Sourcing natural ingredients sustainably from the food industry

Natural and sustainable

Agricultural processing for the food industry yields a variety of co-products that can be transformed into quality, natural ingredients for pet food. Making use of these co-products means that agricultural crops are optimised and nothing goes to waste, ensuring that sourcing is entirely sustainable.

Vegetable based products

Duynie Ingredients offers several vegetable based products, including beet pulp and potato and chicory products, all directly sourced from the food industry and processed to yield valuable ingredients for pet food that are GMP+ pet food certified. 

Its PotaPure range includes several types of potato ingredients, derived from co-products released during the production of food grade potato products. Sorting, air drying and then grinding these potato co-products transforms them into quality ingredients that are a good alternative to grains and rice in grain-free pet food. 

Potato starch

Sidestream potato starch is another potato-based co-product, which is released during the slicing process of food grade potatoes. The starch is separated from the process water and is collected, then Duynie washes, purifies and air dries it in its own production plant to a very pure and high-quality potato starch for pet food. 

Called PotaStarch, it is currently being used both in premium pet food blends and in blends tailor-made to customers’ specifications. 

Nutritional benefits

More and more the market is asking for ingredients with proven health benefits in pet food. One of these is inulin, which is known to have positive effects on intestinal health and can be extracted from chicory root co-products. They offer dried whole root (ChicoPure), dried root fibres with most of the inulin extracted (ChicoFibre) and pure inulin (Chicolin). 

Another product with many nutritional benefits is beet pulp. Beet pulp is the co-product that remains after sugar is extracted from the sugar beets and contains soluble and insoluble fibers which have a positive effect on bowel function. Beet pulp is low in sugar but also contains energy because of the good digestible fibre. As most of the ingredients are usually used in dog and cat food, beet pulp is also a popular ingredient for horse feed.

Suitable for small animals

Fruit and vegetable ingredients are also particularly appropriate for small animal food. Ingredients that offer high palatibility and can be produced in cube form are very good to use in muesli for small animals. This rising segment is becoming more important and asking for more specialised sustainable ingredients. 

A natural opportunity

A number of opportunities exist to exploit the co-products of food processing to develop natural, healthy and sustainable ingredients to the pet food industry. Exploiting those successfully calls for close partnership between supplier and pet food customer, to develop and deliver the best possible and consistent ingredients for their pet food products in a dynamic and challenging market.