PET Food Processing - June 2018 - 16

TRENDS

Ziwi includes heart,
liver, lung, tripe and
kidney in all of its
cat and dog foods
and its air-dried
dog treats.

frustration. These innovative single-ingredient dog chews
are made from beef esophagus, as the name suggests, and
are inherently high in omega fatty acids, which help support a healthy skin and coat.
"In nature, there are no synthetic food supplements," says
Frank Burdzy, president and CEO, Champion Petfoods
L.P, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. "That's why we strive to
use the whole animal to make our biologically appropriate
foods. When sourced from organs and edible bones, vitamins and minerals are highly bioavailable, making nutrients in the food easily absorbable by dogs and cats."
Champion Petfoods has two manufacturing locations.
The original NorthStar Kitchens is in Canada. DogStar
Kitchens, Bowling Green, Kentucky, opened in 2016. The
company sources sustainably raised and harvested food

Ziwi USA

PET FOOD PROCESSING | June 2018 | www.petfoodprocessing.net

ingredients from nearby farmers, ranchers and fishermen.
Many of its dry foods and snacks feature the meat of multiple animals and recipes inspired by a natural diet of whole
prey animals. There are other products that are single animal proteins. All products exclude high-glycemic carbohydrates, vegetable proteins and synthetic supplements.
"Our whole prey ratios are full of flavor compounds,
each with a unique odor signature," Burdzy says. "Cats
and dogs are able to recognize these compounds with their
highly developed senses of smell, which in turn attracts
them to their food."

The sustainability story
The topic of sustainability is not limited to the human food
chain. Pet food processors must also address their use of
resources. The good news is that offal and rendered ingredients are highly sustainable, as they meet the needs of the
present without compromising the future.
This is because humans, in particular Americans, who
have the largest - by a huge margin - ownership of domestic cats and dogs in the world, tend to only eat the muscle meat from food-producing animals.
"If it were not for the pet food industry, millions of tons
of valuable organ meat and meat by-products would go
into landfills every day," Grossman says. "The rendering industry is doing a good job being resourceful with all parts
of the animal. A chicken comes with head and feet. Not just
the breast meat and the wings. And there is more to a cow
than just the ribeye."
Meeker says, "Utilizing offal and other by-products of
the human meat supply chain for the highest possible use
improves the sustainability of animal agriculture as well as
the pet food industry. If pets were to be fed meat products
otherwise intended for humans, not only would the price
of pet and human food rise, but many more resources and
acres of farm land would be needed to fill the demand."
Part of the sustainability story is that every pound of
by-product protein used in pet food prevents a pound of
human food from being diverted. The use of offal plays a
huge role in the sustainability of the U.S. food supply, according to Kelly Scott Swanson, professor, Department
of Animal Sciences and Division of Nutritional Sciences,
and adjunct professor, Department of Veterinary
Clinical Medicine, University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, Urbana, lllinois. "Not only do these secondary products provide nutrient-rich ingredients for
animals, including pets, but they are critical component
of the [global] human food supply chain," she says. "We
are quite picky and wasteful here in the U.S., as we reject
many edible items that are not considered by-products
in other areas of the world."
For livestock slaughtered in the U.S., as much as 40%
of the carcass is not used for human consumption. "If not

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