The Pet Food Association, with the cooperation of its corporate members, is committed to ensuring safety and improving the quality of pet food through the activities of the Technical Committee, Stable Supply Committee, and Public Awareness Committee, which can be broadly classified as (1) projects to protect the lives of pets, (2) projects to support the health of pets, and (3) projects to educate people about how to live better lives with pets. Some specific examples of these three business areas are the development of pet food quality guidelines, the promotion of the three qualifying exam systems (Pet Food and Pet Manners Examination, Pet Food Distributor Certification System, and Pet Food Safety Administrator Certification System), and a nationwide survey on actual conditions in dog and cat breeding. In addition, in December 2022, with the support of our member companies, we started "Pet Life Support", a program in which we cooperate with the Japan Pet Food and Products Wholesaler Association to provide expiring pet food to five animal protection centers in Kanagawa Prefecture free of charge. This program serves the dual purpose of supporting and promoting transfer activities at the same time that it reduces pet food loss and disposal on the part of member companies. Starting with facilities in Kanagawa Prefecture, the area served by this program will be expanded in stages.
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Living with pets has physical value that leads to improved health. It also has psychological value in that it provides comfort and relieves stress. Moreover, it has been shown to reduce the level of need for nursing care among the elderly, cutting nursing care expenses by half, which in turn reduces social welfare spending. This reduction in social welfare spending means that the presence of pets in society has social value even for people who don't have pets of their own. However, the number of households keeping pets continues to decrease in Japan, driven by demographic changes such as population decline, falling birthrate, growth in the elderly population, and increase in single-person households, along with a decline in the number of breeders that breed and raise animals. The decline in the number of households that can enjoy the psychological, physical, and social value that comes with pet ownership is a major challenge for our country. From the viewpoint of animal welfare, implanting pets with microchips became mandatory in June 2022 with the enforcement of all of the regulations and standards stipulated in the 4th revision of the Law for the Humane
Chairman of Japan Pet Food Association, an Incorporated Association