Purina develops petfood focusing on cognitive health

To help pets sustain healthy brain function into their later years, Nestlé Purina has developed a nutritional blend of key ingredients that specifically target risk factors linked to brain aging, according to the company. The new blend, developed by Purina scientists, consists of key ingredients such as fish oil, B vitamins, antioxidants and the essential amino acid arginine. The nutritional breakthrough can help maintain cognitive functions, such as memory, social interaction and learning abilities, says Purina.
In a recent survey conducted by Purina, 54% of dog owners aren't aware that physical changes in dogs can be related to cognitive issues. But 45% of dog owners have noticed their dogs slowing down mentally as they get older. More than four in 10 dogs in the US are older than seven years, and nutrition can help maintain healthy brain function, says the company.

Eurofins opens Kentucky microbiology lab

Eurofins Scientific has announced the opening of a microbiology laboratory in Louisville, Kentucky. This temporary site completed construction in mid-August 2014 and will open its doors to clients in October 2014, according to the company.

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The expansion to Louisville introduces a new service to Eurofins’ portfolio, Eurofins Express Microbiology. The laboratory plans to be accredited to ISO 17025 shortly after opening. Marc Scantlin, president of Eurofins Microbiology Laboratories, said that the expansion into the Louisville market will provide clients with convenient and reliable options for microbiology testing. “With the addition of the Louisville laboratory, we are now able to receive overnight samples with arrival times between 2 a.m. and 4:30 a.m.," said Scantlin. "This, combined with our capability to process these samples shortly thereafter, gives us the unique ability to provide much quicker turnaround times to our clients who are accustomed to shipping samples overnight with arrival times of 10:30 a.m. or later."
The new Louisville laboratory is one among numerous acquisitions and developments for the Eurofins Microbiology division; including the Mounds View, Minnesota and Lancaster, Pennsylvania locations which opened earlier in 2014.

Veterinary dermatologists discuss confusion between petfood, environmental allergies

Environmental pet allergies and petfood allergies are often confused, and changing your pet's diet to a specialty food may not make a difference, according to veterinary dermatologists at VRCC Veterinary Specialty & Emergency Hospital in Englewood, Colo.

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"Food allergies occur in only 10%-30% of dogs and between 20%-30% of cats," said Dr. Christina Gentry, with VRCC's dermatology/allergy department. "Environmental allergies are much more common." As such, switching to a specialized diet (such as grain-free or raw) may not actually be addressing the issue at hand. VRCC has listed three myths regarding petfood diets they they say are prevalent among consumers:
Veterinarians at VRCC's dermatology/allergy department recommend that your pet's diet should be assessed based on its overall nutrient profile of the ingredients, rather than the ingredients themselves. If you are concerned your pet may have environmental or food allergies, contact your veterinarian to have them properly assessed and treated.

Diana Pet Food, Opertech Bio to collaborate on taste science research

Diana and Opertech Bio Inc. announced the companies entered into an agreement to collaborate in the area of taste science. The companies will use Opertech Bio's high-throughput taste evaluation technology known as the Microtiter Operant Gustometer (MOG) to evaluate the degree of relevance of using rats as surrogate taste testers.
"We are particularly glad to associate Opertech Bio to Diana taste research program. Within our Pet Food division, we develop sensorial solutions with high level of palatability, thus it is of particular interest that we evaluate taste components using the MOG. Getting quick sensorial answers with several species of animals will allow us to better evaluate the advantages and limits of using such methods, in comparison or complementarily to other methods in the area of molecular biology," said Isabelle Guiller, global research director for Diana Pet Food Division.
"We are delighted to announce this collaboration with Diana, an international leader in sensorial and nutritional performance and world leader in natural solutions for the food and pet food, nutraceuticals, aquafeed and cosmetics industries with deep sector knowledge and a global customer base. Diana represents a natural partner for us, providing strong technical synergies which will help us further advance our taste evaluation technology," stated Scott Horvitz, CEO of Opertech Bio.

Petfoods with plant-derived proteins may contain more mycotoxins, researcher says

Petfoods with plant-derived proteins may also contain more harmful toxins than petfoods with traditional fish and meat proteins, according to new research from the University of Guelph.
"A shift in petfood ingredients is on," says animal and poultry science professor, Trevor Smith, who has spent 35 years researching mycotoxins at Guelph. "Instead of worrying about bacteria spoilage or disease contamination, like we have in the past, we now have to focus on removing mycotoxins."
Smith says pet owners can minimize the risk of mycotoxins by avoiding cheaper petfoods that are more likely to contain vegetable cereals and corn or wheat fillers, and specifically, those with large amounts of rice bran.
"That's the ingredient that's often contaminated," he says. "Although we have no exact numbers, we can estimate that when half of the food is of vegetable origin, there will almost always be some degree of contamination. If the food is mainly of animal origins, the chances of contamination are greatly reduced."
According to Smith, one common mycotoxin found in some grain-based dog and cat foods is deoxynivalenol, which sometimes changes structure when modified by plant enzymes.
He found that adding a specific type of acid to the original enzyme screening can allow manufacturers to detect hidden deoxynivalenol compounds and remove contamination. Smith also says adding yeast to petfood can also help detect mycotoxins because the yeast's fiber binds to the toxins, blocking deoxynivalenol from the pet's blood stream to prevent negative symptoms.
Smith's research is being funded by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the Ministry of Rural Affairs and Alltech Canada Inc. of Guelph.

