The natural pet food trend started 25 years ago in the U.S. and has continued to expand globally. Throughout the world premium pet foods have become synonymous with the concept of being “natural” and there has been noteworthy acceleration of this in Europe recently. 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 and to preserve pet’s health.

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 and Propyl Gallate). Some synthetic ingredients are currently facing many regulatory and consumer hurdles, such as BHA in cat diets in EU, which will continue to accelerate the growth opportunities for natural antioxidants. 

Pet owners are increasingly concerned about providing a healthy pet food. They expect fresh and non-oxidised food throughout the diet’s shelf life to maintain high quality and palatability. The use of natural antioxidants continues to expand into formulating diets that are part of a fully natural antioxidant program, with natural stabilisation of all raw materials inside the formulation, during and after pet food processing. A comprehensive natural stabilisation program is the optimum way to meet consumer demands and ensure that the whole pet food product delivers its shelf life guarantee.

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 suitable options to support pet food companies and their ingredient supply chain. Kemin has a broad portfolio of formulated dry and liquid natural antioxidants options, with its NATUROX™, VERDILOX®, and PARAMEGA™ brands. These brands contain blends of mixed-tocopherols, botanical extracts, chelators and surfactants

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 program using high quality, stable ingredients. Pet food formulations are increasingly using novel ingredients and more unsaturated fats, which 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 are 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. Kemin’s wide range of tailored customer support includes product application equipment, technical support and customer laboratory services to ensure effective natural antioxidant program implementation. 

Visit: https://www.kemin.com/eu/en/markets/petfood-rendering/antioxidants