Mars Petcare Launches First MSC-Certified Pet Food Lines

This is the latest milestone in the Mars Petcare sustainability journey. In April last year, Mars Petcare, the world’s largest petcare business, committed to using only sustainably sourced fish by 2020.

3/15/2011 --- Mars Petcare has achieved an important milestone in its ongoing sustainability journey, with the introduction of Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) endorsed pet food products in UK stores. Selected packs from Mars Petcare’s SHEBA and WHISKAS lines are now MSC-certified and available in-store, offering consumers a choice of more sustainable pet food products for the very first time.

This is the latest milestone in the Mars Petcare sustainability journey. In April last year, Mars Petcare, the world’s largest petcare business, committed to using only sustainably sourced fish by 2020. Set against a backdrop of dwindling global fish stocks, Mars worked with World Wide Fund (WWF) to develop its fish sustainability commitment. The company aims to achieve the following milestones, across its entire petcare portfolio:

• Only using fish from 100% sustainable wild catch and sustainable aquaculture sources
• Replacing all wild catch whole fish and fish fillet with sustainable fish by-products and sustainable aquaculture.
• Only using sustainable alternatives to marine fish ingredients.

Oceans are still under global threat as issues such as an increased demand for seafood and unsustainable fishing practices threaten fragile fish stocks.  That is why Mars Petcare believes that it can have a positive impact on the protection of the world’s oceans and act as a catalyst for the market by working with sustainability organisations such as WWF and the MSC in Europe. Today’s announcement is the latest milestone is this long term journey towards sustainability.

Toby Middleton, MSC UK Manager said: “For consumers, making the best environmental choice can be tricky – especially when you are trying to apply the same ethical values to all aspects of your weekly shop. Making sustainable seafood choices can be a particular challenge, whether you are looking for sustainable haddock for the family or cat food for the family pet. By sourcing MSC certified fish and using the MSC ecolabel in these new ranges, Mars Petcare has made it simple for cat owners to shop with confidence and to reward sustainable fishing practice – even when buying for pets.”