ISSUE FOCUS FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE December 2022 25 cess, is similar to industry-standard practices for making widely used ingredients like lactic acid, vitamin B12 and enzymes for cheese production. These processes are safe and established and require no animal farming. For reasons like these, animal-free protein is perceived as sustainable and humane by modern pet parents. ADM’s funding will contribute to significantly expanded capacity and capabilities in Bond’s Boulder, Colorado operations with ground having recently been broken on a new 15,000 sq. ft. facility. “With their support,” added Rich Kelleman, CEO and Co-Founder of Bond Pet Foods, “we’ll be able to take our work to the next level, developing and scaling a variety of meat proteins for our valued partners in the pet food space.” INSECT PROTEIN FOR EARTH-FRIENDLY PET FOOD The ADM/Innovafeed partnership includes the construction of a new Innovafeed production site next to ADM’s grain processing plant and headquarters in Decatur, Illinois. The location of this strategically placed facility will allow Innovafeed to employ its circular industrial symbiosis model. Not only will ADM provide feedstock for BSFL but also waste heat and water, which Innovafeed’s plant will upcycle to reduce reliance on fossil fuels. Additionally, the proximity of the facilities inherent in this model reduces the energy costs of transportation, saving approximately 120 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year, or the annual energy consumption of more than 10,000 households. This collaboration also aims to commercialize the use of dried whole black soldier fly larvae as an alternative protein for the North American pet food industry. BSFL oil, already tentatively approved for adult dogs in the U.S. and approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) for use in dog and cat food, is also being developed as a source of fat for pet nutrition products. Furthermore, a pilot research facility is being constructed in Decatur to allow for joint research and development on pet food formulation, such as palatability studies and protein performance. “Our pet nutrition experts will collaborate with the Innovafeed team and other research scientists to unlock the benefits of black soldier fly lar-
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