INSPIRATION: animal tales

Dining with Four-legged Friends

by DEBBIE RENTON

Organic foods have earned a place in our pets’ diet

Dusty, Sassy and Dillon line up for fresh-baked organic biscuits.
photo by ROBERT AGLI

AVVY AMERICAN CONSUMERS ARE JUMPING on the organic-goods bandwagon to improve their health and the environment. Now they’re bringing their pets to the table, too.

The production of organic goods is based on a system of farming that maintains the fertility of soil without using fertilizers or toxic and persistent pesticides. The organic industry in the United States grew a healthy 17 percent in 2005, according to the Organic Trade Association’s 2006 Manufacturer Survey, the latest year for which data are available. Sales of nonfood organic products, of which pet foods are included, grew 32.5 percent, with U.S. sales reaching $744 million. Pet food ranked second among the fastest-growing nonfood categories—behind organic flowers—growing at a rate of 46 percent according to the survey.

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