Pet Food Collab 2026 spotlights research and industry ties
Bottom line
More than 150 pet food professionals, academics, students, and suppliers gathered at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas, on October 14–15 for Pet Food Collab 2026, the conference formerly known as KibbleCon, according to Pet Food Processing and K-State event materials. The event is positioned as a bridge between industry and academia, with programming aimed at decision makers, researchers, students, and service providers. This year’s agenda centered on sustainability, processing and pet health, functional nutrition, sensory science, cat feeding behavior, student research, and structured networking, including a Student & Industry Collab preconference. (k-state.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the meeting is another sign that pet food R&D conversations are moving beyond formulation alone and deeper into processing effects, functional ingredients, feeding behavior, and product validation. That matters because these are the issues that increasingly shape client questions, manufacturer claims, and the evidence base behind diets recommended in practice. K-State’s pet food program is also expanding its role as a convening hub, backed by the university’s newly opened Western Star Global Grain and Food Center, which includes feed and pet food pilot-plant capacity designed for hands-on research and industry collaboration. (k-state.edu)
What to watch: Watch for post-event takeaways, published research, and new industry-academic partnerships emerging from the conference’s student presentations, roundtables, and pilot-scale collaboration pipeline at K-State. (k-state.edu)
Pet Food Collab 2026 brought more than 150 attendees to Kansas State University on October 14–15, underscoring how much the pet food sector is leaning on shared research, cross-functional networking, and university partnerships to tackle fast-moving questions in nutrition, processing, and product development. Formerly known as KibbleCon, the event drew pet food professionals, academics, students, and other stakeholders to Manhattan, Kansas, for two days of presentations and discussion. (k-state.edu)
The conference’s evolution from KibbleCon to Pet Food Collab reflects a broader repositioning around collaboration rather than a traditional trade-event model. K-State describes the meeting as a place where industry decision makers can learn about emerging research and technology, academics can better understand industry pain points, students can explore career paths, and suppliers can connect with manufacturers and researchers. That framing is consistent with a wider trend in pet food toward tighter ties among R&D, commercialization, quality, and consumer insight teams. (k-state.edu)
This year’s agenda shows where those conversations are heading. Sessions included sustainability perceptions in the pet food industry, quality specification strategy, what is and isn’t known about processing and pet health, the human “food as medicine” crossover into functional pet food, sensory data in product innovation, and cat feeding behavior as a lens for welfare and product design. The program also included student posters, oral presentations, roundtable discussions, and a dedicated Student & Industry Collab preconference, signaling a strong workforce-development component alongside the science. (k-state.edu)
Speaker backgrounds added to that mix of applied science and commercial relevance. K-State lists presenters including Dr. Júlia Guazzelli Pezzali, the university’s pet food program director, whose research focuses on how processing affects nutritional quality and nutrient digestion in dogs and cats; Dr. Josh Hasty, whose background spans FSQA, R&D, and commercialization in meat and pet food; Nicole Hill of MarketPlace, who focuses on consumer and market intelligence; and Dr. Xin Yang, whose work centers on functional food systems and “food as medicine.” (k-state.edu)
Industry-facing reaction around the event has emphasized exactly that intersection of research and practical application. On the event site, past participants describe Pet Food Collab as an R&D-focused forum for technical knowledge-sharing and a venue for connecting K-State research with industry needs. K-State also highlights the conference as a place for “industry thought leaders, risk mitigation specialists, market analysts, leading equipment and ingredient suppliers, and researchers and graduate students” to meet in one setting. While those comments are promotional, they align with the conference structure and with broader industry messaging that future product innovation will depend on closer collaboration across manufacturing, nutrition, safety, and consumer trust. (k-state.edu)
Why it matters: For veterinarians and veterinary nutrition stakeholders, meetings like this are useful because they preview the issues likely to show up next in clinical conversations with pet parents and in manufacturer marketing. Topics such as ultra-processing, functional ingredients, sustainability, and feeding behavior are increasingly shaping how diets are positioned in the market. Understanding where the science is still emerging, and where claims may be running ahead of evidence, can help clinicians better evaluate products and counsel pet parents. (k-state.edu)
There’s also a structural story here. In September 2026, K-State opened the Western Star Global Grain and Food Center, a $130 million facility that houses feed and pet food science alongside food and grain programs, with pilot-scale processing spaces and collaboration areas for students, researchers, and industry partners. That kind of infrastructure can accelerate translational work, from ingredient and processing studies to product prototyping and workforce training, giving Pet Food Collab a stronger institutional base than a standalone annual event would have on its own. (ksu.edu)
What to watch: The next signals will likely be post-conference summaries, follow-on partnerships, and eventual publication or commercialization of work discussed at the meeting, especially around processing effects, functional nutrition, and product validation. Veterinary professionals should also watch whether these themes translate into new claims, new formulations, or new evidence that changes how diets are discussed in practice. (k-state.edu)