Petfood Industry, the influential trade magazine, features Halo on its February 2010 cover. “Catering to the Conscientious” tells of Halo’s origins in Andi Brown’s kitchen, and the core philosophy that hasn’t changed for over 20 years. Halo CEO Steve Marton (seen on the magazine cover with his good friend Stosch) tells the story in an exclusive interview.

Here’s a sneak peak.

“Halo products have the best ingredients for dogs and cats. Plain and simple, that’s what we strive to be known for,” explains Marton. “That’s why Ellen DeGeneres became a part owner of our company. That’s why she spreads the word.”

“As more consumers are reading ingredients labels –and understanding what the ingredients are—our sales improve. For example, consumers are just starting to understand ingredients like chicken meal, which is a rendered meat.”

Click over to our news page for the whole story.

Do you REALLY know what you’re feeding your beloved dog or cat? Probably not, according to a study conducted by Harris Interactive.

The majority of pet owners don’t even read the label and have no idea what they are giving their pets, according to the study, brought to our attention by Generation Natural Pet, a social media community launched by PETCO (Halo is a founding Council Member).

Frighteningly, most pet foods — unlike Halo, which uses only real meat, fish and eggs — have chicken meal. Sounds tasty, right?

Well, dear reader, chicken meal is legally unfit for human consumption and may contain waste products from restaurants, supermarkets, meat processing facilities and packinghouses. It is not the lean muscle that WE eat, but the stuff humans are forbidden by law to consume: the remaining bones, organs, beaks and other products that are rendered (obtained by melting down the animal’s remains) in a processing plant when made into meal.

“Chicken meal sounds like something wholesome that could be served in any household,” says Halo’s veterinarian, Dr. Donna Spector. “But don’t be fooled. Meat meals — such as chicken meal — are unfit for human consumption. In my mind, that means unfit for our beloved pets.”

Yet ignorance is bliss: despite confessing no knowledge of the ingredients on a bag or can of food, the majority of the 1,305 pet owners surveyed say they treat their animals as a member of the family, and wouldn’t want to feed their pets food containing allergens and prefer to feed their pets only natural pet food.

Halo never uses chicken meal or other rendered meats. Halo uses real chicken that can be sold to humans and meets FDA human safety standards. And while we don’t advocate opening up a can of Spot’s Stewto share with your pooch, many of us have.

Short-dated products are on the Halo web site at half price. Of course, these usually sell out extremely quickly, so grab what you can use. Currently available: Daily Greens-100 Tabs, Liv-a-Littles treats, Herbal Healing Salve, and other grooming and supplements items. Take a look, and check back often!

Please remember, while these products are wonderful, they are not the same as what you can buy at the store. You’ll find earlier formulas, old labels, or short-dating. Short-dating means that the product will reach its “Best if Used By” date within 1-2 months of purchase.

For blog readers, newsletter subscribers, Twitter followers and Facebook fans only, we’re happy to offer this month’s store coupons for Halo products!

Remember, these coupons are only valid at stores where Halo is sold.

For Halo store locations, enter your zip/postal code here. Products sell out fast, so please call ahead to make sure your nearest retailer has what you need (if not, they can usually order it for you quickly).

Who would have thought that a former fighting pit bull owned by disgraced NFL football player Michael Vick would end up as a docile darling visiting young schoolchildren?

Thanks to the efforts of our friends at Best Friends Animal Society, former fighters such as Hector have transformed into loving pets. The trainers at the Utah-based Best Friends took this fighter with battle scars scattered about his compact maple-brown body and trained him to love: he is now a gentle therapy dog who visits nursing home and hospital patients. And thanks to you, our loyal customers, Halo was able to donate 43,000 cans of Spot’s Stew to Best Friends to provide the animals at the Best Friends sanctuary with top-quality nutrition.

Hector now lives with a Minnesota family, and he’s appeared at a local elementary school as part of a lesson on compassion and empathy. Says teacher Amber Anderson: “I hope that these children never forget Hector’s story, and that they learn to treat animals and people with compassion; there is a connection between how we treat animals and how we treat people.”