Purina Launches Insect-Based Pet Foods

 


Black soldier fly larvae is the key ingredient.


Insects will soon be coming to some dog and cat dinner bowls, courtesy of Purina. The pet food powerhouse is introducing kibble featuring alternative proteins, hoping to have less of an impact on the environment. 

The foods will include insect protein from black soldier fly larvae and plant proteins from fava beans and millet.

Purina Beyond Nature's Protein will first be sold in Switzerland this month with plans to expand to other countries in Europe. At this time, there are no plans to introduce these foods in the U.S. or Canada, a Nestle spokesperson told Treehugger.

However, Purina test-marketed an insect-based dry dog formula in the U.S. in 2018 that used cricket protein. That food will be available online beginning in January 2021, along with several other formulas using more sustainable protein sources such as invasive carp.

“We recognize the importance of identifying nutrient rich alternative protein sources to feed our pets,” the Nestle spokesperson said.

The trend toward more sustainable protein sources is fueled by a desire to be more environmentally conscious. Meat production is responsible for releasing the greenhouse gas methane into the environment. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, livestock contribute to 7% of the total greenhouse gas emissions through enteric fermentation and manure.

Insects offer a more sustainable alternative. They emit few greenhouse gases, require significantly less water, and are very efficient with their feed. It takes 1.7 kilograms of feed to produce 1 kilogram of edible insects (I kilogram is equal to 2.2 pounds), compared to 10 kilograms of feed per 1 kilogram of beef, reports the FAO.

Insects and the Environmental Impact

"Every ingredient in our food serves a purpose. With our new Beyond Nature's Protein dry pet food, we are offering a complete nutritious alternative to conventional dog and cat products, while taking care of the planet's precious resources by diversifying the protein sources,” Nestlé Purina Petcare EMENA CEO Bernard Meunier said in a statement. 

“We're constantly looking at ways in which we can source sustainably for the longer-term while still delivering the high-quality nutrition that pets need today and tomorrow."

One of the new foods uses chicken, fava beans, and fly larvae protein. The other features pig's liver, millet, and chicken. The insects used in the food are raised in the Netherlands, according to Nestle.

The company doesn’t yet know what the impact will be, switching pets to an insect-based diet.

“The CO2 impact of this product cannot be reduced in a satisfying way by using insects yet, but we believe that the potential is there and that we can reach a reduction by scaling up the use of insect proteins,” the spokesperson told Treehugger. “This is in line with Nestle’s commitment to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.”

In a further commitment to the environment, Purina has partnered with Reforest'Action so that for every one of these new food products that is sold, a tree will be planted in Sumatra, Indonesia, to help with reforestation.

https://www.treehugger.com/purina-launches-insect-based-pet-foods-5086834



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Uplifting Tweet You Just Shared? A Russian Troll Sent It

Image
Here’s what Russia’s 2020 disinformation operations look like, according to two experts on social media and propaganda. By   DARREN LINVILL   &   PATRICK WARREN Internet trolls don’t troll. Not the professionals at least. Professional trolls don’t go on social media to antagonize liberals or belittle conservatives. They are not narrow minded, drunk or angry. They don’t lack basic English language skills. They certainly aren’t  “somebody sitting on their bed that weighs 400 pounds,”  as the president once put it. Your stereotypical trolls do exist on social media, but the amateurs aren’t a threat to Western democracy. Professional trolls, on the other hand, are the tip of the spear in the new digital, ideological battleground. To combat the threat they pose, we must first understand them — and take them seriously. MORE: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/russia-troll-2020-election-interference-twitter-916482/ Posted by Jamie B.
Read more

The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term

Image
The Nightmare Scenario That Keeps Election Lawyers Up At Night -- And Could Hand Trump A Second Term   (Photo: Photos: Getty Images) Americans will almost certainly go to bed on Nov. 3 without knowing who won the presidential election. Since millions of people will vote by mail, constraints on time and resources will slow ballot counting into potentially a weeks-long process. Voting patterns suggest it’s likely that President  Donald Trump  could end Election Day in the lead in certain key states, only to be overtaken by Democratic opponent  Joe Biden  when more votes are tallied.  This could create a nightmare scenario during the three months stretching from Election Day to the Jan. 20 inauguration: a battle on the state and congressional level over who is the legitimate winner. This could include Congress reconvening on Jan. 6, presided over by Vice President  Mike Pence , with no consensus over its potential role in choosing the next president. This is arguably the most likely of th
Read more

Philosophical Question #14 – Lifestyle Choices

Image
Here is an interesting question in my list of philosophical questions: 1.) Should governments have penalties for those who live unhealthy lifestyles? A list of unhealthy lifestyles would include things like smoking, drinking, illegal drugs, prostitution, and other “vice” type activities. I guess the “government penalties” would be referring to monetary punishments, withholding medical treatments (insurance companies would love that), possibly imposing/regulating very high (exorbitant) prices on things considered unhealthy in order to cut down on their use, and other possibilities. 2.) Or, would you say that living an unhealthy lifestyle, likely resulting in a LOT of eventual personal pain and suffering, should be punishment enough for unhealthy lifestyles? When people make bad choices in life, often in their youth where ignorance and immediate gratification takes them over,  3.) Should a society be obligated to help "fix" them, by way of tax money?   Is that part of
Read more