ANNUAL REPORT
– ‘OUR WORLD AND OUR PETS’
Over the last year, with our identity as UK Pet Food established, we have looked to the future of our world and our pets. We have been focused on advancing our sustainability work, while continuing to provide safe, quality nutrition.
WELCOME
by Claire Robinson-Davies
(Nestle-Purina)
We’ve also expanded our community, welcoming new manufacturers, suppliers, and associate members. The inclusion of associates has added significant value to our traditional membership.
For those interested in exploring our membership offering, our new Member Directory showcases the wide variety of pet food formats available. Developed over the last 12 months, this useful tool is beneficial for stakeholders, members, and pet owners alike.
At UK Pet Food we are always keen to communicate the value of membership. By choosing a food from a member, pet owners can rest assured that the manufacturer provides quality nutrition for their beloved pets and adheres to industry best practice.
A heartfelt thank you to our members for their steadfast support. Many have worked tirelessly to support our working groups and committees, contributing to the success of our organisation.
Also special appreciation and thanks to the Secretariat for delivering another successful year for our association and to my vice chair and past chair for their invaluable guidance. As I hand over to Rupert Phillips at Spectrum, I look forward to the continued growth and collaboration of our pet food industry.
Rupert Phillips
Spectrum Brands
Vice-Chair
Greg Van Praagh
Benyfit Natural
Past Chair
WELCOME
by Michael Bellingham
(CEO UK Pet Food)
There have been many achievements over the past year but a highlight for me was the launch of our Manifesto. As the leading voice for our member manufacturers and suppliers, we have a duty to nourish the nation’s 36 million pets (non aquatic). This is a big responsibility, which we take seriously.
Last year, as the nation began to build for a General Election, we unveiled our Manifesto at Portcullis House in Westminster, at an event sponsored by Sir Roger Gale MP. The document, outlines the key priority areas for UK Pet Food including acknowledgement for our industry’s role in the agricultural food chain, smooth trade with the EU and rest of the world, a food system that prioritises pet and animal welfare plus a society that recognises the value of pets in society.
UK PET FOOD
UK Pet Food is the voice for the UK Pet Food industry, and our mission is to advance pet health and wellbeing with quality, sustainable nutrition.
This Manifesto outlines our key priorities and ‘asks’ of policy makers in order to continue to deliver tasty and nutritious food for the UK’s 36 million pets.
SAFE AND SUSTAINABLE PET FOOD
TRADE WITH THE EU AND THE REST OF THE WORLD
Going further, we support a negotiated form of veterinary agreement to ease problems trading pet food between GB and the EU and GB to NI. For trade with the rest of the world, we would like to see a strategic effort to support UK businesses to break into new markets and to protect producers from lower standard imports.
PETS AND ANIMAL WELFARE
We want a society that treats pets with their best interests at heart, and a food system that places the welfare of farmed animals as the paramount goal.
Government should look at practical ways to support UK farmers and their continuous improvements of welfare on-farm. We call for policy makers to protect our progress by ensuring that our trade policy maintains the same ambitions.
PETS IN SOCIETY
“It’s vital that we ensure a society that values the important role pets play. I’m pleased to see that this is at the heart of the UK Pet Food Manifesto which I am delighted to launch.”
Sir Roger Gale MP.
CORE
“It has been an exciting year for UK Pet Food. The transformation with our rebrand (new name, new look!) was celebrated at the recent Trade Association Forum (TAF) Best Practice Awards. Thank you Ellie Merson, FishForPets and Claire Robinson-Davies, Nestle-Purina for sharing the moment with us. There are around 475 trade associations in the UK and we were honoured to be recognised by our peers.
As our new identity has become more established, we have welcomed new colleagues and channelled our expertise into significant developments across our three core pillars of activity. We invite you to read our top achievements per pillar”
Nicole Paley, UK Pet Food Deputy Chief Executive.
Activity
UK Pet Food has three core pillars of activity: Nutrition, Sustainability, and Safety & Standards. Animal Welfare underpins all of UK Pet Food’s work.
