There is an increase in private labeling of pet goods which can make it difficult for families to distinguish between good and bad products.
What is private labeling?
Private labeling is when a company asks someone else to make a product for them, but put the company’s name on the label. We’re familiar with groceries that private label. The grocery develops a label, but not the product. The grocery buys the product from a distributor. The distributor buys ingredients from several different companies, and the more different suppliers the distributor uses, the more it is assured of a constant supply—although the less it will be certain of the quality of the ingredients.
What's the trouble with private labeling?
As an example of private labeling, a grocery’s store brand of sliced ham could contain meat from South Carolina flavored with maple sugar from Canada, and it would bear a label that says “made in the U.S.” It is the ability to buy ingredients from different countries and put them together in the US under a “made in the US” label that made it difficult for families to tell which dog and cat foods were contaminated with Chinese wheat gluten during the pet food poisonings last summer. Among companies that private labeled and marketed pet food with Chinese ingredients were Diamond, Eukanuba, Iams, and many others.
Why private label?
Given the potential for disaster, why do dog food companies and groceries private label foods?--Money. Companies make more profit from goods bearing their own label because they can control total cost and how much of that cost is profit. For example, the British company Tesco set its profit on private label items at 21% about 4 years ago. Then, each year Tesco raised its profit by 3% so that today private labeled Tesco goods net a profit of 34%.
Other ways to make money with private-labeled goods
In addition to making money by controlling percentage of profit, companies can increase profit if they tell distributors to purchase cheaper ingredients. Thus, a company marketing dog food can tell the distributor to switch from moderately-priced fish to the cheapest fish on the market. As consumers, we won’t know the switch has been made because there’s no indication on the label. Unfortunately, this is not a case of what we don’t know won’t hurt us because fish becomes cheap because it is older and oxidized. The more oxidized it is, the greater the likelihood it will generate f free radicals within our pets’ cells. Free radicals promote DNA damage, and this damage predisposes to the development of cancer. In dogs with a genetic tendency to develop cancer, the healthy-sounding pet food that’s full of fish may be precisely the reason that cancer develops.
How widespread is private labelling?
Currently, 16% of goods are marketed under private labels, but the percentage is expected to grow to 25% within 10 years. At 25%, goods sold under private labels would represent over $55 billion in annual sales.
What can you do to keep your pet healthy?
As a consumer, what can you do to keep your pet healthy?
1. Make more of your own food and use less of commercial food.
2. Buy pet food from small companies that are building their reputation and for whom every sale counts.
3. Avoid buying from established companies with shareholders. Generally, shareholders focus is on dividends and not on the health of your pet.
4. Don’t generalize and assume that because there are good items in a company’s line of goods, their other items will also be good. For example, don’t assume that because a company has a good joint medication it also has good pet food.
5. Realize that all companies have a limited amount of money to spend and the more they put into developing a beautiful label or TV commercials, the less money they allocated to buy premium ingredients.
6. Ask holistic veterinarians what they feed their pets and why.
To learn more about keeping your pet healthy and how to avoid spending your money on products that aren’t good for your pet, visit the Nutrition Section in Holistic Veterinary Medicine at www.YoMamaWasADog.com.
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What is private labeling?
Private labeling is when a company asks someone else to make a product for them, but put the company’s name on the label. We’re familiar with groceries that private label. The grocery develops a label, but not the product. The grocery buys the product from a distributor. The distributor buys ingredients from several different companies, and the more different suppliers the distributor uses, the more it is assured of a constant supply—although the less it will be certain of the quality of the ingredients.
What's the trouble with private labeling?
As an example of private labeling, a grocery’s store brand of sliced ham could contain meat from South Carolina flavored with maple sugar from Canada, and it would bear a label that says “made in the U.S.” It is the ability to buy ingredients from different countries and put them together in the US under a “made in the US” label that made it difficult for families to tell which dog and cat foods were contaminated with Chinese wheat gluten during the pet food poisonings last summer. Among companies that private labeled and marketed pet food with Chinese ingredients were Diamond, Eukanuba, Iams, and many others.
Why private label?
Given the potential for disaster, why do dog food companies and groceries private label foods?--Money. Companies make more profit from goods bearing their own label because they can control total cost and how much of that cost is profit. For example, the British company Tesco set its profit on private label items at 21% about 4 years ago. Then, each year Tesco raised its profit by 3% so that today private labeled Tesco goods net a profit of 34%.
Other ways to make money with private-labeled goods
In addition to making money by controlling percentage of profit, companies can increase profit if they tell distributors to purchase cheaper ingredients. Thus, a company marketing dog food can tell the distributor to switch from moderately-priced fish to the cheapest fish on the market. As consumers, we won’t know the switch has been made because there’s no indication on the label. Unfortunately, this is not a case of what we don’t know won’t hurt us because fish becomes cheap because it is older and oxidized. The more oxidized it is, the greater the likelihood it will generate f free radicals within our pets’ cells. Free radicals promote DNA damage, and this damage predisposes to the development of cancer. In dogs with a genetic tendency to develop cancer, the healthy-sounding pet food that’s full of fish may be precisely the reason that cancer develops.
How widespread is private labelling?
Currently, 16% of goods are marketed under private labels, but the percentage is expected to grow to 25% within 10 years. At 25%, goods sold under private labels would represent over $55 billion in annual sales.
What can you do to keep your pet healthy?
As a consumer, what can you do to keep your pet healthy?
1. Make more of your own food and use less of commercial food.
2. Buy pet food from small companies that are building their reputation and for whom every sale counts.
3. Avoid buying from established companies with shareholders. Generally, shareholders focus is on dividends and not on the health of your pet.
4. Don’t generalize and assume that because there are good items in a company’s line of goods, their other items will also be good. For example, don’t assume that because a company has a good joint medication it also has good pet food.
5. Realize that all companies have a limited amount of money to spend and the more they put into developing a beautiful label or TV commercials, the less money they allocated to buy premium ingredients.
6. Ask holistic veterinarians what they feed their pets and why.
To learn more about keeping your pet healthy and how to avoid spending your money on products that aren’t good for your pet, visit the Nutrition Section in Holistic Veterinary Medicine at www.YoMamaWasADog.com.
