Our problem with pet food
Newly emerging plant-based and insect-based pet foods offer a more sustainable option for our cats and dogs. (Photo Source: Pixabay)
Climate change has encouraged many of us to turn to vegetarian and plant-based diets for the sake of the environment, but it's easy to forget that our furry friends eat meat as well. And their contributions to climate change are more startling than we might expect.
One third of households across the world own at least one dog, and one quarter own at least one cat. In the United States, pets represent about 25 percent of meat consumption, which amounts to a staggering 64 million tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a UCLA study that analyzed cat and dog diets as compared to human meat-eating habits.
Yet few of us have even considered changing how we feed our pets. Meat is generally thought of as an important staple of pet foods, with grain derided as “filler.” But nutritionists say this “grain-free” thrust is just a marketing ploy. Including grain in a pet’s diet is, simply, better for them.
“Some pet food brands use the term ‘filler’ to refer to grains or fibers, but that is basically negative marketing lingo,” Kelly Swanson, a nutritionist in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Illinois, told the National Geographic. “Grains provide starch useful for diet structure and [are] a readily available energy source, and fiber provides many benefits to gut health.”
Grain-free dog foods also often use peas, lentils, chickpeas, and potatoes in higher proportions—ingredients that have been tentatively linked by the FDA to a possible heart condition in dogs called dilated cardiomyopathy.
Wild Earth pet food, pictured above, uses grain in its plant-based dog food, challenging misconceptions about the ingredient. (Photo Source: Wild Earth, Inc.)
Emerging plant-based pet food brands are challenging misconceptions about grain and replacing meat with a host of other ingredients. One of them, Wild Earth, uses cultured koji, a fungus used in Asian cuisine to ferment soybeans, as the protein source in its dog food, along with ingredients such as oats, blueberries, flax meal, and, in low quantities, chickpeas. (Wild Earth claims it is following the FDA’s research on the issue.)
Ryan Bethencourt, Wild Earth’s chief executive, points out that plant-based dog food is not only more environmentally friendly, but more ethical. Meat in pet food can contain chemicals used to euthanize farm animals, and often comes from animals raised in unethical conditions.
“Most of the major brands have meat scraps from the ‘4D animals’—dead, dying, diseased, or disabled—so there could really be anything in there,” says Bethencourt. Of Wild Earth, he notes: “We’ve taken an easily accessible vegan product that we can easily scale through biotechnology, not factory farming.”
Dried black soldier fly larvae, shown above, is an increasingly popular protein source for pet foods that requires less energy and land to produce. (Photo source: Enviroflight).
More sustainable pet food doesn’t necessarily have to be plant-based either. In March, Mars Petcare announced the UK launch of Lovebug, a dry cat food made from black soldier fly larvae insect meal. Insects offer a protein-rich alternative for pet food and require far less land and fewer resources than conventional meat, such as beef or chicken.
Lovebug has taken sustainability a step further: To further minimize their environmental impact, the insects are raised on a farm powered by renewable electricity and fed surplus produce.
Yora, another UK-based pet food brand for dogs and cats, also combines black soldier fly larvae with grain. As Yora notes on its website, its insect-based pet food is chock full of protein, omega 6, phosphorus, and other important vitamins and minerals. It's also less likely to cause allergies in your pets than traditional meat sources.
“We expect that as consumers become more conscious of their own carbon footprints—and the carbon ‘pawprints’ of their pets—insect protein will be embraced by more and more pet owners as a viable and marketable alternative to traditional meat,” says Yora managing director Glenn Rankin.
Vets are cautiously optimistic, albeit eager to see more study done. While the UK has approved insect-based pet foods, for instance, the FDA is still performing research on ingredients including dried black soldier fly larvae.
“I think it’s important to have long term nutritional studies done before a new pet food is made available,” says Dr. Kara Beaurline, a veterinarian at Greenwich Animal Hospital. Noting that pets have different nutritional needs than people, she advises her patients to choose pet food carrying the AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) approval label.
But Swanson is among those who think it’s time to re-evaluate the way we feed our pets. While he’s pushing for more research “so that the protein quality and digestibility of novel proteins is known,” he welcomes the arrival of new pet food products.
“Given the challenges of feeding more and more humans and pets in the future, traditional and novel proteins are, and will be, required to meet the US and world demand,” says Swanson. “Plant- and insect-based proteins will play an important role in meeting those needs.”
Anna McCormack is a Stone Pier Press News Fellow based in Riverside, CT.
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