TRADE TALK | PET GAZETTE |
5
BREXIT
PFMA PUBLISHES BREXIT MANIFESTO
With Brexit bills dominating the government
agenda and negotiations underway to seek
a new relationship with the EU, the Pet
Food Manufacturers’ Association (PFMA) has
published its Brexit Manifesto at pfma.org.
uk/brexit.
The trade body looks forward to working
with the new government to achieve a clear
and certain path ahead. Michael Bellingham,
PFMA chief executive comments: “Pets and
their owners are very important to us, as is
the economic environment in which they
have to make their purchasing decisions and
in which we have to source our raw materials
and sell our products.
“We will continue to monitor the Brexit
discussions and work proactively and
collaboratively for a successful outcome. The
importance to our sector of the European
market and a successful outcome to the
forthcoming negotiations cannot be
overestimated.”
The PFMA Brexit Manifesto focuses on five
areas:
1. “Safety standards, animal health and
welfare, for which the UK pet food sector has
a high reputation. We would like to see early
resolution of arrangements for veterinary
controls, on which our business depends.
PFMA has pointed out that in the UK 85
percent of official state vets carrying out
official controls are from other EU countries
and 30 percent of all vets come from the EU.
2. “Sustainability of supplies: We source
more than 80 percent of our raw materials
from the UK and wish to continue to do
so. In addition to the reliable supply of UK
agricultural raw materials, our domestic
farmers are also a key factor in safeguarding
high animal welfare, and food and feed
safety standards. We play a key role in
the sustainability of the supply chain, in
particular by using those parts of the animal
carcass which, whilst safe and wholesome,
are not used for human food and would
otherwise become an on-cost to the supply
chain for their appropriate disposal.
3. “Legislation: PFMA has worked closely
with UK officials and our EU counterparts
over several decades on the development
and implementation of the laws governing
pet food manufacture and content. PFMA
welcomes the commitment to bring the
acquis into UK law as part of the White Paper
on Legislating for the United Kingdom’s
withdrawal from the European Union. This
will ease the transition into a new trading
relationship with the EU and the rest of the
world. We urge the new government not
to seek to make changes to the regulatory
regime until the negotiations with the
European Commission and EU27 are
complete and our new relationships clear.
4. “Future trade: As a sector, we are
becoming increasingly concerned about
future market access arrangements with
the EU. We need to avoid barriers to trade,
both tariff and nontariff. Of particular
concern will be the potential requirement
for a substantial increase in Export Health
Certificates and additional bureaucracy in
the system, which may cause damaging
delays and add significant costs to
our business.
5. “Workforce: Access to people and skills
is as important as access to markets. As
a science-based industry, we also wish
to see clear arrangements for future
scientific cooperation and access to
relevant expertise.”
A copy of the full PFMA Brexit Manifesto is
available at: www.pfma.org.uk/brexit.
AWARD
TRULINE NAMED ‘BRAND
OF THE YEAR’
Truline, created by Pero Foods Ltd, has won
a Brand of the Year for Best Dry/Kibble Dog
Food of 2017 (UK).
The award ceremony which was held
at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna on the 21
June, saw several companies from around
the globe within the pet food industry
receiving awards in numerous categories.
Winners are judged through three streams;
brand valuation, consumer market research
and public online voting.
Pero’s director Jonathan Rees said, “We
are incredibly honoured and proud to have
received this prestigious award, a lot of
work has gone into perfecting our Truline
range of all natural and grain free dog and
cat foods. I’m delighted to see that our
www.petgazette.biz
product quality and hard work is being
recognized on a global scale.”
Richard Rowles, chairman of the World
Branding Forum followed with, “This is a
celebration of the hard work that goes into
building great brands, as over 70 percent of
the voting is done by consumers, winners
of the awards clearly demonstrate that
they’ve built strong brand loyalty among
their customers and fans”.
July 2017