Researchers in Brazil optimize petfood mineral composition analysis

A simple method to determine the mineral element composition of petfoods has been proposd by researchers in Brazil.
According to the research article: "Experimental design methodology was used to optimize an analytical method for determination of the mineral element composition (Al, Ca, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ba, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, P, S, Sr and Zn) of dog and cat foods. Two-level, full-factorial design was applied to define the optimal proportions of the reagents used for microwave-assisted sample digestion (2.0 mol L−1 HNO3 and 6 percent m/v H2O2).
"A three-level factorial design for two variables was used to optimize the operational conditions of the inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer, employed for analysis of the extracts. A radiofrequency power of 1.2 kW and a nebulizer argon flow of 1.0 L min−1 were selected. The limits of quantification (LOQ) were between 0.03 μg g−1 (Cr, 267.716 nm) and 87 μg g-1 (Ca, 373.690 nm). The trueness of the optimized method was evaluated by analysis of five certified reference materials (CRMs): wheat flour (NIST 1567a), bovine liver (NIST 1577), peach leaves (NIST 1547), oyster tissue (NIST 1566b) and fish protein (DORM-3).
"The recovery values obtained for the CRMs were between 80±4 percent (Cr) and 117±5 percent (Cd), with relative standard deviations (RSDs) better than 5 percent, demonstrating that the proposed method offered good trueness and precision. Ten samples of petfood (five each of cat and dog food) were acquired at supermarkets in Aracaju city, Sergipe State, Brazil. Concentrations in the dog food ranged between 7.1 mg kg−1 (Ba) and 2.7 g kg−1 (Ca), while for cat food the values were between 3.7 mg kg−1 (Ba) and 3.0 g kg−1 (Ca). The concentrations of Ca, K, Mg, P, Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn in the food were compared with the guidelines of the United States Association of American Feed Control Officials and the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento-MAPA)."

Euromonitor releases report on Other Pet Food in Romania

Euromonitor International released its Other Pet Food in Romania report, offering a guide to the country's petfood market at a national level. 
The report found that local manufacturers are becoming increasingly active due to the fact that most available products are relatively high priced. The report notes the local leading company, Nordic Pet Food, which produces an affordable food for birds and small animals. Additionally, the report offers retail sales data from 2008-12 and forecasts to 2017.
The report can be purchased online from Fast Market Research.

PetFoodia.com provides pet food reviews for consumers

PetFoodia.com is a new website that provides reviews of dog food and cat food as well as dog food and cat food coupons. 

The website's pet food reviews come from pet owners and are updated regularly. Additionally, the site answers questions pet owners may have regarding foods that their pets can or cannot eat and pet health, as well as provides questions to ask a veterinarian and coupons for pet food.

Drying pet food at high temperatures may decrease nutrients, researchers find

Researchers at the Animal Nutrition Group of Wageningen University in the Netherlands studied the effects of pet food drying temperature and time on the food's physical and nutritional quality indicators.
The researchers conducted two factorial experiments, using four temperatures and two durations, to test the effects of drying variables on extruded canine diets produced using a 4 mm and 8 mm die.  The diet was extruded using a single screw extruder at 130 C and 300 g moisture/kg. The drying temperatures used were 80, 120, 160 and 200 C, and each diet was dried in draught-forced ovens to 90 or 60 g moisture/kg diet.
Each sample was analyzed for dry matter, nitrogen, amino acids (including reactive lysine) and fatty acid content. Results showed that hardness and specific density of the diets tested were not affected by the drying temperature or time. Canine kibble durability, however, was affected by drying temperature. The highest temperature (200 C) resulted in decreased durability compared to the lowest temperature (80 C). Drying time was found to have no effects on the level of individual or total amino acids, or on the proportion of reactive lysine.
In 4 mm kibbles, drying temperature of 200 C lowered only proline, total lysine and reactive lysine concentrations. Kibble dried at 120 C had a higher ratio of reactive to total lysine than kibble dried at 200 C. Drying temperature of 200 C decreased the concentration of linolenic and linoleic acid, and increased that of oleic acid, which may indicate lipid oxidation of 4 mm kibbles during the drying process, according to the research. In 8 mm kibbles, only reactive lysine concentrations were significantly lower with a naturally associated decrease of the kibble durability.
Researchers said that drying petfoods at high temperatures of 160 C to 180 C can significantly reduce nutrients or nutrient reactivity.

Top 5 consumer picks - pet food industry books

We all have to balance our information sources to get a realistic picture. Books, studies, reports, scientific journals, colleagues, seminars, and industry events can all have a part in forming our final opinion on any given topic.

