Recorded live at Pet Food Forum as part of the Real Science Exchange podcast Student Showcase, this episode features insights from the Student Showcase Kansas State: Pet Food Sustainability and explores how veterinarians and consumers define sustainability in pet food and what those perceptions mean for product recommendations, purchasing decisions, and marketing strategies.
Episode 27: Student Showcase: Kansas State
🎧 Episode Overview:
What does sustainability in pet food really mean to veterinarians and consumers, and how should pet food companies communicate it?
In this Student Showcase episode of the Real Science Exchange, host Scott Sorrell, Director of Global Marketing at Balchem, is joined by Delaney New and Kanyon Alexander of Kansas State University, along with Dr. Lonnie Hobbs Jr. of Kansas State University. Together, they explore student-led research examining pet food sustainability from veterinarian and consumer perspectives and what the findings could mean for pet food brands, marketers, nutrition professionals, and other industry decision makers.
Their conversation reveals an important theme: sustainability can influence perceptions, but it rarely exists in isolation. Pet health, product benefits, animal welfare, transparency, and trust all play a role in how veterinarians and consumers evaluate sustainable pet food products.
Understanding Sustainability in the Pet Food Industry
The episode begins with an introduction to the Student Showcase and the importance of supporting the next generation of researchers. Dr. Hobbs introduces Delaney and Kanyon’s research and explains how their projects approach sustainability from two distinct perspectives: veterinarians and pet owners. 00:00 – 06:25
Delaney’s research focuses on how veterinarians perceive sustainability and how those perceptions influence pet food recommendations. The study found that 68% of surveyed veterinarians primarily viewed sustainability through an environmental lens, including the responsible use of resources and environmental stewardship. However, when veterinarians actually recommend products, benefits to the pet remain the primary consideration, positioning sustainability as an additional benefit rather than the leading reason for recommendation. 06:26 – 11:19
The conversation further explores how veterinarians define sustainability and how those definitions compare with consumer perceptions. Environmental resources, long-term stewardship, and maintaining the environment emerge as common themes, but the findings reinforce that pet health and product efficacy remain central to decision-making. 11:20 – 12:58
Connecting Sustainability Claims to Pet Benefits
So, how can pet food companies put these insights into practice? Dr. Hobbs explains that sustainability claims may have greater relevance when they are connected to clear, meaningful benefits for the pet rather than communicated as standalone product attributes. For pet food companies, understanding what matters to the audience can help shape clearer sustainability messaging and positioning. 12:59 – 15:57
The conversation then turns to Kanyon’s research on consumer perceptions of sustainability in pet food. Using a nationally representative survey of U.S. pet owners, the research found greater interest in sustainability among younger generations. Across demographics, consumers placed more importance on animal welfare-related measures of sustainability than environmental topics such as emissions, soil preservation, and water conservation. 15:58 – 19:55
Defining Sustainability for Pet Food Consumers
One challenge quickly becomes clear: sustainability can mean different things to different people. The panel explores environmental, animal welfare, social, and economic aspects of sustainability, each of which can carry a different meaning for veterinarians, consumers, and pet food companies.
That complexity makes clarity particularly important. The speakers discuss how clearer sustainability claims and certifications may help consumers better understand what a company means when it describes a pet food product, ingredient, or business practice as sustainable. 19:56 – 22:48
Building Trust Through Transparent Sustainability Communication
Trust becomes another major theme of the episode. Kanyon describes sustainability as a trust-based attribute because consumers cannot easily verify many sustainability claims after purchasing a product. That puts greater importance on transparency, credible certifications, and the reputation behind the brand.
The panel also explores where consumers find information and the growing role of social media and digital channels in the purchasing journey. For pet food companies, effective communication requires not only understanding what information an audience wants, but also recognizing where that audience goes to find it. 22:49 – 32:45
AI, Search and the Future of Pet Food Product Discovery
Looking ahead, the conversation examines how artificial intelligence could influence the ways consumers discover products and make purchasing decisions. As search behaviors evolve, the speakers emphasize the importance of making product information discoverable across search platforms, social media, online marketplaces, and emerging AI-driven tools. 32:46 – 36:51
For pet food brands, the discussion highlights an increasingly important intersection between consumer research, digital visibility, sustainability communication, and brand trust.
What Pet Food Companies Can Take Away
The episode closes with practical takeaways for pet food industry decision makers. Kanyon emphasizes how consumer research can help companies better understand and market sustainability, while Delaney reinforces the importance of connecting sustainability with meaningful benefits for pets. Dr. Hobbs brings the two perspectives together, emphasizing that companies first need to understand how their target audiences define sustainability before determining how to communicate its value. 36:52 – End
Ultimately, the research points to one central message: sustainability can be a valuable differentiator in the pet food industry, but its impact depends on how clearly, it is defined, how credibly it is communicated, and how well it connects with the outcomes veterinarians and pet owners value.
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