Novel proteins have been part of many trends conversations over the last several years: Sustainability, functionality, and health and wellness have all had seats at the table of novel protein development. Today’s needs continue to focus on those three topics in ever-more-complex combinations.
“The competitive pet food market demands constant innovation from manufacturers and brands,” said Protix, a supplier providing insect-based ingredient solutions focusing on the black soldier fly. “They need to stay ahead of the curve. In terms of trends, in the pet food segment we are seeing a marked rise in humanization. Doting pet parents see their cats and dogs as valued family members and expect products that treat them accordingly. This goes paw-in-paw with increased interest in pet health, which spans daily diet as well as supplements and treats that promise health and wellness benefits. Concerns about sustainability have also extended to the pet food industry. Consumers want natural products that boast a minimal pawprint. Manufacturers thus face multiple challenges: They need a source of protein or fat that offers health benefits for dogs and cats, maintains palatability and also reduces the footprint of their formulations. The holy grail is an ingredient that can deliver all of this.”
Meeting consumers’ many needs: Insect protein
The demand for innovation has significantly expanded the reach of novel proteins as manufacturers of these ingredients seek to carve out their own niche of needs met.
Protein options from insects include both the insects themselves and an oil that can be processed from them, creating multiple possibilities for pet food formulators looking into insects as an ingredient. | Courtesy Protix
“Feed and pet food manufacturers face several key challenges, one of the biggest being the need to meet the growing global population, which is expected to surpass 9 billion by 2050,” said Carrie Kuball, M.S., vice president of sales and marketing for black soldier fly larvae ingredient producer EnviroFlight. “To meet the increasing protein demands sustainably, alternative protein sources like insects are becoming essential.”
Insects have leaned into the sustainability initiative, and in Europe in particular the research and acceptance in the pet food market continues to grow as regulations catch up and the benefits become more prominently marketed to pet owners.
“Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) provide a highly efficient and sustainable solution,” said Kuball. “BSFL grow quickly on a variety of feed sources, require less water than traditional agriculture and can be farmed vertically, allowing substantial amounts of protein to be produced on a smaller footprint.”
Beyond sustainability, insects are being offered to pet food formulators as nutrient-dense and even functional proteins, able to assist with a number of health and wellness needs.
“BSF products come with unique nutrients such as lauric acid, chitin, AMPs (anti-microbial peptides), etc.,” said Ludovic Lair, director of sales and marketing for Entosystem, a company that harvests black soldier fly larvae. “These can be used as new tools to tackle health challenges such as allergies, gut health and aging.”
In fact, sustainability by itself may not be enough of a draw as pet owner needs continue to evolve.
“From my experience, I’ve seen our customers transitioning from the need to have proof of sustainability impact (asking for a Life Cycle Assessment vs. poultry meal, for instance), to the need to get evidence of health benefits to support claims,” said Lair. “Sustainability alone is not sufficient to get BSF product in the formula. We need to show performance and how dogs and cats can benefit from them.”
The new science on the block: Cruelty-free meat
Cultivated meat used to be a science fiction concept. Now, of course, it’s a reality, as people search for more sustainable ways to continue eating animal proteins.
“Today, attempts are being made to rethink the production of agricultural products, especially meat and meat substitutes,” according to “Cultivated meat manufacturing: Technology, trends and challenges,” a paper published in the journal Engineering in Life Sciences in 2023. “One of the solutions is ‘cultivated meat:’ a sustainable alternative for consumers who want to be more responsible but don’t want to change the composition of their diet. Cultivated meat aims to replace conventional meat production with the help of cell and tissue culture. Cultivated meat is expected to have numerous benefits compared to conventional animal agriculture: It allows the reduction of needed resources in terms of nutrition, land and water use; the reduction of greenhouse gas emission; elimination of zoonotic infections; and antibiotic resistances.”
But the science now goes even beyond cultivated meat, with non-lab-based meat production.
“Demand for ethical and sustainable proteins is rising, particularly in the pet food sector, where pet owners are seeking cruelty-free meat; clean, high-quality proteins; alternatives to factory-farmed meat; and nutritionally complete and safe options,” said Vahid Hosseini, Ph.D., CEO of Hatchless, a biotech company that uses a patent-pending system called MeatBox Technology that replicates natural muscle growth outside the animal, allowing for true three-dimensional meat development.
“Instead of costly growth factors, synthetic media or fetal bovine serum (FBS) used in cultivated meat, we use the natural, nutrient-rich contents of regular eggs to feed and grow the tissue,” said Hosseini. “This lowers production costs by orders of magnitude, making Hatchless the first company to achieve cost parity with traditional meat.”
The future of novel proteins
Whether we’re talking about plant-based, insect-based, cultivated or some other type of protein falling under the “novel” umbrella, the field is getting more diverse by the day.
“Novel proteins in pet food are gaining significant traction, and we expect this momentum to continue throughout 2025,” said Kuball. “The market is seeing increased interest in a variety of alternative proteins, including fermented proteins, cultured proteins and new algal protein sources.
“At the same time, discussions around the functional benefits of BSFL ingredients in animal feed and pet food continue to expand,” she said. “With growing recognition of nutritional and health advantages, we expect BSFL ingredients will play a significant role in shaping the future of novel proteins.”
According to Hosseini, there are three major trends that will shape the future of novel proteins in the cell-based meat space:
- Regulatory approvals – More cultivated meat companies will work toward FDA/USDA approvals, but cost and scalability will remain a barrier to mass adoption.
- Cost reduction innovations – The industry will shift focus toward cost-efficient growth media, though most will still struggle with expensive bioreactor-based production.
- Rise of non-bioreactor technologies – Scalable, non-lab-based meat production will gain traction as a cost-effective and truly sustainable alternative.
The overall thought is that novel proteins will become more mainstream as pet owners become more educated on their options and the science behind these ingredients becomes more accessible. Knowledge, as they say, is power — even when it comes to pet food ingredients.