Unfortunately, humans are inclined to believe what they want to believe and the more it shocks our senses, the better. It's easy for consumers to believe that big industry is greedy and cold. Pet parents are no exception, and their mistrust is fueled by the endless pet food recalls.

For Pet Parents

What pet parents need to keep in mind is that book, magazine, newspaper, and online publishing is also an industry. The more shocking the information, the more the publication sells, especially if it feeds the fear and uncertainty that pet parents feel today. Consumers need balance in their information sources.

When books are published about any industry, consumers feel they can rely on the information contained therein. They'll also trust a quote from a book when they find it online in a blog, forum, etc. While there are some very good books and websites out there, there are also some that use shock, suggestion, and general paranoia to make the sale. My advice to pet parents is always to keep reading and verify the information - don't read one book or website and take it as gospel. If nothing else, the information may be outdated.

Be it in a book or online, consumers must watch for signs of fear mongering, such as constant attempts to nurture suspicion even when the facts suggest otherwise. You may also notice that they'll take the word of a Vet, the FDA, etc., at face value if it happens to support a point they're trying to make, but will otherwise ridicule and question them at every turn. Reading the information will leave you with the nagging fear that nobody in the corporate, medical, or regulatory world can be trusted except of course, the author. These people are exploiting your love for your pet as surely as any other industry could, and they're profiting from it too.

That said, there certainly is accurate information that pet parents are reading as well.

For the Pet Food Industry

The industry has to read what pet parents are reading so they can prepare for, and address, their concerns. We have to provide as many sources of information as we can, and familiarize ourselves with the issues so we can accurately explain our position. There is often more than meets the eye and your average, reasonable pet parent understands that, but they need proof.

It's important for the industry to address these book-based concerns in their content and marketing. If a book suggests that many pet foods contain dead pets and your rendering plant doesn't include them, for example, you want the pet parent to find that information when they visit your website. If there are independent studies or other sources of sound information to back your claims that something is harmless when the books say it isn't, you'll want to provide those sources of information. We also need to educate our customer support staff, so they can address consumer concerns and refer pet parents to reliable sources of information.

There are advantages outside of damage control that we can gain as well. There are many concerns raised in these books that you may have already addressed, such as preservatives, which presents marketing opportunities. Being aware of consumer concerns may also lead to a more acceptable procedure or formulation, or even new products. Being in the know gives you a competitive advantage. Don't be surprised if you learn a thing or two, especially if you outsource.

Through sales rankings, visiting pet communities, reading blogs, etc. I have determined which books are most commonly read and quoted. I strongly suggest that you circulate these books around your company. Use them in your training sessions. Quote them in your sales meetings. Have your writers, researchers, product developers, and the entire marketing department use them as a guide.

Most importantly, emphasize openness and honesty every step of the way. As I've said many times, if you have to lie about any facet of your product, then it's time to change that facet.

Top Five Books About the Pet Food Industry:

Food Pets Die For
Ann N. Martin

Protect Your Pet
Ann N. Martin

The Ultimate Pet Food Guide
Liz Palika

Pet Food Politics
Marion Nestle

Not Fit for a Dog
Michael W. Fox, Elizabeth Hodgkins & Marion E. Smart

Read 'em but don't weep - take action.

Check out these petfood videos

In case you didn't see this video posted last week, it's a fun, brief look at what's coming with Virtual Petfood Forum: Innovation on October 21.
If you haven't yet registered for this online event, please do so. It's completely free and a great way to see some expert presentations, plus network with other petfood professionals from around the world, without having to leave your desk.
Speaking of videos, the new PetfoodIndustry.com features a beefed-up video section with clips from Interzoo 2010 and Petfood Forum 2010. Videos getting the most play include:
*Antonio Teixeira Miranda Neto, president of Total Alimentos in Brazil, discussing the new sustainability program that will soon be part of the certification program from ANFAL-PET, the petfood trade association in Brazil;
*Justin Verstappen, general director of Brandenburch of the Netherlands, describing the product development and other services offered to producers making petfood for small animals; and
*Vygantas Kirejevas, CEO of Bacterfield Ltd. in Luxembourg, talking about the company's new ProBiotic Live, which it says is the first dry dog food to keep probiotics live and stable.
Don't forget, you can always post your own videos on www.Petfood-Connection.com. Please be sure to share them!

Under the microscope: Salmonella control

Biomapping may be the future to aid manufacturers in suppressing and controlling bacterial contamination. ... Read the full article in Petfood Industry.

French scientist explains the effects of DON

Mycotoxin intestinal absorption – specifically the effects of DON on the gastrointestinal tract – is the subject of one of the latest videos on Biomin’s Mycotoxin Channel on YouTube.
In a one-minute-plus clip, Dr. Isabelle Oswald of the French National Institute of Agricultural Research (INRA) explains what happens in the intestines of animals as a result of the mycotoxin DON.

New products, new strategies

Research & development conducted on the Internet for new petfood product launches is driving growth and ingenuity. Read the full article.