Saturday, February 25, 2012
Something to Chew On
In one of the various industry periodicals I read, an article stated that a company who specializes in developing palatability for pet food, (yes, there are companies that don’t make pet food, just find ways to get pets to eat it!) has now teamed up with a perfume and flavoring company. They are going to launch a new “Feel Good” program that will allow pet food manufacturers to make products that have perfume applied so that will be more pleasing to pet owners as well as the pets. Apparently, they are going to be able to inject a masking perfume into finished product like roasted chicken, beef and Italian seasoning.
It appears that the intention is to add a pleasing aroma for the benefit of the customer, but has no added nutritional value for the pet. So obviously, if the customers didn’t like the smell of the original product, then they were naturally placing a negative opinion on the product that it might not be good. Or maybe rather, the manufacturer could not (or would not) make a product that naturally smelled fresh, clean and had a favorable aroma. Like the formulas Flint River Ranch has been successfully making for over 18 years!
Another issue is that these aromas are going to be able to last all the way through to the end of the bag. That’s a pretty vigorous perfume to last for weeks or more, and I wonder if they are going to be natural or chemical in their origin? I’m betting that to stay that potent it will be chemical in origin. Low quality meat ingredients of limited nutritional value are still limited in nutritional value regardless of any aroma being added. Moldy grain sprayed with perfume is still moldy grain.
Folks, this is just another way that some in the pet food industry continue to misrepresent their products. If they wanted to make a food that always smelled welcoming and fresh; like Flint River Ranch does, they would. They could, but most don’t. There are still companies that will misrepresent, confuse and trick consumers into thinking that what they are feeding to their pets is good and wholesome. Some do it with cute, colorful, fun-shaped kibbles that trick the consumer into thinking that they are feeding real vegetables like carrots, peas, meat bits and such. In reality, it’s just another dry kibble that’s been dyed a color. Others do it with their impressive graphics and marketing on their bags, full of flashy colors, happy, healthy-looking pets, pictures of supposed fresh, whole meats and vegetables put into the kibbles. It’s a misrepresentation and mainly marketing hype just to get people to buy the product. They only want to move product; not make a positive & permanent positive impact on a pet’s health. Now they’re going to use these powerful aroma additives to further trick the consumers and make the pets key in on the smell and flavor over producing a quality food!
It’s just wrong and again this is another reason why I’m so proud of what Jim started over 18 years ago. We stand by what we do and how we make it and always will. Yes, I know we’re a premium-priced food in the marketplace, but our pricing is competitive even with the included shipping. There is a reason we will not skimp on the quality of the ingredients or our oven-baking process. We stand by the performance that we know our formulas will provide. There’s an old adage that you can get by eating fast food all day, every day. But knowing the health impact, why would you want too? Masking the aroma of the finished product to the consumer is just wrong and this type of practice and the marketing surrounding it continues to frustrate me because there is always a trickle-down effect to those of us who are trying to do this business correctly. Just want to keep you informed.
Thank you for being involved!
Jay P. Margedant, President
