Mars switches to sustainably-sourced fish in pet food

06-04-2010 | Feed processing | News

All fish products in pet foods like Pedigree, Whiskas and Sheba will only be sustainably-sourced by 2020. Mars, one of the largest pet food producers in the world, announced this last week.

Mars agreed on this initiative with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The company will rely on the Marine Stewardship Council’s certification scheme to ensure that its petcare products contain only fish from sustainable wild catch and sustainable aquaculture sources.

Mars also says it will use only "sustainable alternatives" when replacing marine fish ingredients.

The company claims it is the first pet food maker to commit to sustainable fish. The first sustainable-sourced fish will be processed in Europe this year.

"We are now the first pet company to make a commitment to sustainable fish, and we hope that will act as a catalyst for the whole industry," said Mark Johnson, Mars Petcare UK general manager.

Mars and WWF have agreed on the following targets:

To only use fish and fish products from 100% sustainable wild catch and sustainable aquaculture;
To replace fish and fish products from wild catch by sustainable fish byproducts and sustainable aquaculture, and
To only use sustainable alternatives for marine fish ingredients.