It is common for standard extruded pet food to be described as “brown and round.” This is supposed to be sarcasm for a boring or mundane product; however, brown seems to be a favored color in pet food. For example, in canned chunks-in-gravy products, the meats may be light gray to tan and the starch-based gravy a white paste. Adding some caramel coloring can be very important to make these foods more acceptable.
This is where we see the introduction of caramel into an ingredient panel. The judicious use of color additives can help us achieve the target appearance when the base ingredients pull it in another direction (gray or white), and they assist in creating a consistent-looking product from one production run to the next. That consistency aids consumer confidence. While the dog or cat may not care, their pet parents do.
