So what if your pet food is owned by a large marketing corporation or by a corporation that owns veterinary clinics?

• Lack of Transparency: Big corporations may prioritize profits over transparency, making it challenging to know the true ingredients and sourcing of your pet’s food.
• Lower Quality Ingredients: Cost-cutting measures by large corporations may lead to the use of lower-quality ingredients in pet food, potentially compromising your pet’s health. See recent findings 02/2024.
• Limited Nutritional Value: Mass-produced pet foods owned by big corporations may lack the necessary nutritional value, leading to potential health issues for your pet in the long run.
• Ethical Concerns: Some consumers may have ethical concerns about supporting large corporations that prioritize profits over animal welfare and sustainability.
• Reduced Personalization: Marketing-driven decisions by corporations may result in less personalized options for pet food, limiting choices that meet specific dietary needs or preferences.
• Risk of Recalls: Inadequate quality control and production standards in mass-produced pet foods can increase the risk of recalls due to contamination or safety issues. This is an older report from 2020 showing which companies lead the way in pounds of pet food recalled (link).
• Impact on Small Businesses: The dominance of big corporations in the pet food industry can overshadow smaller, independent pet food companies, limiting consumer choices and diversity in the market.
• Environmental Impact: Large-scale production methods employed by big corporations may have a significant environmental impact, including resource depletion, pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions.
• Conflict of Interest: When a company owns both veterinary clinics and pet food companies, it can lead to a conflict of interest where recommendations at the clinic may be influenced by the products the company sells, potentially compromising the quality of care provided to pets.

Who owns your pet food 2023/2024?

1. Nestle; 2022 Earnings $19.38 Billion
   1. Purina: Beneful, Beyond, Purina One, Bakers, Lily’s Kitchen, Terra Canis, Alpo, Fancy Feast, Felix, Friskie’s, Cat Chow, Dentalife, Kit and Kaboodle, Chef Michael’s, Zukes, Pioneer Woman
   2. Castor & Pollux: Organix & Merrick
   3. Land O Lakes: Purina Livestock Feeds and Horse Feed
2. Mars; 2022 Earnings $19.5 Billion
   1. PEDIGREE, Waltham Center for Pet Nutrition, WHISKAS, ROYAL CANIN, Acana, Little Cesar, Chappie, CRAVE, Craemier, Greenies, Eukanuba, Iams, James Wellloved, KITEKAT, Lovebug!, Misfits, Temptations, Nom Nom, Nutro Nutrition, Orijen, Peewee, Sheba, Dreamies
   2. Horse: Buckeye, Spillers, Winergy
   3. Veterinary Clinics: VCA Veterinary Clinics, Banfield Pet Hospital
3. Colgate-Palmolive; 2022 Earnings $3.7 Billion
   1. Hills Science Diet, Hills Prescription Diet, Science Diet, Prescription Diet, Ideal Balance, Healthy Advantage
4. Schell & Kampeter – Diamond; 2022 Earnings $1.5 Billion
   1. Diamond, Diamond Naturals, Taste of the Wild, Nutra Nuggets, Professional+, Diamond Pro89, Diamond CARE, Diamond Naturals Grain-Free, Nutra-Gold
   2. Co-pack: Kirkland (Costco), 4Health (Tractor Supply), Chicken Soup for the Soul Pet Food, Canidae, Solid Gold (some), many more.
5. Post Holdings, Inc (purchased 14 brands in 2023)
   1. Rachel Ray Nutrish, Nature’s Recipe, 9Lives, Kibbles ‘n Bits, Gravy Train, Perfection Pet Foods
6. General Mills; 2022 Earnings $2.3 Billion
   1. Blue Buffalo, Blue Wilderness, Blue Freedom, Blue Basic, Life Protect, Blue True Solution, Blue Natural Veterinary Diet

USA-based information. Brands change owners. Private companies often sell out to bigger corporations. 

Switch to one of our independent pet food brands and see the difference in less than 60 days!