Pet Food and Animal Welfare: What Goes Into the Bowl

Pet food production is a major consumer of animal by-products and whole animals. The welfare implications of pet food supply chains are increasingly recognised.

Key Facts

The global pet food market is worth over $100 billion annually, consuming millions of tonnes of animal-derived ingredients.
Most commercial pet foods use by-products from human food production — parts not consumed by humans.
Some premium pet food brands use whole cuts of meat explicitly sourced for pet food, raising welfare questions about those supply chains.
Insect-based pet foods offer a potentially lower-welfare-cost protein source if insects are farmed with appropriate welfare consideration.
Wild-caught fish is a major ingredient in cat food; marine sustainability and fish welfare are both relevant concerns.
The "human-grade" designation in some pet foods does not imply higher animal welfare in ingredient supply chains.
Certification schemes for human food supply chains do not automatically transfer to pet food ingredients.
Plant-based and cultivated meat pet foods are under development and may reduce reliance on conventional animal-derived ingredients.

Welfare Considerations

Pet food sits at an uncomfortable intersection of animal welfare concerns: the welfare of companion animals is served by appropriate nutrition, but producing that nutrition involves welfare costs to other animals in the supply chain. By-product utilisation — using parts of animals already slaughtered for human food — has a reasonable welfare argument: the welfare cost has already been incurred, and using by-products avoids waste. More ethically challenging are premium pet foods that source whole animals specifically for pet food production from intensive farming systems. The emergence of insect-protein, plant-protein, and cultivated meat options for pet food provides a genuine opportunity for consumers and manufacturers to reduce the welfare footprint of pet nutrition without compromising companion animal health.

What You Can Do

Research the supply chain welfare implications of the pet food brands you buy.
Consider insect-protein or plant-protein pet foods where nutritionally appropriate for your pet.
Support certification of pet food supply chains that verifies welfare standards for ingredient animals.
Advocate for pet food labelling that discloses ingredient sources and welfare practices.
Support research into nutritionally complete plant-based and cultivated meat pet foods.
Apply the same welfare scrutiny to pet food as to your own food choices.