What is the difference between human food and pet food manufacturing?

There was a time when human and pet food manufacturing were two completely different markets, but today these markets are rapidly converging under the pressures of regulatory and consumer demands.
Human food manufacturing is referred to as “hygienic”, meaning that it meets rigorous food safety, quality, sanitation, traceability, and process integrity standards as a matter of human safety and public health. Traditionally, pet food manufacturing has not been required to meet these same hygienic standards, but these times are changing rapidly.

In recent decades, pet food has become increasingly viewed as human-adjacent, served in our homes to pets that carry a familial pedigree. In this context, pet food is bought by and scrutinized by humans, making pet food branding and quality really a matter of pleasing human consumers. This adds heightened expectations for human-grade food safety and nutritional value in pet food.