The pet food industry is an important sector of the pet care market that is growing rapidly. Whilst the number of new and innovative products continues to rise, research and development to assess product performance follows traditional palatability methodology. Pet food palatability research focuses on the amount of food consumed through use of one-bowl and two-bowl testing, but little understanding is given to why differences are observed, particularly at a fundamental ingredient level. This review will highlight the key differences in feeding behaviour and nutritional requirements between dogs and cats. The dominant pet food formats currently available and the ingredients commonly included in pet foods are also described. The current methods used for assessing pet food palatability and their limitations are outlined. The opportunities to utilise modern analytical methods to identify complete foods that are more palatable and understand the nutritional factors responsible for driving intake are discussed.
The pet food industry continues to utilise large amounts of inedible meat components from the human food industry. Although used extensively in pet food formulations and as palatants, little is known about the palatability of individual meat components. The objectives of this study were to investigate the palatability of raw meat components commonly used in the production of pet food, using acceptance and preference testing. Those examined were lung, heart, kidney, tripe, liver and mechanically deboned meat (MDM) from lamb and beef. Two-bowl acceptance tests were used to develop an overall ranking of components within each species. Two-bowl preference tests between equivalent beef and lamb components were then used to determine whether a preference was exhibited for one species over the other. For the acceptance of components from lamb and beef, liver was the most palatable within both species, with kidney equivalent to liver when testing lamb components. The MDM was identified as the least palatable component from both species. When examining the preference between equivalent components between species, cats showed preferences for lamb over equivalent beef components, except for heart and liver which showed no difference in intake between the two species. Overall, cats were able to clearly rank the palatability of different components from lamb and beef, as well as between equivalent components from the two species. Selecting highly palatable ingredients whilst still meeting pet food manufacturing guidelines may play a role in improving overall diet palatability and acceptance by cats.
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