Platability is Critical on Enhancing the Flavor of Pet Food

Oct. 10, 2019

By Daisy Wang

According to the "Chinese Pet Industry White Paper 2019" (Consumer Report), the total consumption of pets (dogs and cats) in Chinese cities and towns reaches 202. 4 billion RMB in 2019. Pet industry grow fast in recently year in China, and pet food is the biggest part of this industry. In order to attract pet to food manufacturers pay more attention to the palatability and taste.

Chinese Pet Market Size in 2019.png

Fig. 1 Chinese Pet Market Size in 2019

The report also shows that the number of dogs and cats in cities and towns has reached 99. 15 million, an increase of 8. 4% over 2018. These 99. 15 million cats, dogs and their owners have supported the 202. 4 billion scale of China's pet market and promoted the rapid development of the pet industry.

With the increasing number of pets, pet shops, pet hospitals, pet beauty salons and other pet-related industries have developed rapidly. Pet food accounts for 61. 4% of the total pet consumption, an increase of 9. 2% over last year. As a rigid demand consumption, pet food will occupy the largest market share in pet industry for a long time. As the rapid development of pet industry in China, the concept of scientific pet care has gradually become popular. Consumers pay more and more attention to the quality of pet food. The requirement on pet food not only has to meet pet daily nutritional needs, but also to meet the palatability needs. At present, most pet foods in the market have meat flavor, mainly beef, chicken, liver and fish flavor. Pet food should pay more attention to the palatability and taste integrity and simulation.

Pet palatability enhancer can improve the palatability of pet food to a certain extent, so the research on it has become an important part of the development process of pet food. Pet palatability enhancer is a kind of nutritional additive specially designed according to pet feeding needs, which can attract pets to feed, increase palatability and appetite. We may simply see it as a kind of seasoning, which is just like soy sauce and chicken essence to our dishes, to make pet more interested in food.

Production of Palatability

Fig. 2 Production process of pet palatability enhancer

In the production process of palatability enhancer, enzymatic hydrolysis plays an essential role in the flavor formation.

Because the different cutting sites of different enzymes make different combinations of flavor precursors, such as polypeptides, small peptides and free amino acids, result in different aroma of enzymatic hydrolysates, so the enhanced aroma after Maillard reaction will also be different. Therefore, the selection of enzymes is very important for the aroma of food flavor and the palatability of pet food.

Annzyme® Enzymes used in pet palatability can hydrolyze animal meat and liver proteins effectively in a wide range of pH, and synergistically work on macromolecule proteins by cutting it into small molecule polypeptides and amino acids to increase the content of precursor substances such as umami enhancing amino acids and peptides, thus improve the flavor of the final product. The overall effect of Maillard reaction can be further optimized.

*Data source from ‘Chinese Pet Industry White Paper 2019’in this article.

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