Pet food packaging gives us plenty to compare, but how much does it actually tell us about the food? Recorded at SUPERZOO 2026, this episode brings Fromm Family Pet Food’s PhD nutritionist, Dr. Danielle Opetz, together with hosts Jordan Tyler and Dr. Stephanie Clark to unpack Fromm’s guiding philosophy. They explore why digestibility, nutrient availability, and processing deserve more attention than the latest buzzword, and how marketing can leave pet owners feeling guilty, when they should be feeling informed.

Plus, Danielle shares the thinking behind Fromm’s commitment to independent pet retailers and what’s next for targeted nutrition. Along the way, cats get some attention, pet treats start looking suspiciously like toddler snacks, and “human-grade” gets a reality check.

Helpful Links:

🐶Learn more about Fromm Family Pet Food: https://frommfamily.com/

🐕And check out Fromm Family Nutritionals: https://frommfamily.com/nutritionals-dog/

Episode Chapters:

00:00 — Intro: Meet Fromm's Dr. Danielle Opetz

02:27 — The Danger of Over-Supplementing Pets (More Isn't Better)

05:39 — Targeted Pet Nutrition & Local Pet Store Advice

09:44 — How to Avoid Pet Food Fads & Marketing Myths

16:33 — "Human-Grade" Cat & Dog Food Claims Explained (SUPERZOO)

21:20 — The Future of Fromm Pet Food & Upcoming Innovations

INTRO VO

You're listening to the Barking Mad Podcast.

Stephanie Clark

Are we okay with that? Do we really know what we were asking for?

Jordan Tyler

You can't look at an ingredient label and just assume.

Stephanie Clark

I'm going to ask you: Show me the data. I took a shower this month. I'm extra fresh. Like, what does it mean, America?!

Jordan Tyler

There's actually a lot to unpack here.

Stephanie Clark

I mean, insert Mean Girls clip here.

Jordan Tyler

Let this be a lesson, you know.

INTRO VO

Welcome in to the Barking Mad Podcast, a podcast for the pet obsessed with the real experts.

Jordan Tyler

Fromm Family Pet Food has been around for a long time. Like 75 years, a long time. And when you've been in the pet industry that long, you've seen a lot of things come and go, become the next big thing, fall out of favor, and come right back around again. So, when Dr. Danielle Opetz, a PhD nutritionist from Fromm, joined Doctor Stephanie at SUPERZOO, we wanted to know what 75 years in this industry teaches you about making pet food and about not getting distracted by all the flashy trends and buzzwords.

Jordan Tyler

A lot of it comes down to a surprisingly simple philosophy, which kicks off our conversation into formulation processing, marketing claims pet retail, what caught our attention at SUPERZOO, and why cats might finally be getting their moment? We even learn a new technical term for cats that eat too fast, but I'll let you discover that one for yourself.

Jordan Tyler

For now, our conversation with Dr. Danielle Opetz.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Jordan Tyler

Wow!

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So, quite a long time.

Jordan Tyler

I didn’t realize that.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Dr. Danielle Opetz

We started in it, I guess, pet food in 19 or 1949. That's when we marketed the first dog food, complete dog food. Philosophy wise, I would say our tagline since the early 1990s has been: “More isn't better. Better is better.” So, talking about, you know, you can add in as much of something as you want, but in excess that can become a problem, or it can create downstream effects in that host animal.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So, you know, more isn’t better, better is better. Higher quality ingredients, better nutrient availability, bioavailability, those things. So, I would say that's kind of our foundational principle of how we formulate our products and how we go to market. “More isn't better. Better is better.” And in this space, I mean, we can all see different brands in their packages.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And, you know, somebody can say they have X amount of protein in a product, and then somebody comes in and they're 1% lower or 1% higher. The perception is, the one that's higher is better. But you know, you go through that testing, you go through utilizing research animals and you're like, was that 1% actually better where all those essential amino acids hit?

