From Scott Freeman, founder and owner of Nature's Logic:
This is a true story. In talking with a dog food plant that makes kibble for private labels, a customer came to them with a formula, which included “dehydrated chicken”. When the pet food company was ready to begin production, they asked the customer to supply them with the dehydrated chicken since they did not have this ingredient. The customer told the dog food plant to just use chicken meal. The plant explained they could not do that because chicken meal cannot be called dehydrated chicken. The customer asked why they couldn’t; because this is the way he was going to differentiate his food from other foods.
This is a true story. In talking with a dog food plant that makes kibble for private labels, a customer came to them with a formula, which included “dehydrated chicken”. When the pet food company was ready to begin production, they asked the customer to supply them with the dehydrated chicken since they did not have this ingredient. The customer told the dog food plant to just use chicken meal. The plant explained they could not do that because chicken meal cannot be called dehydrated chicken. The customer asked why they couldn’t; because this is the way he was going to differentiate his food from other foods.
It seems the customer was trying to be different without
being different at all. Only on the false label would he have been different.
In the pet food industry we have all seen this battle to
differentiate. Grain free diets come out using potato. Then another grain free
diet comes out using tapioca, saying why tapioca is better than potato and yet
another grain free diet is released using peas instead of potatoes, explaining why
peas are better. Etc., etc., etc.
Now that the grain free buzz has saturated the market,
single protein limited ingredient diets are starting to make their debut. Why?
Well of course, to show that a brand is different and then create marketing
around it to reel in customers.
