Pet Food

Pet food is the plant or animal material that is used to feed our pets. Because we share our food supply with our pets, the safety and quality of our food is interconnected with the way that pet food is made, used, and monitored. Pet food as we know it [Page 1138]today—that is, commercial pet food—is a huge industry. In 2009, Americans spent $45 billion on their pets, with pet food, the single largest category, accounting for $17.4 billion. The role pets play in the lives of their owners has changed over the past 100 years. People increasingly rely on their pets for companionship and emotional support, and pets are commonly thought of as members of the family. It is this changed role that has ...