Dr. Stephanie Clark

What was your digestibility…? Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And you know, you learn all those things in research. And that's why manufacturers have to do their due diligence. But again, it really goes back to that, that core philosophy that we have: More isn't better. Better is better.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, I love that. It's funny because in media, you know, a lot of times, especially digital media, I say all the time: More is more! You know? Like, it's all about being consistent and putting yourself out there. But when it comes to nutrition, that is not the case at all. It is too precise. It's too much of a science to fudge it either way.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Do people take that into consideration? Yes, we can jam all this protein in here, but are those essential amino acids being hit? And you know, what's our limiting factor? And again, the digestibility, it's incredibly important.

Stephanie Clark

Yeah yeah. People forget all about that. Looking at the label, I see it all the time like people just looking at like the ingredient deck and they're judging a whole bag based on the ingredient deck. And I'm like, “This isn't really tell you much… If anything.”

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I was going to say… if anything.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And it's hard because, you know, you flip over the back of one bag or one manufacturer's product and then you look at another one and they might be similar.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

But when you go and test them, you know they're completely different. Those panels can read very, very similar or even identical. And the way they perform in that host animal is vastly different.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yes. So it just talks about, you know, ingredient quality, availability of those nutrients and then just digestibility and putting it in real world application. Yeah.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah. That's so, so important is like okay, how is this actually going to work in a, in a real setting when there is, you know, factors that we can't control, which is like that's, you know… science is amazing for all of that, but that's why we have to bring science into the into the real world, into life before we can say, “Okay, yeah, this is what we need to be doing.”

Dr. Stephanie Clark

So, I want to switch topics and talk about the award that you won. Congratulations!

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Thank you!

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Tell us a little bit about that. Tell us like what line won the award.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Tell the audience all about it please.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. And we have seen an incredible response to those products. We took them to the vet shows early this year to showcase them. Our veterinary professionals are really excited about it. So, it's a great product line. It's… it gives retailers an opportunity to get new customers into their store. You know, Neighborhood Pet is shrinking, if you will.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So how do we get some of those new customers back into Neighborhood Pet?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Because from exclusively is only sold in neighborhood pet stores. You know, not in any of those big box stores, Chewy, PetSmart. So, we really rely on those independent retailers to tell our brand story. So again, if we can get new customers into their stores and give them a solution to something that… give them a product that those customers can utilize to help for the total wellness of that pet, that's incredibly powerful.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. So, our retailers are super excited about it. We won that award. It's kind of my brainchild for those products, so I'm super excited. It's a group effort obviously. But yeah, it's been incredible. And quite honestly we're already looking to expand those products. So, it's exciting. It's super exciting. And I think that, you know, it's fun when you can create those products and then bring it to market and see it do incredibly well.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

It's rewarding.

Jordan Tyler

Congratulations.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Thank you.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, yeah. Super rewarding and refreshing to hear you talk about these benefits through the lens of independent retail and neighborhood pet stores, which are really struggling in the face of a lot of brands deciding to go for different channels. And you guys have been really, really dedicated to the Neighborhood Pet channel, you know, even among… as e-commerce and DTC.

Jordan Tyler

And it seems like everybody is moving in that direction. So, what's that like? Is are you what else do you do other than, you know, just dedicating your the sales of your products to the independent pet channel? Like how else do you support that and like use that as like a community building tool, I guess?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. So, I mean, we're building the community through different campaigns or different promotions throughout the year. At the beginning of this year, we launched a campaign that was the Give Back campaign. Som supporting 501-C3 or rescue organizations and adoptable pets find homes and partnering with retail or retail spaces and, you know, doing a Friday/Saturday/Sunday event and just kind of getting the word out there about these rescues that, again, need to find all these, these pets’ homes.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So, we give back in the community in many different ways. Our owner’s also in the hospitality side of things. So, we have a brewery, we've got restaurants, the restaurants are pet friendly. So, it kind of brings everything together. In Wisconsin, we've got a big campus. So, we're really dedicated to giving back to the community, supporting those independent pet stores just because we think they can tell our brand story best.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And keep that consistent message that we're after. And again, we look at because it's important to again retain those customers with the shrinking market, but also get new customers in their door that, you know, are looking for a solution because their dog has diarrhea or, you know, something that they can afford, or a better-quality product than what they were previously feeding.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, and it comes back to it, the accessibility aspect of it too, which I think is, is a really cool throughline of your brand. Right? It's “better is better,” but it's also the most expensive thing. Doesn't need to be the best thing or the best thing doesn't have to be the most expensive thing is, I guess what I meant to say… you can have affordable, accessible, high quality nutrition.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Oh yeah, definitely. And again, it goes back to your formulation, the expertise of going through that formulation, and processing. You know, some people forget that, yeah, extrusion is a process, but fine tuning that extrusion process can, you know, really impact the quality of the product as it performs in the animal. So, you know, again, there's this umbrella of extrusion, but it can really differ from brand to brand or, you know, gently cooked.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

