Natures Menu has launched an online course, Raw Expert, for retailers to teach them about raw pet food and pet nutrition to help those retailers become more knowledgeable about the raw pet food trend.

The course was created by the Natures Menu veterinary division and includes four modules. The information is meant to give retailers the information needed to educate consumers about the correct use of raw pet foods and to help retailers answer consumers’ questions.

The four sections:

• Principles of nutrition
• Food production and legislation
• Natures Menu product range
• Nutrition and health

Raw pet food brochure and course registration

Natures Menu has also released an informational brochure about raw pet food that offers a guide to raw feeding.

The Raw Expert course is available to Natures Menu customers with a trade account.

Freeze-dried raw pet food demand growing quickly

Freeze-dried raw pet foods are a small but rapidly growing segment of the pet food industry, said Maria Lange, GfK business group director, at Pet Food Forum 2016. However, the now-niche category could expand to become up to 10 percent of the market. Freeze-dried pet foods are part of the specialty market trend that now is the main retail channel for pet food growth and innovation, said Lange.

Lange’s freeze-dried pet food data, separated it into 100 percent freeze dried meals, “kibble+” (traditional dry kibble mixed with freeze-dried pieces) and freeze-dried treats, showed that for the overall category, only 3.8 percent of new pet food products in US pet specialty in 2015 were freeze dried, but that has doubled in just one year.