PET Food Processing - October 2019 - 50

ASSOCIATIONS

Pet Food

ALLIANCE
A collaborative space for pet food, meat and
rendering industry professionals and academics.
"It was a natural
connection for
the rendering
industry and
the pet food
industry to
join forces to
get better and
they've done
that quite
successfully
during the
past two years
through PFA."

FAST FACTS

Jennifer Martin, Ph.D.,
assistant professor,
Colorado State University

50

P

Pet Food Alliance (PFA) was started nearly two
years ago at Colorado State University (CSU) in
Fort Collins, Colorado. Since then, individuals representing various sectors of the pet food and rendering industries have met twice a year, once in the
summer and again in the winter, to collaborate on
some of the challenges and opportunities they see
for these industries.
PFA was established on five key pillars: a focus
on uniting members of the pet food and rendering industries; engagement with and encouragement of widespread participation from additional
industry members; facilitating research guided by
industry input to address real-world challenges;
establishing multidisciplinary collaborations with
academia and industry; and proactively building
industry sustainability through all its initiatives.
This alliance for research and innovation in the
pet food and rendering industries started with
around 30 members and has grown to more than
100. One of the fundamental components of PFA
is to not only combine members of the pet food
industry and the rendering industry but combine efforts with the academic communities that

Founded: 2017
Headquarters: Fort Collins, Colorado
Events: Annual Summer and Winter Meetings
Website: www.fprfalliance.agsci.colostate.edu/

PET FOOD PROCESSING | 2019 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

have interests in these industries as well. PFA has
been funded in large part by the Fats and Protein
Research Foundation, whose mission is to fund
research that helps ensure a strong future for the
rendering industry and its industry partners.
Jennifer Martin, Ph.D., assistant professor,
Center for Meat Safety and Quality, Department
of Animal Sciences at CSU, says there were two
pivotal ideas that led to the development of
PFA: research should be guided by industry input to develop implementable solutions, and all
players should be at the table.
Initially, PFA members and meeting attendees
identified a few important challenges facing both
industries and, out of that effort, working groups
were established to explore opportunities for addressing these challenges. Currently the PFA working groups are addressing three concerns: oxidation and product quality; Salmonella and product
safety; and consumer perception and sustainability
of the pet food and rendering industries.
PFA's 2019 Summer Meeting was held in
Loveland, Colorado in June, directly following the
Reciprocal Meat Conference. The meeting drew
120 attendees from the pet food and rendering
industries to discuss key topics, including oxidation, sustainability, changes in the export market, and new food safety tools. Working groups
were also given the opportunity to meet and identify opportunities for improvement, collaboration
and growth.
This collaborative effort focused on the betterment of the pet food and rendering industries continues to grow and gain momentum.
http://www.fprfalliance.agsci.colostate.edu/ http://www.petfoodprocessing.net
PET Food Processing - October 2019

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