It's applicable to all different formats. But yeah, again, processing plays a huge role beyond just formulation, ingredient quality, those things. And sometimes I think our customers forget about that.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah yeah. Or processing gets a bad rap, right? Like processing just means bad. And it's like no, no... Like, you know, we have to soak our beans before we eat them and we have to cook them if we want to digest them. Does that mean it's bad? No, it's just the processing of, you know, lentils or beans or whatever. And the same thing is true for pet food. And so, it's sad to see that, like the word processing just gets like such a bad rap.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I think a lot of marketing is focusing on processing these days. And it's unfortunate because we just all do it in different ways. Doesn't mean that one is necessarily butter because there's so… it's multi-factorial! There's so many different things.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Thank you. Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And it's not bad to do it different ways you know.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

That's such an important message that pet owners need to hear. Because the fear mongering and the, “If you feed X, you don't love your dog this much.” And it's just like we all just want to do right by our pets. We all love our pets. But like the guilt of are you feeding them the right thing? Come on, we're all trying.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah, we're just trying. We're doing our best.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah.

Jordan Tyler

I'm curious. This is kind of like taking a step back, zooming out a little bit. If you have an idea of, like, the longevity of the company, like what lessons you guys have learned, like along the way, like when it comes to nutrition or when it comes to the way that you market. Just like, what is it like being such a long-standing company in an industry where there are, you know, about half of the industry, I would argue, or newcomers at any given moment.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I think it's really interesting to see how claims or marketing kind of corner you at a certain point, and you can just see other manufacturers and you know what? What are they putting on the front of package? And, you know, two years down the line, three years down the line, it kind of comes full circle.

Jordan Tyler

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And it's like, Fromm really doesn't market foods in a play me way like a fun way.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

We do it in a fun way and we're very transparent. We don't go after the fads, I guess is what I'm trying to say. We don't follow those trends. And I think that has a really sometimes been very challenging.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I get it.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Because you have like, why don't you have this claim on your package? All my consumers want this, this claim you need to get with the times.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And it's like, well, I think in a couple of years you're going to see that that turn around here.

Jordan Tyler

Just trust me.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So again, being a in the industry for as long as we have, you kind of see those trends come and go. Yeah. And you know we see it with ingredients to you know, at one point people thought it was turning their dogs red… but now people was kind of like a gold standard of a fiber source inhelping with the gut microbiome.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah… So again, just seeing some of those things come and go. But the marketing claims in just the fads and the deception, some of those claims.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

It makes things challenging out there when you're trying to stick true to your roots and be as transparent as possible. It's challenging. It makes our jobs very difficult.

Jordan Tyler

It's like the people that are doing it right and that have integrity in the way that they're doing it get bogged down because the people that are doing it, you know, in a guilt or a fear-based way or doing so oversimplifying something to death where it doesn't make any sense anymore. It doesn't represent what it actually is supposed to represent.

Jordan Tyler

And like your passion, you're passionate about this space, about what you do, about pets, about formulating with integrity. Sorry—that was wompy womp womp...

