Mars Pet Nutrition adopts science-led innovation to stay ahead in evolving pet market

Mars Pet Nutrition intensifies focus on science-driven innovation to meet the rising demand for healthier, personalised, and sustainable pet products amid a surge in first-time pet owners and advancing pet health needs.

Mars Pet Nutrition is leaning harder into science-led innovation as it seeks to meet changing expectations among pet owners, according to comments from Elisabetta Pierangelo, the company’s global vice-president of research and development.

In a Q&A with Pet Food Processing, Pierangelo said her relatively recent move into the category forced her to learn quickly, but also gave her an advantage: she could bring practices from other sectors into a business that already had deep technical expertise. She said that mix has helped reshape Mars’s approach to innovation, with a stronger operating model, broader pipelines and greater use of digital tools.

That push comes as the company faces a market in which, Pierangelo said, 47% of its 440 million pet parents are first-time owners, with demand rising for products that are healthier, more personalised, sustainable and affordable. She added that pet food is becoming more sophisticated, blending nutrition, biology and processing to address issues such as gut and oral health.

Mars has been investing accordingly. Food Navigator-USA reported in January that the company put €1.4 million into its Birstall Innovation Hub, while Mars has also named Christina Ruggiero regional president for North America and Natalia Ball global chief growth officer for pet nutrition.