Petfood Forum recently spoke with Alexandre Riethmuller, process engineer and food safety coordinator at Clextral, Inc., to learn more about his 2023 Petfood Forum presentation. Riethmuller will discuss the new developments in processing meat-analog pet foods during the “Novel pet food ingredients and nutrition concepts” concurrent session on Tuesday, May 1 at 2:05-2:35 pm. Register here to learn from Riethmuller and 20+ other industry experts.
Plant-based meat analog development has accelerated in recent years, driven by consumer expectations and awareness of the environmental impacts of animal production. As the demand for humanized pet foods has grown, Riethmuller’s research has focused on processing plant proteins into high-moisture foods with the nutrition and physical characteristics of animal meat.
Petfood Forum: What is the single, most important concept or piece of information you hope attendees will learn from your presentation?
Riethmuller: We are going to present our latest protein fibration extrusion technology. This will allow one to produce fresh premium pet food meat analogs using alternate sources of proteins, such as, plant-based, mycoproteins and insects.
Petfood Forum: Please explain the significance of this concept or information to the pet food industry and your organization:
Riethmuller: This high-moisture extrusion (HME) application will allow pet food manufacturers to produce on the same platform different substitutes of meat like chicken, fish or pork. This technology provides flexibility to enable varying textures and characteristics of interest. The use of plant-based proteins in the pet food diet is growing in popularity. Studies have shown that the production of animal proteins is no longer sustainable, and therefore we must seek to use alternative proteins sources that have less environmental impact.
High-moisture extrusion technology was patented by Clextral in the early 90’s for human food, and is now being used to develop the next generation of wet pet food products.
Petfood Forum: What are potential next developments or stages in this specific field? Where do you hope future development or research takes it, or how you plan to progress it?
Riethmuller: Our developments will be focused on two main axes: technology and ingredients. The latest high-moisture extrusion research has been around developing new shapes and increasing the production capacity. As far as ingredients, we were working on using several protein sources in the recipes such as pea, soy, lentils and more.
Petfood Forum: What pets rule your household?
Riethmuller: I have a cat, Peanut, she is 5 years old. She is a very talkative animal and a big fan of kibbles. It is her only source of food, I am sure she will appreciate the future products, and development made thanks to the high-moisture extrusion process.
About Petfood Forum
The 2023 edition of Petfood Forum is scheduled for May 1-3 at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Petfood Forum includes an agenda packed with opportunities to network and collaborate with industry professionals, learn the latest in pet food innovation and discover new tools for business success.
