Maltodextrins: a unique sugar for special pet food applications

Further research and exploration will be key to finding ways to best utilize this specialized ingredient.

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For baked treats produced by rotary molder or wire-cut into cookies, maltodextrins might aid in binding and help control browning and crispness. | hgrose.Fotolia.com
For baked treats produced by rotary molder or wire-cut into cookies, maltodextrins might aid in binding and help control browning and crispness. | hgrose.Fotolia.com

Many pet foods contain sugars. Some for taste (dogs do have a “sweet tooth”), but more often for functional reasons. For example, in semi-moist foods we use sugars such as glycerol and propylene glycol, or syrups from corn or sugar beets as humectants. There is another class of sugars that are used extensively in the human foods industry, but seldom in pet foods, that might provide benefit under special food and nutritional circumstances. These sugars are the maltodextrins.

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