Pet food mouldings for dogs and cats with excellent taste and low caloric value
The present invention relates to a method for producing dry pet food articles from puffed corn in all kinds of shapes and forms with good taste and low caloric value.
Challenge
Dry pet food, also known as kibble, is commonly used for feeding pets such as cats or dogs in a convenient way. Dry pet food is also used in form of treats since it can be easily carried around for example in simple bags. In such a way, dry pet food is often used in dog training as a reward.
Pets very often are overweight. This can have many causes but usually relates to the eating habits of the pets, which essentially are dictated by their owners. In the USA 60% of cats and 56% of dogs are on the heavy side according to a study. Obesity of pets is a worldwide problem, which may cause a plethora of different diseases such as diabetes, arthritis and cardiac diseases, statistically reducing the life expectancy of cats and dogs by about two years.
While owners could essentially reduce the amount of food provided to their pets in order to reduce their weight over time, this is not always a feasible method since the pet will essentially feel hungry all the time and may start to display behavioural problems. Commonly available diet pet foods still provide rather high caloric value so that pets which simply eat too much may still not reduce weight from such diet pet foods. Dry pet foods for low calorie diets can therefore still be improved. Therefore, the objective is to provide improved dry pet food with low caloric value.
Our Solution
Scientists at the University of Göttingen, Germany developed a method for producing dry pet food articles by providing a moulding material by contacting popcorn (i. e. puffed corn) with a special binder composition comprising at least a protein, an alditol and water, and forming an article from the moulding material (puffed corn and binder) by administering heat and/or pressure to the moulding material in a mould. The unique binder composition allows for the formation of articles with various shapes by providing good adhesive properties to the popcorn. The edible binder allows for very good processing compared to other binder compositions while simultaneously yielding dry pet food articles in all kinds of shapes and forms with excellent taste and low caloric value.
Advantages
- low calory dry pet food articles particularly suited for dogs but also cats
- good taste due to protein as a binder composition
- no added sugar or oil
- binder composition with very high processability
- can be produced in all kinds of shapes and forms
Applications
Production of low calory dry pet food articles in all kinds of shapes and forms
Schematic drawing of moulding steps, wherein the moulding material (puffed corn granulates and binder) is moulded in a bone-shaped moulding cavity using a pressure piston. Source EP21163452.2.
Development Status
The production method has been developed and tested on a technical scale.
Patent Status
Patent applications have been filed in EP and US (EP4059351A1, US20220295830A1, applicant: Georg August University of Göttingen public law foundation).
Contact
Dr. Stefan Uhle
Patent Manager Life Science
E-Mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel.: +49 551 30724 154
Reference: BioC-2233-SUG