Dr. Stephanie Clark

No, no, it's so true though because and I'm sitting here thinking like… we have brands that are like, “Well, I want to do what this brand is doing.” And it's like, well, that brand isn't maybe being so truthful... And it's like, “Well, they can say it, I can say it too.” And I'm like, I have this same conversation with my daughter.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Like just because someone says, you know, mom lets them do it doesn't mean that I'm going to let you do it like you're my child. I'm responsible for you. And so anyway, that was… But yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

It is. Okay. We've got like: “I want to do that!” And then you just like stack on the trends and it's like no one has ever been doing it correctly, truthfully, transparently. And so now and you've got pet owners that are like, well, yeah, I see it. I see it everywhere I hear it. It must be true. And so yeah.

Jordan Tyler

I do like your approach though, to marketing. Like having like characters and things that like promote your, your products and your different lines and those extensions and having having more fun with it being memorable and relatable and not using guilt or fear or like FOMO or exclusivity, you know, drive the sale of the product. You're letting the product speak for itself, really.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. And I think that really speaks to how purchasing pet food is a very emotional… it's very emotional! So, tying some of those things back to that buying experience is incredibly powerful. And, you know, we use chefs for our Four Star products and kind of elevate that experience because it's a gourmet pet food. It's inspired by global cuisine.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

The characters for the Crunchy-O’s flavors. I mean, rewarding your pet, treating your pets supposed to be fun. So, you know that aligns with the product line or like nutritionals, it has more of a clinical look. It's a white bag, a colorful application, but we try to match up the… what do I want to say, the personality of the product line to the package to better align with the customer's buying experience.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Have you had a chance to walk the show floor?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I have not locked the show floor, but I went through the new product showcase this morning. Yeah.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Got to know: Anything catching your eye?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. Nothing too, too new that I was like, “Oh yes, that's a great idea.” Obviously we're seeing a lot of manufacturers get into the functional space. The trajectory of that in the industry is obviously exponential. So, that's to no surprise. One thing that we're noticing from our brands, but industry I guess, too, is the rise in cat food products.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

You know, the neighborhood pet dog I guess is pretty flat and stagnant. But cat’s up! And that is a huge opportunity for us. So, most of our businesses dog focus, just naturally. But this year we have launched quite a few cat products and it's exciting. So, it's kind of nice to see, you know, cat get some, get in the spotlight for once.

Jordan Tyler

Love it.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. But I don't know if I saw too many new cat products in the new product showcase that were, you know, very innovative.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah, everything that I saw, like cat related was either like sustainable letter or slow feeders.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah, I saw a lot of slow feeders.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I mean, they're super cute, but I'm like… okay, how many slow feeders do we need?

Jordan Tyler

That's really interesting. A slow feeder for cats because aren't they typically grazers, anyway?

Stephanie Clark

Some scarf and barf. Someone said that and I'm going to repeat it.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I'm going to note that.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah, it was really clever. I was like, oh, oh that was yeah, yeah…

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Would be a good brand name…

Stephanie Clark

I haven't had a cat in a hot minute because my husband is deathly allergic. But like, yeah, I guess some cats do scarf and barf.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I guess that's true.

Jordan Tyler

I believe it, I believe it.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

I saw a lot of, like, pouches and like, yogurt drops and like, a lot of things that, like, really resemble, like what I'm feeding my toddler right now. And so, I'm like, I get it. Like, we're prolonging, like having children and our pets are our babies. But like, now we're starting to feed them like babies. And so I was just like… huh, okay…

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Like, so many little pouches, but like, even like the little, like, freeze dried yogurt drops, like they're I'm like, okay, I get it. Like, we want to love—we do love them. Sometimes I love them more than my own kids. But, you know, I don't know if I ever want to, like, pull a pouch out for, like, my dog and my child…

Jordan Tyler

Plus, what if you get a mixed up? You know, mom brain is a real thing…

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah. Someone was like, you could try it. I was like, I think I'm good. Like, I'm okay. Don't worry. It's been great. Yeah…

Jordan Tyler

“Don’t worry it’s human-grade.” Doesn’t mean I want to eat it!

