In the context of widespread premiumization and humanization trends of pet food market, natural alternatives for preservation are increasingly common. Natural solutions allow preservation of the nutritional and sensory qualities, while keeping the food intact and safe throughout its shelf-life.
Technical Service Manager
Kemin Nutrisurance EMEA
Technical Service Manager & Sales Manager
Kemin Nutrisurance EMEA
The natural pet food trend is constantly expanding all over the world. Nowadays the Super Premium market segment is closely linked to natural claims. Natural microbial preservation is therefore a key element to meet the quality expectations of attentive pet parents and to guarantee food stability, so to protect our pets’ health.
WHY PRESERVATION IS SO IMPORTANT?
The term preservative is often associated with something artificial or even detrimental, but this is often misunderstood. Microbial preservatives are in fact substances, mainly organic acids, added to prevent food spoilage due to microorganism (mold, yeast, bacteria) proliferation. So, not only are they useful, but there are also many options for completely natural and efficient pet food preservation. They are essential to ensure that a high quality food reaches a healthy, furry friend’s bowl safely and to meet pet parents’ expectations.
In the context of widespread premiumization and humanization trends of pet food market, natural alternatives for preservation are increasingly common. This is particularly noticeable in treats and snacks, as the humanization trend is particularly advanced. Due to their features, these kinds of products must have irreproachable quality, which is why the attention to stability must be always high. Natural solutions allow preservation of the nutritional and sensory qualities, while keeping the food intact and safe throughout its shelf-life.
Also in the case of complete or complementary dry pet food, preservatives can play a role not only in safety, but also in improving palatability. By drying the petfood less (reducing the energy costs), the moisture level increases and this improves the palatability, especially in dog food. But from a certain level of residual moisture, the risk of microbiological degradation increases, which can be mitigated by addition of microbial control ingredients.
Not surprisingly, even the raw materials used in pet food require adequate stabilization, in order to maintain their quality and nutrition through to the finished product. For this, there are natural and differentiated solutions for each stage of the supply chain. Certain raw materials (like some fat/oils) are also used directly on the pet food product’s surface and they don’t have a controlled heat treatment able to control pathogens before final end product packaging.
MARKET OPPORTUNITY FOR NATURAL PRESERVATION
As the industry leader in providing antioxidant solutions, Kemin also has effective microbial control options to support pet food companies and their ingredient suppliers (Crude raw materials, fresh meat, slurries, palatants, processed animal proteins, fats and oils…) who are increasingly facing food safety challenges to maintain the quality, nutrition, and palatability of pet food.
Kemin has a broad portfolio of formulated dry and liquid natural safety solutions, with PrevION™ and RENTERRA™ brands, a wide range of specific products available for each different stages of the supply chain.
CHOOSING A NATURAL PRESERVATIVE SUPPLIER
As the pet food market continues to focus on trends such as humanization, which can be very challenging from a food safety perspective, it’s important to build a comprehensive shelf-life stabilization program using stable, high quality ingredients and approaching the finished product with specific preservation protocols.
Pet food formulations are introducing novel ingredients and technologies, especially regarding treats and snacks. This makes it necessary to carefully investigate the state of conservation of products in collaboration with the preservative supplier, to identify the best strategy in terms of preservative choice and application points.
Kemin provides natural preservative solutions that help ensure microbial and quality protection throughout the entire pet food shelf-life, starting from the very beginning of the supply chain. Kemin’s wide range of tailored customer support includes product technical support, product application and customer laboratory services to ensure effective natural microbial preservation program implementation.
About Elena Fraccaroli
Elena Fraccaroli is graduated in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Padua (Italy). After working for a few years as anesthetist in a veterinary clinic, she entered the world of pet food production in the technical team of an Italian manufacturing company. Now she works for Kemin Nutrisurance Europe as Technical Service Manager, dealing with a wide range of Kemin’s product specifically dedicated to pet food, such as palatants, functional ingredients, and preservative options. She provides solutions for the best palatability and safety of finished products, developing customized protocols to test the available choices. Elena also provides Kemin’s customers with trainings on palatant, food preservation and functional ingredients.
About Patrice Gault
Dr Patrice Gault obtained his PhD in Food Science from the National Institute for Agronomic Research (France); during more than 20 years, he worked as Product Development Manager in several petfood industry leaders in Europe, gaining extensive experience in ingredients, formulation, nutrition, palatability and food safety. He joined Kemin Nutrisurance EMEA 6 years ago and works as Account & Technical Manager.
