Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge

Mars and EIT Food Announce Winners of the Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge

BioscienZ and CREMER Sustainable Nutrition, winners of the Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge, will develop proof-of-concept studies to drive innovation in sustainable pet food ingredients
 

EIT Food, the world’s largest innovation community, and Mars Petcare, a global leader in veterinary care, nutrition, and breakthrough programs in diagnostics, wearable health monitoring, DNA testing, and pet welfare, have announced the successful conclusion of the Fiber Valorisation for Pet Food Challenge, an open innovation challenge identifying innovative solutions that can transform byproducts from agricultural processing into nutritious ingredients for pet food. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

 

Pet food production uses byproducts from across the human supply chain. Utilising byproducts from agricultural processing, such as straw or vegetable peelings, can help to prevent waste, reduce strain on livestock production and support farmers, while reducing demand on the human food supply chain. To drive innovation in this area, organisations were invited to submit solutions that could transform byproducts from agricultural processing into proteins or sugars that can be digested by dogs and cats for potential use in safe and nutritious pet food formulations.

 

After a competitive process, R&D leaders from Mars Petcare met nine organisations at a demo day, selected from over 50 applications from a range of startups, research institutes and established companies. Two organisations were then selected for proof-of-concept studies as a first step, with the potential to develop future long-term collaborations.

 

One company is BioscienZ, which develops processes using micro-organisms in an applied setting to produce new food and feed ingredients, industrial products, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics. They have a strong track record in scaling up processes to pilot and commercial scale. With Mars Petcare, they will investigate the value of using enzymatically converted solid fibrous raw materials as ingredients in liquid pet food, by employing an innovative proprietary liquefaction process.

 

The other winner is CREMER Sustainable Nutrition, part of the CREMER group; a family-owned group of more than 60 companies worldwide, specialising in nutrition, oleochemicals, trading and logistics services. The group includes CREMER Sustainable Nutrition and Deutsche Tiernahrung CREMER, a market leader in animal nutrition in Germany.  They have developed an innovative process that improves the digestibility and taste of plant fibres in animal feed by combining traditional proven technology with innovate solid-state fermentation. In their collaboration with Mars Petcare, they will develop this process further and test its applicability in the pet food market.

 

“We’re on a mission to create more sustainable pet food solutions and are delighted to be working with BioscienZ and CREMER Sustainable Nutrition. Together, leveraging their innovative approaches and Mars Petcare’s breadth of expertise, we have a significant opportunity to develop new ingredients and help to support a more circular economy” - Michael Horan, Global S&T Platform Leader Material Science at Mars Petcare

 

Benoit Buntinx, Director of Business Creation at EIT Food said: “The pet care market is growing and it is crucial to find ways to make pet food more delicious, nutritious and sustainable. By making pet food production more circular and the resulting products delicious and nutritious we are directly tackling our EIT Food missions of a net-zero food system and healthier lives through food. It is great to see a global leader like Mars looking externally to rapidly find impactful solutions for their challenges.”

 

ENDS

 

  

For more information and interview enquiries, please contact communication@eitfood.eu. 

 

About EIT Food 

EIT Food is the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community. We accelerate innovation to build a future-fit food system that produces healthy and sustainable food for all.  

 

Supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union, we invest in projects, organisations and individuals that share our goals for a healthy and sustainable food system. We unlock innovation potential in businesses and universities and create and scale agrifood startups to bring new technologies and products to market. We equip entrepreneurs and professionals with the skills needed to transform the food system and put consumers at the heart of our work, helping build trust by reconnecting them to the origins of their food. 

 

We are one of nine innovation communities established by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT), an independent EU body set up in 2008 to drive innovation and entrepreneurship across Europe.  

 

Find out more at www.eitfood.eu or follow us via social media: X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. 

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ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED

 

Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. As a $50bn+ family-owned business, our diverse and expanding portfolio of leading pet care products and veterinary services support pets all around the world and our quality snacking and food products delight millions of people every day. We produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including ROYAL CANIN®, PEDIGREE®, WHISKAS®, CESAR®, DOVE®, EXTRA®, M&M’S®, SNICKERS® and BEN’S ORIGINAL™. Our international networks of pet hospitals, including BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, VCA™ and ANICURA™ span preventive, general, specialty, and emergency veterinary care, and our global veterinary diagnostics business ANTECH® offers breakthrough capabilities in pet diagnostics. The Mars Five Principles — Quality, Responsibility, Mutuality, Efficiency and Freedom — inspire our 150,000 Associates to act every day to help create a better world for people, pets and the planet. 

 

For more information about Mars, please visit www.mars.com. Join us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.