Summary: On May 7, 2024, the 2024 German Interzoo Nuremberg Pet Show opened at the Nuremberg International Exhibition Center, with more than 2,000 exhibitors from more than 60 countries gathered in Nuremberg.
According to pet industry news, the German local pet cat food brand LEONARDO (aka: Little Plum) and its sister brand BELCANDO Bergado dog food brand appeared at the exhibition site and exhibited a variety of new products.
In addition, during the Nuremberg Pet Show, the parent company of Xiaolizi and the Bergado brand, BEWITAL, also launched a brand traceability activity, inviting delegations from China, Spain, Finland, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Japan and other countries to visit its pet food factory in the Münster administrative region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
For the products exhibited at the exhibition and the brand traceability activities, the pet industry contacted the relevant person in charge of BEWITAL China, who introduced the product information and the details of the event to the pet industry, as follows:
More than 60 years of development history
BEWITAL products have been exported to more than 60 countries around the world
According to public information, the German Bernhard Wigger founded BEWITAL in 1963, when BEWITAL was still a small agricultural company.
IN 1971, AFTER YEARS OF DEVELOPMENT, BEWITAL WAS ALREADY TAKING SHAPE; In the early 80s of the 20th century, the company's first dog food developed by BEWITAL together with nutritionists came out, and was well received by the majority of professional dog trainers and breeders, and achieved excellent results in important competitions and championships of many dog associations, and gradually became a product relied on by many national and world champions.
Since the early 90s of the last century, BEWITAL's pet product range has been continuously expanded, and now BEWITAL has grown into an international group, with a number of pet brands such as BELCANDO, LEONARDO, BEWI DOG, BEWI CAT, etc., with partners from more than 60 countries around the world, including China, France, Chile, Spain, Romania, Greece and other countries are its important overseas markets.
According to the person in charge, BEWITAL's overseas business accounts for 45% of the total business, and for this reason, in order to facilitate the reception of customers from many countries at the Nuremberg exhibition, the members of BEWITAL's international sales business department will receive customers from different countries according to their language, so as to serve the agent teams in various countries.
It will be a supernova small plum canned catnip unveiled in Nuremberg
Bergado exhibits "Superfood" formula pets
At the Nuremberg Pet Show, BEWITAL exhibited its full range of products such as Little Plum Cat Food and Bergado Dog Food, which have entered the Chinese market.
Among them, there are many types of small plum dry food, including fresh meat series cat food for the high-end market - made with up to 85% fresh meat, launching three flavors of beef, duck and salmon, 250g, 1.5kg and 4kg, as well as a series of dry cat food for different needs, different ages, different body types and multiple formulas.
The full range of wet food products includes: high-end line filet series staple food cans, classic quality selection series staple food cans, staple food meal packs and Drinks soup packets.
In addition, Xiaoli Cat Food has also launched three new products, including the new product Preferred (Catnip) series of classic canned food, elderly cat meal kits, and a grain-free kidney-friendly dry food for elderly cats, which debuted at the domestic IT Expo in April. Among them, the catnip series preferably canned food has more than 94% meat content, and catnip is specially added to make the cat's dining process more pleasant, and this series will soon be fully listed in China.
New catnip series staple food cans
It is worth noting that Xiao Lizi's classic dry food, meal bags, and canned food have all been upgraded in outer packaging - the cover information is more concise and clear, the cat picture is more vibrant, and the bottom of the packaging bag is widened, making it easier for the dry food bag to stand on the shelf and other planes; And some of the newly upgraded dry foods are more palatable.
Belgado, a sister brand of small plums specializing in dog food, also exhibited a new product - dog snacks, which are made by fresh meat drying process, free of grains and sugar, and have five flavors, including beef, horse meat, mutton, duck and chicken, with two shapes of meat strips and meat cubes to choose from, and "superfoods" are specially added to the meat strip recipe, including brewer's yeast, krill and herbs.
Belgado dog treats range of air-dried meat strips and meat cubes
On the second day of the Nuremberg Pet Show, Xiao Li Zi also held a press conference at the exhibition site, at the press conference, the German export business and marketing team shared with the delegation of national agents from more than 20 countries around the world that in the past five years, the overall market situation of cat food and dog food at the production end of BEWITAL - the sales of cat food products have exceeded that of dog food products, as well as the market growth data of Xiao Li Zi cat food in Europe and overseas.
