourishment market place more “ green , ” but the industry is begin to wrestle with sustainability issues . When compared to their heavyweight fabrication rivals , Mars Petcareis leading the way in earn the industry more environmentally well-disposed .
well know for M&Ms and candy bars , Mars is actually the reality ’s largest pet food company . Mars operates about 70 factories and owns brands let in Pedigree , Nutro , Whiskas , Cesar , Sheba , Iams , and Canin . The troupe ’s annual revenue was estimated at about $ 17 billion last twelvemonth .
Photo: animalcoop.com
Back in 2010 , Mars foretell to buy their fish only from fish farms and fishery that are certify as sustainable from a desire third party . This was an industry first . The ship’s company also said it would supplant all fish tenia and wild catch whole Pisces with either farmed Pisces the Fishes or by - production so that the demand forpet fooddoesn’t directly contend with the human nutrient industry .
Last month , Isabelle Alvoet , global sustainability director for Mars Petcare , spoke at a intellectual nourishment - and - sustainability event . She told reporters that Mars is doing its part to use seafood sustainably . She said that it is a challenge for the company because the company ’s drive are the opposite of what consumers want right now .
Now , more than ever , pet ownerswant to purchase food for thought for their pets that closely resembles what they eat themselves . Alvoet say that it is n’t easy , but the company is endeavor to educate consumer about sustainability issues .
Photo: nycdoggies.com
Mars is making progress toward their goal . In the United States they have replaced 100 percent of their wild caught fish with sources that have been approved by theMonterey Bay Aquarium ’s Seafood Watch Program . Also , by the remainder of 2014 , globally , the party had sourced 30 percent of their barbaric caught fish - based fixings from suppliers that are license as sustainable by third party or commend by Seafood Watch .
Mars has stated that it has a team specifically consecrate to finding alternative sources of protein across their entire portfolio . Other pet food for thought giants are beginning to follow suit , and with changes in the FDA ’s favored food for thought standards coming before long , if they do the line right , exploit to fix theenvironmental impact of pet foodwill not raise any base hit issues .
