BENEO announced that it has extended animal nutrition portfolio with new faba bean ingredients. The new range helps answer growing demand for alternative nutrient sources, sustainable and plant-based options for pet food, aqua and livestock feed.
BENEO, one of the leading manufacturers of functional ingredients, announced the expansion of its product portfolio for pet food, aqua and livestock feed with the addition of the new faba bean ingredient range, including faba bean protein concentrate, starch-rich flour, and hulls. These pulse ingredients are non-GMO and represent sustainable sources of protein, starch, and fibre, enabling pet food and feed manufacturers to improve the nutritional profile of their products.
MORE SUSTAINABLE INGREDIENTS
Pet owners are increasingly demanding that their pets’ foods are sustainable, transparent and plant-based. In fact, around one in four pet owners globally say they like to see plant-based or vegan claims on pet products, mainly because they perceive such products as healthier and better for the environment.1 In addition, there is rising demand for understandable, cleaner pet food labels, with 76% of dog owners and 68% of cat owners always or usually checking the ingredients list when purchasing a new pet food product.2 However, aqua and livestock feed markets are increasingly raising consumers’ concerns regarding sustainability and are coming under greater scrutiny from authorities. As a result, many pet food and feed producers have committed to ambitious targets to meet these changing requirements. Demand for a more eco-conscious feed sector is also reflected in the sustainability objectives of key industry associations.3 At the same time, with rising concerns around the environmental impact of raw materials, producers are also facing present and future price pressures, alongside logistical and supply issues. This is driving demand for sustainable ingredients, such as locally produced plant-based alternatives, that can deliver both a good nutritional profile and improved technical properties.
When it comes to sustainability, faba beans help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at farm level. The faba beans can capture nitrogen from the air, to provide it for themselves and subsequent plants, which reduces the need for fertilizer input. Also, the faba beans are grown in a German region with good rainfall and soil with good water retention capacity, so that irrigation is not necessary. BENEO strives to source its faba beans at Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) Gold level from German farmers with long-term contracts, to ensure production and supply stability. Furthermore, the production process, being done locally in Germany, has been chosen for its low energy and water consumption in comparison to alternative processes; overall contributing to BENEO’s sustainability targets.
PROMISING POTENTIAL FOR PET FOOD, AQUA AND LIVESTOCK FEED
According to the company statement, faba bean ingredients are showing promising potential for pet food, aqua and livestock recipe formulations as they are a good source of protein, starch and dietary fibre, as well as vitamin C, folates, calcium, phosphorous and zinc.
BENEO’s faba bean protein concentrate, starch-rich flour and hull ingredients are produced from faba bean varieties which are low in antinutritional factors (e.g., tannins, vicine and convicine) and are guaranteed to be non-GMO. This ingredient is a concentrated source of vegetal protein that serves as a good alternative to e.g., animal and soy proteins and enables the development of plant-based pet food products. It presents a good amino acid profile, which complements the profile of cereals, and can therefore also be blended with rice protein, for example. Additionally, it has excellent solubility in comparison to other vegetal proteins and preliminary tests have shown the functional properties of making soft, delicate mousse-like gels, interesting for application in wet petfood products.
BENEO’s faba bean starch-rich flour offers producers of livestock and aqua feed a good source of starch and energy, while still containing a significant residual amount of protein of approximately 20%. It is ideal for use in many applications, including for salmon and trout, as well as in broilers’ starter and piglets’ weaner diets. Also, thanks to its good solubility and rather low iron content, it could be applied in liquid feed like calf milk replacers. On top of being a good source of starch and energy, this ingredient contains a significant residual amount of protein of approximately 20%. It presents thickening properties and trials in extrusion showed it can represent an alternative to cereals’ flours without impairing products’ hardness and crispiness.
Concerning BENEO’s faba bean hulls, they can be used as an alternative source of insoluble fibres. Unlike other vegetal concentrated fibre sources, faba bean hulls also offer certain protein and starch contents, which increases the ingredient’s nutritional value still further.
The faba bean hulls and protein concentrate are listed in the EU Catalogue of Feed Materials4, while faba bean starch-rich flour is in the EU Feed Materials Register5. Furthermore, all three BENEO faba bean ingredients are suitable for “no grain” claims in pet food.
Karel Thurman, Commercial Director Animal Nutrition at BENEO comments: “Manufacturers of pet food and feed are increasingly faced with the challenge of finding ingredients that deliver the necessary nutrients for their formulas, whilst also complying with ambitious commitments towards sustainability. Our new plant-based faba bean ingredients are a valuable addition to our portfolio, as they provide convincing sustainability credentials and offer producers in the pet food, livestock and aquafeed industries sound nutritional and technological alternatives for their feed recipes.”
1FMCG Gurus Global Cat Health and Dog Health Survey 2022
2BENEO Consumer Research on Attitudes towards Pet Food in US, Brazil, UK, Germany & China 2021
3Examples include: FEFAC (European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation) – Feed Sustainability Charter 2030 (FEFAC-Feed-Sustainability-Charter-2030.pdf), AFIA’s (American Feed Industry Association) sustainability initiative (Sustainability in the Animal Food Industry – AFIA).
4Commission Regulation (EU) No 68/2013 of 16 January 2013 on the Catalogue of feed materials – Faba bean hulls are listed under entry 3.7.3: “Film horse beans; [Faba bean hulls]”; Faba bean protein concentrate is listed under entry 3.7.5: “Horse bean protein”
5EU Register of Feed Materials (https://www.feedmaterialsregister.eu)
