Mars Petcare

Mars Petcare has been selected as a 2026 Industry Icon in Consumer Products by The 2026 List, brought to you by Industry & Influence, recognizing the company’s scale, scientific investment, category leadership, and continued work to expand what modern pet care can include.

Mars Petcare is much more than a portfolio of familiar consumer brands. Its businesses span pet nutrition, veterinary care, diagnostics, genetics, data, science, and technology, creating an ecosystem that reaches pets and pet owners across multiple stages of the care journey.

That breadth matters because the pet care market has changed. Pet owners increasingly expect better nutrition, earlier detection of disease, more personalized care, improved access to veterinary expertise, and products designed around the idea that pets are members of the family.

From Pet Food to a Connected Care Ecosystem

Mars Petcare’s portfolio includes some of the world’s most recognizable pet nutrition brands alongside veterinary, diagnostic, and science businesses.

Its nutrition brands include names such as PEDIGREE, WHISKAS, ROYAL CANIN, IAMS and CESAR, while Mars Veterinary Health operates a globally connected veterinary care network. The company also participates in pet diagnostics, genetics and data-driven health through businesses and initiatives designed to improve understanding of pet health at scale.

That mix gives Mars Petcare a perspective that few consumer companies have.

A nutrition company may understand diet. A veterinary network understands clinical outcomes. A diagnostics business sees disease patterns. A genetics platform can identify inherited risk. When those capabilities exist within a broader ecosystem, research and insight can move across organizational boundaries.

Science as a Consumer Advantage

Mars Petcare has increasingly positioned science as one of its strongest long-term differentiators.

In January 2026, Mars Veterinary Health published its 2025 Science Impact Report, highlighting more than 500 peer-reviewed publications authored by clinician scientists across its network during the year. The research spans clinical care, One Health, sustainability science, and new tools intended to improve pet health outcomes.

That work reflects a broader shift in the category. Pet care is becoming increasingly evidence-driven.

Data from veterinary visits, diagnostics, genetics, nutrition research, and real-world pet health outcomes can help researchers identify patterns that would be difficult to see within any single clinic or product line.

Mars has also highlighted ways pet health data and AI can support earlier prediction and prevention, including the use of genetic information and medical records to investigate inherited health risks.

Building the Next Generation of Pet Nutrition

Mars Petcare is also investing in what pet food itself may look like in the future.

In May 2026, Mars Petcare and Big Idea Ventures launched the third year of the Next Generation Pet Food Program alongside AAK, Bühler, Givaudan, and Ingredion. The initiative is focused on identifying and scaling new approaches to proteins, fats, oils, and ingredients that may help create a more sustainable pet food supply chain.

The program places particular emphasis on ventures capable of moving beyond experimentation and into commercial scale.

That distinction is important. The pet food industry operates at enormous volume. New ingredients only matter if they can meet expectations for nutrition, safety, palatability, manufacturing, economics, and supply reliability.

Mars Petcare’s participation gives emerging food technology companies access to an industry player capable of evaluating innovation against real-world requirements.

Technology Behind the Pet Care Experience

Pet care may appear highly personal, but many of its biggest advances increasingly depend on technology operating behind the scenes.

Mars businesses use data, diagnostics, genetics, digital tools, and AI across areas ranging from clinical research to workforce productivity. In 2026, parent company Mars expanded its strategic relationship with Google Cloud, adopting Gemini Enterprise as a primary AI operating system for its global workforce.

For a business as large and diversified as Mars, the opportunity is not simply to add AI features. It is to make decades of institutional knowledge easier to access while helping teams work across business units and geographies.

Within pet care, the larger opportunity is similar: connect information that historically lived in separate places and use it to improve decisions.

A Category Defined by Trust

Consumer pet care depends heavily on trust.

Pet owners are buying products that affect animals they consider family. Veterinarians make decisions with direct consequences for health. Nutrition claims must be supported. Diagnostics must be reliable. New technologies must work within a highly emotional category.

Mars Petcare’s scale gives it reach, but its scientific and clinical infrastructure gives that reach more meaning.

The company’s continued investment in research, veterinary medicine, nutrition science, diagnostics, and innovation suggests that it sees the future of pet care not as a collection of isolated products, but as a connected system built around better outcomes for pets.