Is rice protein a suitable ingredient for cat food?
While the use of vegetal proteins is quite well-accepted in dog food, their use in cat recipes is not as popular. Let’s explore if rice protein can offer attractive opportunities for cat food producers, based on the research.
Cats have higher protein and amino acid dietary requirements in comparison to dogs, for example, and are obligate carnivores. Nonetheless, several studies suggest that vegetal proteins are quite digestible for cats and can therefore play a role in cat food production.
Benefits of vegetal proteins for cats
A study with 296 healthy short-hair domestic cats showed that the more plant protein that was included in dry cat food, the higher the protein digestibility among the cats in that sample group.
The research also demonstrated that plant proteins are a satisfactory source for meeting the amino acid needs of pets, without compromising protein digestibility.
The potential of rice protein
Research shows that 7 in 10 cat owners find protein quality and content in their cat’s food important or very important.
Including rice protein in a cat’s food allows for an increase of protein content in the final product, while using a natural, clean-label and hypoallergenic ingredient that also offers good digestibility and has an excellent essential amino acid profile.
In a recent study, 24 healthy adult cats were given test diets with increasing amounts of rice protein concentrate (0%, 7%, 14% and 28%) in exchange for hydrolyzed chicken liver and heart.
All the diets had a similar level of total protein. The results showed that when the rice protein concentrate was increased, protein digestibility was enhanced too.
In addition, there was excellent taste acceptance of the food and an improvement of feces characteristics.
BENEO’s rice protein
Rice protein is a clean-label quality ingredient, included in the EU Catalogue of Feed Materials.
BENEO’s ingredient offers a guaranteed protein content of a minimum 79% on a product basis and almost 90% on a dry matter basis. According to a recent internal digestibility trial in cecectomized roosters, the company’s rice protein reaches (ileal) digestibility scores close to 90%, confirming its good digestibility and overall high quality.
In addition, this hypoallergenic, clean-label ingredient is free from the most frequent food allergens, making it suitable for the most sensitive cats, like seniors or kittens, as well as cats with allergies.
Produced in a state-of-the-art and food-certified rice ingredient plant in Wijgmaal, Belgium, from non-GMO raw material sources, BENEO’s rice protein can fulfill the most demanding and specific requirements of (super) premium or veterinary dry and wet cat food products.
BENEO source references for this article are available on request.
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