Pet food formulators continue to develop novel pet food ingredients used to create dog and cat foods, moving away from grains to meet consumer demands. Novel pet food ingredients made from leguminous plants, such as peas, chickpeas or lentils, have risen in popularity, especially as plant-based protein.
An analysis of the Dog and Cat Food Ingredient Center database examined the popularity of peas, chickpeas and lentils in dog and cat foods currently on the market.
The Dog and Cat Food Ingredient Center is a database of nutritional information and full ingredient lists for pet foods currently available in the US market. The Dog and Cat Food Ingredient Center contains data on which pet food companies are using these novel pet food ingredients, along with the nutritional information about these products.
Peas, chickpeas or lentils in dog food
Chickpeas, lentils and peas make up a large percentage of the dry recipes they are in, often showing up in the top 3 to 6 spots in the ingredient deck, the analysis noted.
In dry dog food, chickpeas are included in 11.5 percent of the recipes, while lentils appear in 7.8 percent, according to Ingredient Center data.
Nearly 5 percent of dry dog food contains peas. Almost all labels list dried peas, with four recipes referring to dehydrated peas.
In wet dog food, less than 2 percent of the recipes list peas. Lentils appear in 0.5 percent of recipes.
Peas, chickpeas or lentils in cat food
Dry cat food follows a similar pattern with chickpeas peas in nearly 8.4 percent of the recipes in the database. Lentils are used in 9.1 percent of the dry cat food recipes.
To learn more about the use of use of legumes and many other conventional and novel pet food ingredients, subscribe to the Petfood Industry’s Dog and Cat Food Ingredient Center. The database search tool allows users to search by dog and cat food brand name, by product type, or by specific ingredient.
