Like many industries, sustainability issues now sprawl across many different sectors of a business.
While it would be nice to think that all businesses ‘go green’ because it gives themselves a warm fuzzy feeling – the reality is, that they are doing it to differentiate, and appear nicer than their competitors. They might also be able to charge a premium out of it. At the end of the day, sustainability for most businesses are doing what they can easily advertise about, and charge extra for.
And because this topic for dog treats is so multi-faceted, to do it justice this article will just concentrate on the “product” considerations only.
In this article on dog chews wholesale information we will look at : sustainable ingredient sourcing, Certifications and standards and Reducing packaging waste.
1 sustainable ingredient sourcing.
You might think this is a no brainer, and easily done. But I fact like much of the human food chain, it is one of the hardest things to guarantee. Typically, its up to the retailer who buys the product to trust the wholesaler that they are doing the right thing.
This is because for a wholesaler, the source of their product (either another wholesaler or a dryer), is the main secret of their success. If every retailer knew where their competitors got their fantastic treats from, then no one would have an advantage.
It in fact is hard enough to get a wholesaler who can provide quality treats when they arrive at a retailer’s doorstep, let alone stay that way, and come with an ethically sourced guarantee.
And because this is a major secret of success, it is highly unlikely unless you buy from a wholesaler, who is also the retailer, who has the farm under a water tight contract, that you will ever know specifically where the dog treats originated from.
So yes, its great that people are becoming more aware of how dog treats are made, and sustainable and ethical considerations, but you might also ask, if they knew, would they be willing to pay a large premium to have those considerations involved with the creation of the treat? Perhaps only the well-heeled and very eager might – which might be a very small, unsustainable (as far as a a business goes) part of the market.
Standards and certifications
If you are a drier of meat products in any developed country, you require an expensive permit, with a lot of documentation to do so. This kind of certification acts very much as a barrier to entry and ensures wholesale prices remain high.
Unfortunately, because most dog food has less than 40% meat, it often doesn’t even come under any such scrutiny that a 100% single ingredient meat treat will.
Besides certifications making sure that treats are dried properly, the other main standard that some people like to chase is the “organic treat” symbol.
That is a very admirable idea, but like many people now know, you can have an organic certified field of barely right next to another farm that has heavy spraying practices (non-organic).
If you are buying beef dog treats, do you want this chemical free, and will that include no vaccinations of the cows – which might very adversely affect the wellbeing of the cows?
If you want your meat for your dog’s hormone and growth hormone in particular, free, would you be happy to pay a premium because the cow doesn’t grow as large as fast, as the common practice of farms to give growth hormone to much of their livestock?
CONCLUSIONS
These are just two of the sustainable and ethical considerations of dog food and dog treats that you will need to consider when buying products. Because of the secrecy behind sources, because it’s a major competitor advantage, you might never know where your product comes from anyway. You should be told which country, but not down to the state level.
This means having big trust in how a business conducts itself, and if you trust that the wholesalers, they deal with are as sustainable and ethical as you think the retailer is.
And that, in a very short number of words, is a tiny issue with knowing how ethical your dog treats really are … or can be, from the right supplier.
