PET Food Processing - March 2021 - 11

" Just like food and supplements,
meal toppers will increasingly shift
from indulgent to functional. "
Ann Hudson, Whitebridge Pet Brands

meric and New Zealand green mussels to support hip
and joint health. The GO! Solutions™ line also includes
formulas targeting digestive health, skin and coat care,
and weight maintenance.
Stella & Chewy's also offers several health-focused
freeze-dried raw toppers that support digestive, immune, skin and coat, mobility, and heart health.
" Just like food and supplements, meal toppers will increasingly shift from indulgent to functional and contain
active ingredients like glucosamine and chondroitin, "
Hudson predicted. " Supplements will reach more than
$800 million in sales this year, as owners become more
and more worried about health. Toppers are another
way to deliver functional ingredients to the diet. "
As of now, most companies are focusing on toppers
with added health benefits, rather than solutions-based
formulas. This opportunity for functional meal toppers
poses another set of challenges and demands closer attention to formulations and possible meal combinations
in order to ensure pets receive the appropriate levels of
essential vitamins and nutrients in each serving.

Counting calories

It's important for pet owners to understand how meal
toppers can affect overall nutrition.
" Adding fiber to our pets' diets can help slow down
their rate of digestion, which can be beneficial to pets, "
Ghosh explained.
Primal Pet Food takes a whole food approach to add frozen fresh or minimally processed meat and vegetables to
more highly processed diets, such as kibble.
" We believe that frozen and fresh food toppers are the
best solution for pets in that they're the least processed,
for pet owners in that they are less expensive than the
freeze-dried versions, and for retailers in that they bring
customers back to brick-and-mortar retail more frequently, " Meyers said.
Feeding pets too many calories is a main concern.
Primal Pet provides thorough consumer support in determining how much and what kind of meal toppers are
appropriate for each pet and their respective regular diets.
Meyers suggested that 10% of a pet's meal can be replaced
with a meal topper or mix-in, with emphasis on the word
" replace " so as not to increase total calories per serving.
" We make it very clear that our topper products are not
balanced and we offer a bowl builder tool on our website
that guides pet parents to the proper ratios to make sure
that the majority of their pets calories are coming from

complete-and-balanced foods, "
Meyers said.
The meal topper and mix-in
category is only expected to grow and
evolve from here. Hudson said she believes the market for these products " will likely
outpace many pet food segments, " as pet owners see
them as both a convenient and economical way to enhance nutrition, taste and variety.
" As more consumers use toppers and mix-ins this way,
the market will register considerable growth, especially at
the premium end, " she concluded. " Consumer education
will drive this growth, through retailers informing pet
parents about the health benefits of meal toppers, as well
as through innovative packaging and labeling. "
Ghosh said he expects whole food toppers and those
with human-grade or natural ingredients to grow, playing into visual appeal and pet owner preferences for
high-quality nutrition.
" The beauty of this trend is that it's flexible and solves
a lot of pet owners' needs, " he said. " For example, if a
pet owner is looking to add more moisture, enzymes, or
probiotics to their pet's diet, toppers and mix-ins are a
great addition to kibble. "
As noted by Meyers, this trend could also be an opportunity for brick-and-mortar retailers to take back
market share, differentiate themselves from e-commerce
platforms - which introduce a whole new set of challenges for distributing fresh and frozen products - and
entice customer loyalty.
" By embracing fresh/frozen toppers (and diets) as
featured items in their stores, local retailers are creating
a reason for consumers to keep shopping with them, because the items offer both a nutritional and strategic advantage, " she said. " We believe the future is very bright
for this category. "
PFP

It's important that
brands adequately
educate consumers
on how to combine
meal toppers with a
regular diet without
overfeeding.
Whitebridge Pet Brands

Meal toppers can
be formulated
with functional
ingredients to add
targeted health
benefits to a pet's
bowl.
Petcurean

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PET Food Processing - March 2021

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