Using natural antioxidants effectively
The natural pet food trend started 25 years ago in the US and has continued to expand globally. Today, premium pet foods have become synonymous with the concept of being ‘natural’. A significant part of this trend has been the development of natural antioxidant alternatives to help pet food companies maintain the shelf-life of their pet foods.
Consumer demand for clean labels
Euromonitor International has consistently noted that pet humanisation and premiumisation will continue to drive the global pet food market. This is accelerating the growth of natural pet food worldwide, with consumers desiring cleaner labels, looking for safer ingredients, and wanting more sustainable options.
Specifically, there has been a resurgence in concern over the safety of synthetic antioxidants (BHA, BHT, TBHQ, Ethoxyquin and Propyl Gallate). These ingredients are facing many regulatory and consumer hurdles, which will continue to accelerate the growth opportunities for natural antioxidants.
Market opportunity for natural
The development of the natural market has been significantly impacted by the effective use of natural antioxidants to provide shelf-life extension to pet foods and ingredients. As the industry leader in providing antioxidant solutions to maintain the quality, nutrition and palatability of pet foods, Kemin has many options to support pet food companies and their ingredient supply chain. The company has a broad portfolio of formulated natural antioxidants options. Its brands contain blends of mixed-tocopherols, botanical extracts, chelators and surfactants.
Choosing a natural antioxidant supplier
As the pet food market continues to adapt to consumer demands and the natural antioxidant market grows, it is important to build a comprehensive shelf-life stabilisation programme using high quality, stable ingredients. Pet food formulations are increasingly using novel ingredients and more unsaturated fats. This requires extensive testing and collaboration with the antioxidant supplier to identify the best antioxidant stabilisation strategy. Knowing where in the process to add antioxidant, how much to add, and what antioxidant to use, is critical to understanding how to stabilise pet foods.
Kemin provides antioxidants that help assure shelf-life and oxidative quality throughout the entire supply chain and manufacturing process of pet foods. Their wide range of tailored customer support includes product application equipment, technical support and customer laboratory services to ensure effective natural antioxidant programme implementation.