Aurélie de Ratuld, Ph.D.

Title

CSR Director

Company

Diana Pet Food

Presentation description:

Eco-design: a practical method to sustainably innovate in pet food – De Ratuld introduces a new approach for developing sustainable pet food products that takes into account their environmental performance through tools such as the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Eco-Design Matrix. Pet food manufacturers wishing to address sustainability must now consider their products in the whole value chain, from the extraction of raw materials through to processing, transportation, usage and up to end-of-life of the packaging. LCA identifies the environmental critical points of a product, while the Eco-Design Matrix assesses and improves the environmental performances of palatants focusing on sourcing.

Experience:

Graduated in food science, De Ratuld owns a Ph.D. in biotechnology applied to aroma. With seven years of experience as a flavorist and biotechnologist, she joined Diana Pet Food in 2001 to work on innovation projects for both cat and dog palatability. She then led the R&D team in charge of developing palatable solutions for wet pet food and treats for five years. Since 2010 she has been managing the Diana Pet Food R&D cat platform, focusing on basic research projects dedicated to cat food palatability understanding and improvement through both molecular and holistic approaches of palatability.