SUSTAINABILITY
Advancing a sustainable pet food industry.
NUTRITION
Making good nutrition a vital part of all pet ownership.
SAFETY & STANDARDS
Developing and promoting
high standards and safety.
Our Work in 2023
Making good nutrition a vital part of all pet ownership.
- Hosted two online Pet Food and Nutrition courses in February and July, educating nearly 100 people and feedback was amazing!
“I still can’t express how much I enjoyed this course during the last two weeks, organized by UK Pet Food. So much valuable, detailed, and compacted information! Outstanding quality of the speakers!”
Paula Sánchez Pimley, Brenntag.
- Developed a new Dog Obesity Tool involving a Dog Owner Quiz and a Help Sheet, where owners can create a personalised plan for feeding and treating their dogs appropriately.
- Updated our Pet Parrot Feeding poster and co-organised a Parrot Awareness Week, in July 2023, in collaboration with the Parrot Society UK underlining our commitment to promoting responsible pet ownership for all types of pets.
- Added a number of new factsheets on Kibble (Dry) Pet Food, Fish Nutrition, Types and Quality of Hay, and one on the different formats of small mammals’ food.
- Worked alongside our friends at NOAH (National Office of Animal Health) to run National Pet Month and raise awareness of responsible pet ownership. We were delighted…. with excellent coverage online and in print eg, The Standard.
- Attended the London Vet Show with a dedicated stand and we sponsored the ‘Food For Thought’ stream of lectures. Again, we ran a survey with 156 participants giving us a veterinary perspective on nutrition and obesity.
Our Work in 2023
Advancing a sustainable pet food industry.
- Interviewed by the BBC to communicate the importance of key pet food ingredients and why potential diversion to sustainable aviation fuel would impact the sustainability credentials of our industry.
- Launched our Sustainability Handbook, a practical tool driving action to mitigate the impacts of pet food ingredients with over 42 companies already embracing this initiative.
“This is a really accessible handbook. It has provided my team with an overview of our ingredient choices, including those that other studies don’t reach (like animal by-products) demonstrating relative impact on the environment in a jargon-free way. It’s been a great source of inspiration to inform our environment strategy over the next few years on the road to Net Zero.”
Caroline Curtis, Tails.com.
- Collaborated with FareShare and our members helping to contribute almost 2 million meals and supporting 1771 charities in the UK.
- Engaged with organisations in the sustainability arena including the Food & Drink Federation Environmental Sustainability Committee, the Pet Sustainability Coalition, WRAP UK Plastics Pact and FEDIAF European Pet Food. The importance of collaborative work to tackle the challenges cannot be overestimated.
Our Work in 2023
Developing and promoting high standards and safety.
- Increased awareness and compliance of the Raw certified scheme with three additional manufacturers achieving the standard and four passing their second year audit. This now covers at least 60% of the raw market.
- Translated the requirements of the Windsor framework to support members sending product to Northern Ireland.
- Engaged DEFRA forums and consultations in advance of the implementation of the Border Target Operating Model. Our aims were to share the voice of our members, and protect our borders, whilst ensuring the relevant trade risks were controlled.
- Worked alongside other feed trade associations in the UK, in consultation with the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Food Standards Scotland (FSS) to publish the GB register of feed materials. This register provides an online platform for the notification of new ingredients.
- Scheduled informative (and fun!) UK Pet Food team visits to member sites including Natures Menu, Nestlé, World Feeds Ltd, GA Pet Food Partners, Skinners, Natural Dog Food Direct.
“UK Pet Food provides its members with technical advice on safety and standards, which has proven invaluable again and again. It is extremely reassuring to have such a proactive and supportive trade body representing pet food manufacturers rather than us all having to operate alone.”
Louise Mackintosh, MD Poppy’s Picnic.
“UK Pet Food is an active voice for the pet food industry. In a day and age when there is so much misinformation about nutrition and our pets health and wellbeing, this is vital. UK Pet Food members adhere to industry best practices and guidelines – the diverse membership is united in raising the bar.”
