Colorado-based Bond Pet Foods, a company using precision fermentation to produce meat proteins for pet food applications, has announced a partnership with leading brand Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
The two companies will collaborate to produce a more sustainable alternative to one of Hill’s most popular meat-based products. The fermented protein will be specially developed to cater to the dietary needs of cats and dogs.
“A step forward on our sustainability journey”
“As we think about how we can help pets flourish and create a better, more sustainable world, we are keenly interested in exploring additional ways to take a science-first approach to pet nutrition,” said Dave Baloga, Vice President of Science & Technology for Hill’s Pet Nutrition. “This alternative protein source marks a step forward on our sustainability journey to use science to help provide the best possible care for pets — for today and tomorrow.”
Worldwide, dogs and cats consume a huge amount of meat, and the environmental impact is considerable. Bond has set out to change that by producing beef, chicken, fish, and other meat proteins via precision fermentation. This technology has long been used to make traditionally animal-derived ingredients such as the enzymes used in cheese production.
Bond first announced it had developed a fermented pet food prototype in August of last year, telling vegconomist that “people, pets, farm animals and the planet all win” through the development of alt pet food.
The following November, Bond’s innovation was recognised by the Colorado Office of Economic Development, which awarded the company a $250,000 grant. This was in addition to over $1 million in funding raised by Bond the previous year.
“Hill’s Pet Nutrition is synonymous with the highest quality and nutritious foods for pets and the collaboration presents a massive opportunity,” said Rich Kelleman, Founder and CEO of Bond Pet Foods. “Together, we’ll be able to reimagine meat-based nutrition for the world’s dogs and cats, and we’re excited to leverage our technology to develop new, transformative meat proteins for Hill’s portfolio.”
