The Trump administration’s ramped-up biofuel mandate is unleashing a fresh battle in the fight over fuel versus food: It could be making dinner more expensive for your dog.
That is the view of the Pet Food Institute, a trade group for companies like Purina and Royal Canin that together make around 10 million tons a year of dog and cat food and worry about ever-increasing amounts of a key ingredient — animal fat — being diverted to make biomass-based diesel.
“As biofuel demand continues to expand, many of these same ingredients remain essential to pet food production,” said Elise Fennig, president and CEO of the Pet Food Institute, with 22 member companies representing most of the nation’s pet food manufacturing across 33 states.
“That increased competition for key ingredients is likely to put pressure on the availability and cost of key pet food ingredients and, ultimately, pet food prices,” Fennig said in a news release, urging a “balanced approach” to meeting demand.