Dr. Danielle Opetz

No, no… also doesn’t mean it’s better!

Dr. Stephanie Clark

It is literally just a title.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Back to marketing.

Jordan Tyler

That's been my soapbox today actually.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Just the way other people see it. You know, you can twist those words so many different ways. “Made with human-grade ingredients.” “Made in a human-grade facility.” “Human-grade!” But they all have different meanings.

Jordan Tyler

It's really a but really, it's more of a regulatory term. Really. It doesn't mean anything from a quality or a safety or an efficacy standpoint. It's a regulatory term.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah. I think yesterday I was telling someone like, “Yeah, a cupcake is human grade. Does that mean we want our dogs eating cupcakes all day long? No.”

Dr. Danielle Opetz

It's funny. Use that analogy; I use Skittles.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Oh, that's—yeah, absolutely.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

McDonald's!

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yes. Hey it's okay. It's human grade.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Don't forget about the red 40.

Jordan Tyler

Hey. But you know they're going to they're going to take that out soon anyway. So yeah, it is crazy to think about the way that we've like morphed all these terms into things that have meaning that never existed in the first place. So again, it comes back to, let's say it out loud, let's call a spade a spade, and let's work to be smarter in the way that we communicate with pet owners.

Jordan Tyler

Because I think, I think a lot of people in the industry just assume like, “Oh, consumers are dumb, you know, they don't know anything.” And I'm like, “Well, I think actually consumers, I think especially pet owners, are a lot smarter than we get them credit for.”

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Especially today.

Jordan Tyler

Especially today. And really, it's because we've oversimplified everything to death is, is why they're confused and mistrusting of the industry. If we just took time to figure out how to break down the science in a way that was relatable and accessible to them, they would understand it and they would carry that forward, and then we wouldn't have to do so much clever, you know, zhuzhing on the label.

Jordan Tyler

Anyway! So, is there anything else, like anything you wanted to tease any developments that you wanted to plug?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

I mean, like I mentioned, the trajectory of the solution focused targeted nutrition. We've seen a great response in. So, we're continuing to develop that way. Right now, we just have dog.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

And those are non-prescription based, right?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Correct. Over the counter. Yes. So, part of a complete wellness plan. And we are looking to go into cat, naturally.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Yeah. And then potentially some other developments within that line that's a little bit more specific. Because I do think that personalized nutrition is really intriguing to pet parents.

Dr. Stephanie Clark

Yeah. Yeah.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

And means something. So, if we can personally personalize a nutrition plan, I'm all for it. In any way shape or form. So yeah, the targeted nutrition, solution-based, that's kind of where we're headed.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Maybe some additional formats of food in the future exploring different options. We recently went into the gently cooked space within the last couple of years.

Jordan Tyler

Bonihill?

Dr. Danielle Opetz

Bonihill, yeah, it’s great. So, we're expanding. And I guess that's the beauty of owning your own plants and only company. If we want to do something completely different, you know, it's one phone call, it's another facility or, you know, talking to the owner of the company and getting it done.

Dr. Danielle Opetz

So we have that option and we're going to continue to innovate.

Jordan Tyler

So, when you've been making pet food for as long as from, you see enough trends come back around to recognize when the industry is just chasing its own tail. Whether we're talking about protein percentages, ingredients, processing, price, or trendy claims, none of these things can tell you the whole story by themselves. Fromm has had plenty of time to see ingredients, trends, and marketing claims come and go.

Jordan Tyler

Jordan Tyler

Thank you for tuning in to the Barking Mad Podcast. If you'd like to learn more about BSM partners, please visit us at www.bsmpartners.net.

Jordan Tyler

Don't forget to follow us on your favorite leading podcast platform. And if you found today's episode useful, share it with a friend and we'd like to thank the very loyal good boys and girls on our podcast team: Jacob Parker, Cady Wolf, Anna Guilfoyle, and Ada-Miette Thomas. A special shout out to David Perez for the original music.

Jordan Tyler

See you next time!