Adapted from a press release
During Global Pet Expo in Orlando, Florida, Nulo debuted its collection of "cold-pressed" shelf-stable pet food.
Developed by pet food industry nutrition scientist Dr. Greg Aldrich and his team, this tech innovation employs a unique raw ingredient chilling system designed to lock in nutrient integrity. Nulo said its novel high-meat inclusion pet food features a cold-temp production technique that preserves higher levels of vitamins, minerals and amino acids often depleted in conventional high-heat, high-speed kibble pet food manufacturing.
“We have intentionally designed a unique pet food category, launching a new era of biologically appropriate nutrition for dogs and cats that provides 3x the meat inclusions of conventional kibble diets," said Dr. Aldrich, who joined Nulo as its COO in January 2023. "Nulo’s cold-pressed technology optimizes the concentration of everything pet parents and veterinary physicians prefer in higher quality pet foods.
"Our new cold-pressed product creation system eliminates the use of non-essential starches like sweet potato and oats," continued Dr. Aldrich. "Instead, we’re able to offer an exceptional high-protein formula featuring 85% animal ingredients by weight, and 95% of protein from animal versus plant sources. We combine that with simple, bioavailable real food ingredients including apples and pumpkin. The raw ingredients are quickly chilled to 30 degrees and then compressed to form a high-performance nugget that remains shelf stable.”
Nutrition advice from Olympic athletes
Nulo's new line offers pet parents and retailers an alternative that eliminates the less nutritious starch binders in favor of gentle low-temp, slower cooking methods, said Michael Landa, founder and CEO. Its new cold-pressed recipes assure pet parents of the desired nutritional benefits they seek, and are available in four high-quality meat formulas – beef, salmon, chicken and turkey.
“We are determined to provide pet parents with the best nutrition they can serve their furry family members by changing the game in pet food production,” said Landa. “I am a former athlete. We have secured a team of highly respected Olympic athletes to advise us including the legendary Simone Biles. These individuals push the limits of human athletic performance and know the importance of high-quality nutrition to fuel their competitive endeavors. We’ve applied their extraordinary dietary standards to this new and unique cold-pressed category in Nulo’s minimally-processed foods portfolio.”
According to Dr. Aldrich the cold-pressed ultra-premium dog food line will improve digestibility through low and slow smokehouse-style cooking that targets temperatures of ~140 degrees for less than 8 hours. He said in service of higher quality standards, all of the diets use fresh meat sources of protein and no rendered meat meals or chicken fat.
“For animals with heightened sensitivities we’ve developed a proprietary blend of miscanthus grass, chicory root and pumpkin to support their specialized gut health needs,” he said. Feeding trials for the new products confirmed more than 90% protein digestibility and 96% fat digestibility – a marked improvement over conventional kibble which clock in closer to 80%.
Available in April 2024
Landa wants retailers to know Nulo is creating another elevated and differentiated product story at shelf that answers a price segment gap between conventional kibble and the daily feeding costs of freeze- or air-dried pet diets.
“The most important point retailers should understand is cold-pressed technology delivers trusted nutritional benefits from ultra-high levels of meat proteins in a palatable format," he explained.
The four-flavor line will be available to ship April 2024.
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Austin, Texas, Nulo offers a wide range of ultra-premium food formats available in more than 6,500 pet specialty retailers nationwide.
