Arbiom, an agriculture-biotechnology company developing solutions to produce high-performance protein ingredients from wood, announces the results of a new scientific study evaluating its high-quality alternative protein ingredient SylPro for use in cat food. The trial, performed in partnership with the Pet Food Program at Kansas State University, found that cats preferred the food formulated with SylPro over food formulated with conventional protein ingredients, such as chicken meal and pea protein concentrate.
The study results indicated that cats significantly preferred the initial taste of food formulated with SylPro over food with chicken meal protein or pea protein. Additionally, cats not only chose the SylPro-based food first, but they remained with the SylPro based food as their preferred food choice. Foods prepared with SylPro also exhibited excellent protein digestibility.
“Cats are carnivores and, therefore, require high-quality protein in their diets. Additionally, cats can be finicky eaters so it can be a challenge to make new foods palatable to them,” said Professor Greg Aldrich, Research Associate Professor in the Grain Science & Industry and Pet Food Program at Kansas State University. “However, Arbiom SylPro ingredient showed great promise in bucking that trend,” said Aldrich.
“The promising results of our latest cat trial show that SylPro has potential as a protein source for adult cats,” said Ricardo Ekmay, PhD, SVP of Nutrition & Product Development with Arbiom. “Again, we saw that SylPro performed quite well as a high-quality protein, as well as a palatable and sustainable alternative protein for use in cat foods,” said Ekmay.
SylPro is produced via Arbiom’s bioprocessing technology which converts wood into food for microorganisms. The ingredient is comprised of dried inactive yeast cells. Arbiom has developed SylPro to address the challenges of producing more sustainable, nutritional, traceable protein sources to feed the future using less resources, with less impact to the environment.
“Following our previous successful trial in dog food, this new study continues to provide evidence that SylPro is a nutritional, sustainable, and as we’re seeing, highly-palatable, new protein ingredient for use in pet foods,” said Marc Chevrel, Arbiom CEO. “We anticipate further trials will prove equally promising and we look forward to receiving additional results as we continue our journey towards the commercialization of SylPro, and future protein products,” said Chevrel.
