Sustainability in Pet Food: From Ingredients to Packaging

In pet food, sustainability is reflected in everything from ingredients to packaging. Sustainability has become increasingly important in the pet food industry. Pet owners want to take good care of their pets and expect the same from the companies behind the products. This is why the importance of domestic production, quality, and transparency continues to grow.

One thing stands out about pet owners: they tend to be more interested in their pet’s food than their own.

“An essential aspect of sustainability in pet food is how nutritious and safe the food is, since every owner wants to care for their pet,” says sustainability consultant Mari Sillanpää, who works at Ecobio, a company that also supports Prima Pet’s sustainability efforts.

Regardless of industry, sustainability has become an increasingly significant issue for companies. It is driven by corporate goals, stakeholder expectations, and partly by tightening legislation. More and more businesses are realizing that, in the long run, operating sustainably is also economically beneficial.

Customer expectations play a major role as well. The growing curiosity of dog and cat owners is increasingly visible in the pet food sector.

“Pet owners ask a lot of questions about ingredients and their origins. Most inquiries, however, are related to quality. Interest in farm animal welfare, the environmental impacts of products, and carbon footprints is also steadily increasing,” says Tiina Wemberg, sustainability specialist at Prima Pet.

Sustainability is complex, not black and white

In everyday thinking, responsibility means roughly the same as good judgment and decent behavior. In business, however, responsibility is built on three pillars, known collectively as ESG: Environmental, Social, and Governance.

The environmental aspect often takes center stage. It encompasses humanity’s major and urgent challenges, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and the shortage of fresh water.

“In pet food, the key elements of sustainability are ingredients and their origins. Animal-based raw materials typically have a higher environmental impact and emissions than plant-based ones, just like in human food,” explains Sillanpää.

So, is keeping a pet responsible in itself?

Yes, says Sillanpää. Pets have been proven to improve their owners’ well-being.

“Sustainability cannot be viewed as a black-and-white, zero-sum game.”

Cats and dogs need meat in their diet, but unlike humans, they can’t make that choice themselves. Pet food uses a significant amount of animal protein that comes from by-products of the human food industry, in other words, pets help ensure that nothing goes to waste.

“Every activity creates emissions. The question is what conscious choices we make. Do we, for example, choose a low-emission product made locally in a domestic factory? And how do we act in our everyday lives to avoid food waste, both for ourselves and our pets?” Sillanpää points out.

Consumers recognize greenwashing: actions matter

Even though greenwashing is now regulated by law, many companies still communicate claims that are true but not necessarily rooted in genuine commitment to sustainability. According to Tiina Wemberg, this is a short-sighted approach.

“People are smart. It’s no longer worth bragging about things like recycling cardboard at the factory. Those are expected basics nowadays,” says Wemberg.

Instead, Prima Pet can credibly communicate actions such as improving plastic collection, since both Finnish consumers and companies still lag behind EU targets in that area. The company can also talk about switching to more easily recyclable packaging materials, or redesigning packages so that more of them fit into a single truckload.

“Sustainability claims must have real significance and if you make one, you must be able to prove it,” Wemberg emphasizes.

Sillanpää also encourages looking at sustainability through the lenses of governance and social responsibility. The longer the supply chains, the harder it becomes for consumers to be confident about the welfare of production animals or workers involved.

“Transparency in supply chains can be challenging, even when taken seriously. Perhaps that’s one reason why we Finns prefer domestic products, things made here are perceived as responsible,” Sillanpää says.

Quality and product safety matter more than country of origin

Is a Finnish-made product always responsible? That’s a question worth careful thought, says Sillanpää. In recent years, even Finland has seen reports of labor exploitation in various sectors. At the same time, many EU countries invest just as much, or even more, in improving working conditions.

“Being Finnish isn’t an automatic guarantee of responsibility. However, by buying domestically produced goods, you can more likely trust that companies operate in accordance with labor laws,” Sillanpää explains.

To minimize transport emissions, raw materials should be sourced nearby. However, local production doesn’t always mean staying within national borders. For example, Helsinki is geographically closer to Estonia than to Northern Ostrobothnia. In pet food, sourcing within the European Union is often the most reasonable and sustainable approach.

“If we promise to use only Finnish potatoes, what happens if they’re unavailable? A similar ingredient produced abroad can be just as high-quality. That’s why, in responsible sourcing, quality, product safety, and availability are more reliable criteria than geography alone,” Wemberg notes.

So, what should a pet food buyer think about all this? Sillanpää offers advice that applies to all kinds of products: stay curious and make the smartest choices you can.

“Sustainability isn’t about one single product. It’s about all the choices we make in our lives. When shopping, it’s worth paying attention to where a product comes from, what it’s made of, how it’s packaged, and, above all, how transparently and clearly the manufacturer communicates about it,” Sillanpää concludes.