From a General Mills (parent company of Blue Buffalo) press release: “Blue Buffalo — the most loved and trusted natural pet food brand in the U.S. — is entering fresh pet food with the national launch of ‘Love Made Fresh,’ offering pet parents more ways to love and feed their pets like family.”
Blue Buffalo states their new products will be released later this year.
This move by Blue Buffalo is following a similar fresh pet food product release by Mars Petcare Royal Canin.
So why is Big Pet Feed entering the fresh pet food market? If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Or it could be $$$.
From market research firm Technavio, “The fresh pet food market in US size is estimated to grow by USD 3.2 billion from 2025-2029…”
But what about those veterinarians that not so long ago referred to fresh pet foods as “boutique“, warning pet owners against them?
On Facebook, Dr. Karen Becker explains: “For years, many conventional vets have defended ultra-processed diets as the gold standard of nutrition— more nutritious and safer than fresh, minimally foods (for pets, not for people…. figure that one out). But if Big Kibble is now shifting toward fresher foods, their argument just lost its teeth. It’ll be so interesting to watch the conventional vet community respond to it, because every doctor that sells Mars products is going to have to accept that it could become one of their top selling foods, but in a format they’ve argued against their entire careers.”
General Mills is a human food brand. The question will be…will General Mills produce a human grade fresh pet food, or will General Mills produce a feed grade pet food? When the products are released, we will learn more.
Be aware however, that as more large manufacturers enters into the fresh pet food market – pet owners will have no guarantee their products are manufactured with quality human grade ingredients. We can safely assume these products – as many of the highly processed pet foods – will contain misleading images of grilled or roasted meats when the actual product contains nothing similar.
We (Association for Truth in Pet Food) asked the FDA three years ago to require disclosure of quality of ingredients on pet food labels (disclose feed grade or human grade ingredient quality). Our request was based on the federal law requirements that two foods (as example human grade chicken and feed grade chicken) cannot have “confusingly similar” names. Three years later, we are STILL WAITING on their response.
Ask your pet food manufacturer if ingredients are human grade/human edible or feed grade. Purchase your pet foods from local independent pet stores that have already done the homework on each brand they sell.
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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