Plant-based pet foods may be a key avenue for environmental sustainability.
Rebecca Brociek, Final year PhD Student in the School of Veterinary Medicine and Science at the University of Nottingham, examines the benefits.
With a background in biomedical science and pharmaceutical, Rebecca is now completing her PhD focused in companion animal nutrition at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her main focus has been research into why and how fat accumulates in domestic cats, causing kidney disease. She also has a passionate interest in climate change and health, and has published papers assessing both the nutritional and environmental impacts of feeding a range of dog foods. All work is published open access and freely available for the public, as the group does not believe in restricting good research for academic institutions only.
The Planetary Effects of Producing Pet Food
There are many studies that show incorporating more plant-based meals into our diets, not only improves human health, but also the health of our planet. So, with around 1/5 of the world’s meat production being directed to pet food, would we also benefit from transitioning our omnivorous dogs, in the same way?
A new study looked at 31 adult dog foods from UK supermarkets, with a wide range of protein sources, including both meat- and plant-based. Each were assessed for the amount of land and freshwater that was required to grow and/or rear the food, the greenhouse gases emitted during this process and other pollution from sources such as fertilisers.
And the differences were striking! Plant-based foods had the smallest footprint in every category, and meat, particularly beef and lamb, had the largest. To visualise this, feeding an adult Labrador plant-based kibble for nine years would require land about the size of one and a half football fields. If the same dog ate beef or lamb food, that would increase to more than fifty football fields. Similar comparisons were made for greenhouse gases.
The study acknowledges the role of animal by-products in reducing food waste. Yet the volume of meat used in pet food is far greater than what by-products alone can supply, effectively fuelling extra meat production for the pet food industry.
The point isn’t to move every dog to vegan food right away. Nutrition and taste are still important, and owners are not encouraged to create a homemade vegan diet without consulting a nutrition expert. However, the study highlights a significant opportunity: by moving to correctly formulated plant-based diets or by reducing meat use in this sector, the pet food industry and planet-conscious dog owners could significantly lower their environmental pawprint, one bowl of food at a time.
Read More:
[Frontiers] – Environmental impact of feeding plant-based vs. meat-based dry dog foods in the United Kingdom
