Rebound from Pet Food Recall Expected Slow: Trade Survey

Retailers and other industry players expect it to take from six months to a year for the pet food category to recover from the damage dealt it by the recent pet food safety crisis, according to a poll conducted by The Phil Lempert Report.

Lempert's latest monthly e-newsletter, "Food, Nutrition & Science from The Lempert Report," reported the results of a poll of the letter's trade subscriber base of more than 6,500, asking "Since the pet food recalls, how long do you think it will take for sales to recover?"

The majority of respondents predicted said they expected a recovery to take six months to a year, with 23 percent predicting a year, and another 23 percent estimated recovery within six months.

Twenty-one percent of respondents suggested only "three months" would be enough for sales to bounce back, while 13 percent swung in the other direction, guessing it would take as long as two years, and seven percent said as long as five years. Another 13 percent predicted sales would never recover.

Lempert said the poll netted more than 1,000 responses.

The e-newsletter, released earlier this week, also contained information and analysis on trends and issues such as:
--The impact of COOL rules on fresh proteins.
--The state of safety inspections of imported seafood
--The primacy of flavor as a determinant in consumer purchases of fresh produce, according to a recent PMA study.
--And a guest column by Harriet Solar, head corporate dietitian for The Kroger Co., on the touch points for "the modern consumer" regarding nutrition and food safety.
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