Freshpet Inc

" and "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations." If our growth exceeds our expectations, we may not be able to increase our own manufacturing capacity to, or obtain contract manufacturing capacity at, a level that meets demand for our products, which could prevent us from meeting increased customer demand and harm our business or reputation. If we overestimate our demand and overbuild our capacity, we may have significantly underutilized assets, and we may experience reduced margins. If we do not accurately align our manufacturing capabilities with demand, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The inputs, commodities and ingredients that we require are subject to macroeconomic factors, government regulation, and other factors outside of our or our suppliers' control, including but not limited to, price increases, inflationary and interest rate pressures, tariffs, trade wars, product or agricultural industry labor shortages, livestock disease or pestilence, any of which could adversely affect our results of operations.

Our business is dependent on our ability to timely source ingredients that comply with our product quality standards. The primary inputs, commodities and ingredients that we use include meat, poultry products, vegetables, fruits, carrageenans, whole grains, vitamins, minerals, packaging and energy. Prices for these and other items we use may be volatile, and we may experience shortages in these items due to factors beyond our control, such as commodity market pricing, availability of supply, increased demand (whether for the item we require or for other items, which in turn impacts the item we require), shortages of agricultural workers (including due to U.S. immigration policies); weather conditions, natural disasters, animal disease outbreaks (such as HPAI), pestilence, operational disruption, financial distress or insolvency of key suppliers or other third parties on whom we or they rely, the effects of climate change, currency fluctuations, tariffs or trade wars, inflationary and/or interest rate pressures, governmental regulations (including import restrictions), sustained government or regulatory shutdowns, regulatory uncertainty or delays, agricultural programs or issues, energy programs, geopolitical concerns, including ongoing global geopolitical conflict, labor strikes and the financial health of our suppliers.

The U.S. presidential administration has in the past year announced the imposition of tariffs on imports from many countries, including but not limited to Canada, Mexico and China, and certain of those countries subsequently announced retaliatory tariffs in response, with citizens of several countries calling for boycotts of U.S. products. Although to date Freshpet has not experienced a material adverse impact on our business and results of operations as a result of such tariffs and foreign trade relations, we continue to monitor and assess their potential impact. These or any new or increased tariffs or resultant trade wars could have an adverse effect on us or on our suppliers, which could lead to significant increases in the costs of materials, and as a result could negatively impact our results of operations, cash flow and financial condition. New or increased tariffs could also negatively affect U.S national or regional economies or lead to increased inflation or a recession, which also could negatively impact our sales growth, and our business and results of operations.