From a General Mills (parent company of Blue Buffalo) press release: “Blue Buffalo — the most loved and trusted natural pet food brand in the U.S. — is entering fresh pet food with the national launch of ‘Love Made Fresh,’ offering pet parents more ways to love and feed their pets like family.”
Blue Buffalo states their new products will be released later this year.
This move by Blue Buffalo is following a similar fresh pet food product release by Mars Petcare Royal Canin.
So why is Big Pet Feed entering the fresh pet food market? If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
Or it could be $$$.
From market research firm Technavio, “The fresh pet food market in US size is estimated to grow by USD 3.2 billion from 2025-2029…”
But what about those veterinarians that not so long ago referred to fresh pet foods as “boutique“, warning pet owners against them?
On Facebook, Dr. Karen Becker explains: “For years, many conventional vets have defended ultra-processed diets as the gold standard of nutrition— more nutritious and safer than fresh, minimally foods (for pets, not for people…. figure that one out). But if Big Kibble is now shifting toward fresher foods, their argument just lost its teeth. It’ll be so interesting to watch the conventional vet community respond to it, because every doctor that sells Mars products is going to have to accept that it could become one of their top selling foods, but in a format they’ve argued against their entire careers.”
General Mills is a human food brand. The question will be…will General Mills produce a human grade fresh pet food, or will General Mills produce a feed grade pet food? When the products are released, we will learn more.
Be aware however, that as more large manufacturers enters into the fresh pet food market – pet owners will have no guarantee their products are manufactured with quality human grade ingredients. We can safely assume these products – as many of the highly processed pet foods – will contain misleading images of grilled or roasted meats when the actual product contains nothing similar.
We (Association for Truth in Pet Food) asked the FDA three years ago to require disclosure of quality of ingredients on pet food labels (disclose feed grade or human grade ingredient quality). Our request was based on the federal law requirements that two foods (as example human grade chicken and feed grade chicken) cannot have “confusingly similar” names. Three years later, we are STILL WAITING on their response.
Ask your pet food manufacturer if ingredients are human grade/human edible or feed grade. Purchase your pet foods from local independent pet stores that have already done the homework on each brand they sell.
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
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Eileen
June 24, 2025 at 12:05 pm
After reading all this junk they are putting into the human supply chain including organic, I don’t trust them. They can take their mRNA injected beef and eat it themselves or feed to their dogs. Not mine. Cynicism aside, I do agree that regardless of the quality of meat, it is definitely way better than kibble or even canned, and maybe while HHS cleans up our food supply, these practices will eventually filter down into the pet food supply chain.
Dave
June 24, 2025 at 12:49 pm
Just what is “fresh pet food”? It shouldn’t require defining, but that’s not how it works when commerce is involved. How do you define it vs. how the industry defines it?
Susan Thixton
June 24, 2025 at 2:48 pm
At this point, it does not have a legal definition. But I believe because big pet feed is getting into this style – there needs to be a legal definition.
Bob
June 24, 2025 at 4:32 pm
Dr. Becker said conventional vets defend ultra proccessed diets – figure that one out…not hard to figure out..kind of like the old toothpaste commercial, “4 out of 5 dentists recommend crest toothpaste.”..why? Because 4 out of 5 dentists get kickbacks from Proctor and Gamble..plus Big Vet(?) can make it hard on the independent vets that don’t toe the party line..
Chrissy
June 24, 2025 at 5:28 pm
What’s your take on Fromms?
B Dawson
June 25, 2025 at 11:12 am
This is what happens repeatedly in the industry, right?
Small independent shops support a brand that promises to only sell to small independents. We build the brand for them and then they jump to big box stores once there’s a market. I remember decades ago challenging one of the company reps at SuperZoo about betraying their promise to the small shops and him saying: “we have to keep growing in order to survive as a business”. Of course the quality of the product also declined as production had to ramp up to meet big box requirements and I dropped their product.
The raw market is no different. A small passionate group of advocates refused to stop spreading the word even when targeted by regulatory prejudice and vet disapproval. Appaerntly now there is broad enough interest for the big corps to smell potential profits.
You’re right about the vets having to pivot now. I suspect that’s why both Mars and Blue are calling their products “fresh” instead of “raw”. I’m betting that the products are going to be pasteurized, HPP or “gently cooked”. That allows them to still trash talk truly raw food and lecture consumers about the dangers in making their own.
As to the quality it depends upon what their marketing plan is. It’s unlikely be human grade if they expect to put it stores alongside products such as Fresh Pet. There isn’t enough human grade meat available for that sort of production. Neman’s Own ran into this problem when they briefly tried to do human grade pet food and had trouble securing enough chicken (and there was no H5N1 causing massive culling at that time). And then there’s the price point that argues against it if you want space in the grocery store. Whole Foods might sustain a premium price product but not many others. Cold storage space is expensive and the perishable product has move quickly to be profitable.
If however, they are looking to enter the high end previously mocked “boutique” market and compete with companies such as The Farmer’s Dog or Darwin’s, that’s different. Even in this weird economy, there are folks able to afford $9.00+ per pound. Being able to pick it up locally or have a vet pitch it at the clinic may prove more attractive than shipping.
Going to be interesting to see you follow this, Susan.