Pulse crops go to the dogs

A major trend in pet food manufacturing is using plant protein in combination with, or instead of, meat. For Alberta-grown pulses, it’s a huge opportunity and APG is on it.

It goes without saying that pet owners want to feed their animals the best nutrition available. For years, that meant meat and plenty of it.

Times are changing. Just as many consumers want more pulses in their own diet, they’re also demanding better options for plant-based pet foods. Observing this trend, University of Alberta professors Thava Vasanthan and Ruurd Zijlstra saw opportunity for pulse growers.

“We grow a lot of pulses in Western Canada,” Vasanthan said. “Pulses are not only high in protein but have very good protein quality, and the amino acid balance is much better than with cereal grains. Our question was, could we create a vegetable protein-based kibble that suits where the consumer trend is moving?”

In 2016, Vasanthan secured funding from Alberta Pulse Growers and others for a three-year study to develop pulse protein-based pet food kibble through lab and pilot scale studies. The work is being done in partnership with a leading Canadian pet food manufacturer.

Create the kibble, determine how to manufacture it

As Vasanthan explains, the pulse crops under consideration for pet food kibble are field peas and faba beans. Lentils could also work, but are currently far more expensive than the other pulses.

A key component of the study will be how to overcome antinutritional factors associated with peas and faba beans in a dog diet.

“Over the past year and a half, with funding from the Alberta Pulse Growers, we started the characterization of the grains and how to concentrate the protein,” Vasanthan said. “If you take field pea and faba bean, nearly 50% of the seed is starch, 25% to 30% is protein and the rest is fibre and other. But, high-fibre and high-starch is bad for dogs. So, we’ll try to process the grains to minimize the starch and the fibre but maximize the bioavailability of the protein through cost-efficient technologies.”

For a pet food manufacturing company, the trend to plant-based pet food offers an interesting opportunity. Dry pulses are much easier to handle than perishable meat products, and cost far less per tonne of raw material. Vasanthan believes that as the fraction recipe is refined and the manufacturing process is improved, pulse crops stand a good chance of growing their footprint in the multi-billion-dollar North American pet food market.

The manufacturer could use plant rather than animal protein, or blend with some combination of both, and reduce their overall cost of production.

Of course, the final word on the success of pulse-based kibble rests with the target audience: the pets themselves. The final phase of the product will include taste trials with dogs.

“There’s a lot we can do in the lab,” Vasanthan said, “but until you test the product on animals, the project is not complete.”