Dr Andrew Miller, PET NUTRITIONIST, Premier Nutrition.
Our work with members in 2023
Our membership highlights are:
- Welcomed ten new full members and three new associate members.
- Hosted five associate member-run events on topics such as Sustainability, Supply Chain efficiency & ERP Software.
- Expanded the member’s area on our website with updated Trade & Sustainability Hubs, to include resources on the sourcing of sustainable ingredients and member briefings on key trade issues such as BTOM and the Windsor Framework.
- Introduced a Members directory so that people can ‘find a member’ using various filters.
- Secured media coverage in the Telegraph and Which? advising pet owners to look for a food produced by a UK Pet Food member.
- In total, media coverage for UK Pet Food has been secured in around 200 titles, reaching 175 million people worth an advertising equivalent of £3 million. Articles recommending food from a UK Pet Food member reached 71 million people.
What are the top motivators for organisations to become members of UK Pet Food?
“As a young start-up, UK Pet Food membership is invaluable for us. Not only does it give us credibility with customers so they know they can trust they are feeding their cats high quality food, but it also provides us with really important industry data and knowledge which helps inform how we build Tippaws as it grows.”
Rachel Andre, Tippaws.
BEING OF THE INDUSTRY
“Every year we ask our members what they value from our services and activities. This year we are especially pleased to see that 93% value our effectiveness dealing with industry issues. As examples, I was pleased to speak to the BBC about the Cost of Living impacts and Nicole was interviewed about protecting key pet food ingredients from diversion to biofuel.”
Michael Bellingham, UK Pet Food Chief Executive
%
of members value UK Pet Food for responding to industry issues
%
of members value UK Pet Food for supporting members in all areas
* Responding to members, Raising Standards, Providing educational materials, Representing the Industry.
“For over 15 years, Fish4Pets has proudly been a part of UK Pet Food. Our longstanding membership serves as a beacon of reassurance for our customers, affirming our commitment to upholding the rigorous regulations and safety standards of the pet food industry. By actively engaging in various committees, we continuously stay updated on the latest advice and regulations, ensuring that we consistently deliver pet food that is both safe and nourishing.”
Ellie Merson, Fish4Pets .
We represent the Pet Food Industry throughout our media work
Articles recommending that owners look for pet food from a UK Pet Food Member
THE WAY
Knowledge
We set out to develop and impart knowledge by providing an excellent range of educational resources, from our Pet Food & Nutrition Training Course through to training on sustainability topics. These are all found on our updated website and in the member section. In addition, we share information and warnings on any upcoming changes to regulations and industry best practice. Members can also contact the team directly for any one-to-one advice.
Collaboration
Influence
UK Pet Food uses a single voice to communicate on important industry decisions and emerging topics.
UK Pet Food DATA
Every year, UK Pet Food commissions Pet Population Research – talking to 9000 members of the public.
Here we have a snapshot of our findings but more detail can be viewed in the statistics section of our website.
TOP TEN PETS 2024
UK Pet Food DATA
As the principal trade body representing the UK pet food industry, we gather market data on an annual basis.
Our 103 member companies account for over 90% of the UK market.
and how we work
UK PET FOOD
COMMITTEES & WORKING GROUPS
STATEMENT
UK Pet Food (previously known as the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association or PFMA) works to advance pet health and wellbeing with quality nutrition from a sustainable, progressive pet food industry.
We are an association for pet food manufacturers, suppliers, and the wider industry. Our members account for over 90% of the pet food market and are responsible for feeding the nation’s wide range of pets.
We support dynamic and responsible UK pet food manufacturing, representing our members’ views and striving to raise standards. Working with our teams of experts, we also provide educational information on pet nutrition and the manufacture of pet food.
MICHAEL BELLINGHAM
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
NICOLE PALEY
DEPUTY CHIEF EXECUTIVE
SARAH HORMOZI
HEAD OF SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
DONNA HOLLAND
Head of Technical & Regulatory Affairs
BETH MORGAN
Membership & Events Executive