Pet food equipment maker Buhler’s newly opened Food Application Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, currently focuses on human food, but the Center’s director is open to working with pet food makers too. The Center could be particularly useful in the development of sustainable plant-based ingredients for dog, cat and other pet foods.
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Pet food ingredient new product development potential at Food Application Center
The Center mainly seeks innovations in turning pulses, peas, beans, oats, ancient grains, corn and other crops into human food products. Along with converting crops into flours, snacks, pasta, cereals and extruded products, the Center develops plant-based meat analogues, Yannick Gaechter, Food Application Center director told Petfood Industry in an email.
“We work under the food safety standards for human nutrition, which means that the Food Application Center is primarily structured to attend the needs of that sector,” Gaechter said. “However, we are open to explore collaboration with pet food companies, in particular if they are interested in developing new food solutions with plant-based ingredients and under strict formulations that comply with our food safety standards. Our Food Application Center is a hub for innovation, and, therefore, pet food companies are welcome to visit us and be part of that collaboration ecosystem for a sustainable food value chain.”
The Center is open and operating with human food clients. Buhler has feed sector experts in the region who could help pet food companies adapt the Center’s resources to their needs, he said.
