Exhibitors at Petfood Forum 2025, held April 28-30 in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., emphasized innovation, partnership and industry collaboration as key themes driving their participation in the annual pet food industry gathering.
Coperion’s Food, Health and Nutrition division used the event to demonstrate its expanding integrated solutions portfolio, featuring live equipment demonstrations and remote service capabilities. The company showcased its E-finity Dense Phase Conveying System, Baker Perkins ServoForm Mini Depositor, and Connect Advisor remote service platform to attendees.
“In the past year, we’ve been working diligently with not only integration but also transformation,” said Matt Craig, president of Coperion FHN. “This has allowed us to focus on our markets – with pet food being a major focus.”
Coperion’s presence highlighted its recent strategic acquisitions that have unified technology brands including Baker Perkins, Kemutec, K-Tron, Shick Esteve and Unifiller under its comprehensive process solutions umbrella.
Sustainability is a hot topic of conversation
IQI Trusted Petfood Ingredients reported strong engagement through its “Experience Our Open Table” event and booth conversations. “Petfood Forum 2025 was a fantastic success,” an IQI representative noted. “From our booth conversations to our meeting room discussions, it was a great opportunity to connect, exchange ideas, and collaborate on the future of the pet food industry.”
The company particularly highlighted sustainability discussions led by OSI Group’s Gail Tavill during Petfood Essentials, focusing on Scope 3 emissions related to purchased goods and services.
During her session, Human Food and Pet Food Sectors Working Together to Deliver Sustainability Outcomes, Tavill shared real-world examples of how custom supply chain solutions can deliver verifiable carbon reductions and create value for customers.
Collaborating closely with suppliers and adapting proven practices from the human food sector can help pet food companies set achievable carbon reduction targets and create measurable, claimable sustainability outcomes across the supply chain, Tavill said.
“Engage with your suppliers to have a meaningful exchange to adopt meaningful measures,” she advised. “It adds value to everyone’s sustainability objectives.”
For Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, Petfood Forum reinforced its partnership-focused approach to pet food industry engagement.Paul Ward PhotographyReinforcing partnerships
For Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, this year’s Petfood Forum reinforced its partnership-focused approach to industry engagement. Haley Laskey, marketing supervisor, emphasized how meaningful connections emerged from technical discussions rather than traditional sales pitches.
“Our goal wasn’t just to discuss what we offer – it was to connect with others who share our focus on solving real challenges in pet nutrition,” Laskey explained. “One of the most memorable interactions came after a session when someone approached us with a question that led to a broader discussion about a formulation issue they’d been working through.”
The collaborative spirit extended beyond individual company booths, with exhibitors noting the value of knowledge-sharing conversations that developed organically throughout the three-day event.
“Exhibiting at Petfood Forum is about more than visibility for us,” Laskey added. “It’s a place to strengthen relationships and explore what we can accomplish together.”
All three companies expressed enthusiasm for returning to next year’s Petfood Forum event, scheduled for April 27-29, 2026, indicating strong industry confidence in the trade show’s continued value as a platform for innovation and partnership development in the pet food sector.