PET Food Processing - October 2019 - 68

CONSULTANTS

Navigating what is
allowed in pet food
from novel ingredients to more sustainable ingredients
such as Miscanthus
pictured here is a
key service many
consultants offer.
Renew Biomass

communication strategies and training. Founder Melissa
Brookshire, DVM, says North River Enterprises helps
companies provide elevated customer service to build
loyalty and confidence either through direct interactions
with consumers or by providing expert veterinary responses for the customer support team to then communicate to the consumer by phone, email or social media.
Also providing a full breadth of pet nutritional consultation services, CK Nutrition, Exeter, New Hampshire,
led by founder Carolyn Kennedy, offers a complete state
registration service, import and export support, and
global manufacturing support, as well.

Ground zero for trends
These independent service providers are often on the
front lines of industry trends. The projects keeping these
experts busy lately are not too surprising. Brookshire
says the most obvious trends over the past year have
resulted from the US Food and Drug Administration's
(FDA) announcements about a potential connection
between diets with high inclusions of peas, lentils, other
legumes and/or potatoes and atypical dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). This drove many brands with grainfree recipes to add taurine, with some also adding DLMethionine and/or L-Carnitine. In addition, Brookshire
has seen a rise in the use of "ancient grains" or "wholesome grains" in recipes and in associated marketing
claims over the past year.
Krestel-Rickert says in addition to the natural, organic and non-GMO trends, attention on supplementation
and more efficacious levels of functional ingredients are
strong. Additionally, uniqueness in formulation through
sustainable ingredients inside sustainable packaging has
become a focus.
BSM Assurance, led by August Konie, Jr., says as

PET FOOD PROCESSING | 2019 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

the human foods initiative farm-to-fork thrives, pet
owners are levying the same pressures for transparency
with their pet food products, which often requires ingredient sourcing, authenticity, performance and claim
verification. BSM is frequently engaged to verify that
suppliers comply with the agreed upon specifications
and that the ingredients perform appropriately.
According to Dr. Bradley Quest, DVM, head of BSM
Veterinary Services, there is a continuing trend to search
for novel ingredients and, as a result, an increased demand for professional veterinary and nutritional
consultation to ensure that products are designed,
formulated and tested through clinical feeding trials to
meet regulatory and nutritional requirements. Quest
says it's important to consult with professionals to
make sure new ingredients are approved for pet food use
and to understand how to implement novel ingredients
in formulations.
Trends have always been toward the humanization
of pet food, but Collings says he's seen movement toward new nutritional technology and health support.
He explains that new ingredients are hard to build as
FDA procedures are expensive to navigate and slow.
Nevertheless, he says, his company is actively building
solutions for stabilized probiotics, unique proteins and
natural antimicrobials.

Words of wisdom
Even if regulating agencies pose a challenge, they are
the reality and must be addressed for each product offering. "When developing new products, one of the best
practices that I recommend is to make sure all of the ingredients in the recipe are actually allowed to be used in
food or treats for the species and life stage the product is
being designed to feed," Brookshire says. "With new innovation in ingredients, just because you can buy it from
an ingredient supplier, doesn't mean it can be put into all
types of food or treats."
Many factors determine a product's competitive success, but prior to reaching the bowls of its consumers,
new products require a certain level of resources to
prove they meet regulatory, safety and nutritional requirements. Dr. Renee Streeter, head of BSM Clinical
Nutrition Services, says to make sure "that you have the
resources to engage in the proper testing of the product
once it is manufactured in order to obtain important nutritional adequacy and safety information prior to the
product going out into the market."
Kennedy points out another important step prior to
going to market that could help companies avoid a costly
mistake. "Have all your product labels checked by a regulatory expert before you go to print," she recommends.
"This will save a lot of time and money in the long run

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