A journey to the origin of the brand
MULTINATIONAL DELEGATION VISITS BEWITAL'S GERMAN FACTORY
During the Nuremberg Pet Fair, BEWITAL also organized a brand traceability activity, and the person in charge said that in addition to the Chinese delegation, there were also visiting groups from Spain, Finland, Ireland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Andorra, Ecuador, Malaysia, Japan and other countries.
Dr. Wigger, the current heir of BEWITAL, introduced the company's situation in recent years to the guests, he said that with the prosperity and development of the international pet industry, the BEWITAL pet food factory is also constantly updating and expanding new factories, the dry food factory will be expanded for the first time in 2021, the new administrative office building will be completed in 2023, and the doubling and expansion of the wet food production line that is currently ongoing by 2024 also further reflects the steady and healthy development of this old German pet food manufacturer.
Subsequently, Dr. Wigger also demonstrated to the guests through a video demonstration of BEWITAL's self-developed dry grain hot mix extrusion process, which uses steam instead of traditional mechanical grinding, which consumes less energy and retains more nutrients in the raw materials.
The person in charge told the pet industry that the entire brand traceability activity is divided into 5 parts. Covering an area of 120,000 square meters, BEWITAL has a production plant with a degree of automation of more than 90% from raw material handling, production and processing to storage and transportation, and the entire plant is divided into a premix factory, a wet grain plant, a dry food factory, a laboratory and a logistics center.
1. Premix factory: Most of the meat raw materials come from suppliers within 100 kilometers of the factory in Germany to ensure that the ingredients are fresh, and fruits and vegetables come from suppliers in the catering industry who supply human consumption.
In a premix plant, premixes such as animal fats, salmon oils, minerals, etc., are all placed in smaller containers and added directly to the blender, rather than being transported via pipes to ensure that there is no loss in the addition process that could affect the ingredient content.
2. Laboratory: Each batch of raw materials will be sampled and sent to the laboratory for testing as soon as possible after delivery, and then enter the factory. The raw materials are ground and put into the testing machine, and the detection time of the instrument only needs 15 seconds, which mainly detects the ash, protein, fat and microbial detection of the raw materials, and the detection results are accurate. In addition, the meat is also tested for DNA to ensure that the type of meat source is accurate.
3. Wet grain plant: Because the canning process will affect the production quality, especially the cooking time and temperature will affect the palatability, the process, time and temperature need to be strictly controlled. For this purpose, BEWITAL has selected high-quality retort machines, and at the same time, a canned temperature detector will be placed in the test tank, which will enter the retort together with the filled product, so as to ensure that the product in different positions in the retort reaches the same cooking time and temperature, so that the product has the same production quality. At the same time, the sealing process of meal bags and canned food will also be regularly tested to ensure consistent quality.
At present, in order to meet the demand of customers for meal kits, BEWITAL has built a new production line and doubled its production capacity. It is worth noting that BEWITAL's meal packs use ultrasonic sealing technology to ensure a tight seal.
4. Dry food factory: BEWITAL's unique hot mixing process ensures the highest quality of production, not only the raw materials in the particles are uniform, but also the production process consumes less energy, and the nutrients of the raw materials are retained to a greater extent. During this visit, we will crush the prefabricated pellets before drying, and see with our own eyes that the internal raw materials are very uniform, and then these particles enter the dryer for drying treatment and then bagged.
5. Logistics center: The high-bay warehouse built in 2021 can accommodate a month's storage capacity of inventory and about 12,000 pallets of goods. The entire warehouse is 27 meters high and equipped with a fully automated storage system that can be operated unmanned. The logistics center employs 80 people and has 72 cargo trucks, which are dedicated to the transportation of BEWITAL's various products, including agricultural and pet food.
For the visit to the factory, the guests present said that the visit to the German BEWITAL factory, whether it is from warehousing, logistics and transportation to the dry and wet grain factory, all reveal the professionalism and rigor of the Germans.
Dr. Wigger, the current chairman of BEWITAL, also said that the two major brands of Leonardo (small plum) and Bergado have been growing, and BEWITAL will continue to deepen the international market in the future, aiming at the Chinese market, in addition to the existing wet food category, Bergardo high fresh meat content dog dry food master selection series has been launched in China, and the two brands will introduce more products in the future to enrich the product categories in China.