ARLINGTON, VA. — The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) on July 13 began accepting nominations for its 2022 Friend of Pet Food Award.

The Friend of Pet Food Award was introduced in 2019 to recognize members of the pet food industry who have made significant contributions to support growth and innovation. An “ideal nominee,” according to AFIA, is currently active in the pet food industry or a related sector including product development, transportation, regulatory, academia, media or promotion.

“As the science around animal nutrition evolves, we depend on talented individuals to help us research and think bigger about how we can deliver safe, innovative products to keep our pets fed sustainably into the future,” said Louise Calderwood, AFIA’s director of regulatory affairs. “The AFIA Friend of Pet Food Award is a great opportunity to nominate someone within your company who is going the extra mile for the betterment of pet nutrition and the industry.”

AFIA will accept nominations through Sept. 1, 2021. The recipient of the 2022 Friend of Pet Food Award will be invited to the AFIA Pet Food Conference on Jan. 25, held during International Production and Processing Expo in Atlanta, Ga., where they will be presented with an award plaque.

The inaugural 2020 Friend of Pet Food Award was presented to Kate Shoveller, Ph.D. of the University of Guelph and Gail Kuhlman, Ph.D. of Mars Petcare at AFIA’s 2020 Pet Food Conference.

The 2021 Friend of Pet Food Award was presented to Galen Rokey of Wenger Manufacturing, Inc. and Michael Panasevich of Summit Ridge Farms.