Sustainable Pet Treats for Dogs

Did you know that 30% of the world’s food supply goes to waste?

While human consumption practices are a large factor, pet owners can’t ignore the impact that the food they feed their furry friends might be having on global food waste. Every citizen of the planet plays a role in eco-friendly eating, and for you that could mean switching to sustainable pet treats for dogs and cats.

While there is a growing trend to feed pets human-grade foods, this could actually be contributing to the problem. At Freeze Dry Australia, we want your pets to love what they’re eating, but we also want you to feel good about the environmental impact of their diet. So in this post, we’ll examine the ramifications of human-grade ingredients and offer some of the best eco-friendly alternatives.

Contents:

• What is eco-friendly pet food?
• What is human-grade pet food?
• Animal byproducts as a sustainable alternative
• Eco-friendly benefits of freeze-dried pet treats
• Shop Freeze Dried Australia For Sustainable Pet Treats For Dogs and Cats

 

 

 

What is eco-friendly pet food?

Eco-friendly pet food, or sustainable pet food, isn’t a regulated term. Rather, it is used to refer to foods that are created, packaged and shipped in a manner that is minimally harmful to the environment.

Sustainability in pet food includes, but is not limited to, practices like the following:

• Using ingredients that are sourced locally to minimise emissions from transportation.
• Avoiding ingredients that contain GMOs or are produced with pesticides or herbicides.
• Reducing the amount of waste caused during production and consumption.
• Relying on whole, raw or minimally processed foods.
• Sourcing meat from animals that have lower environmental impact, such as chicken and wild caught fish.

Collectively, practices like these serve to curb carbon emissions by reducing the energy that is used to make and deliver pet foods, while also eliminating the amount of food waste that ends up in a landfill.

You might also like:  Best Treats for Dogs with Allergies – Hypoallergenic Dog Treats

 

In a world where environmental impact is a growing concern, pet parents are looking for ways to reduce their footprint, starting with what they feed their furry friends. – iheartdogs.com

 

What is human-grade pet food?

The human-grade pet food trend revolves around the theory that dogs, cats and other pets should eat food that is of the same quality that humans eat. This doesn’t necessarily mean that your dog gets high end cuts like fillet mignon. Rather, it means that the ingredients in your pet’s food would pass the same regulations for human consumption.

While this sounds great for your pup’s taste buds, it creates a twofold problem, environmentally speaking: (1) wasted byproducts and (2) overloaded supply chain. Let’s look at both of these in turn.

 

 

Problem #1: Human-grade pet food creates more waste

Traditionally, pet food is made from meat byproducts: organ meats, bone meal, and other offal that humans prefer not to eat. When pet owners opt to feed their furry friends with the human-grade cuts, all of those byproducts have to go somewhere.

So, to offer a really oversimplified example, imagine one cow. All the good stuff—the ribs, the steaks, the roasts, etc.—is packaged and put in a freezer for you to eat over the next several months. If you opt for sustainable pet food, you’ll save the remaining (edible) parts for puppers. If you opt for human-grade pet food, you’ll toss them all in the landfill AND have to share the prime cuts with your pet.

The real situation, of course, is much more complex than that. But, this basic illustration can give you a rough idea of how relying too much on human-grade pet food contributes to more food waste. And more food waste means more greenhouse gasses. After all, animal byproducts sitting in a garbage heap are going to emit methane, carbon dioxide and other pollutants.

To compound the problem, pet-grade meat ingredients often come from older livestock, past their prime or nearing the end of their lifespan. They aren’t fit for human consumption any more, but perfectly suitable for the undiscriminating taste buds of your dog or cat. Unfortunately, these livestock would instead go to the landfill in their entirety if everyone used human-grade pet food.

Related: Dog Gut Health & How to Improve It

Over 70% of the $2.6b Aussie dog food industry is owned by 3 multinationals – Mars, Nestle and Hosen Capital. – Scratchpetfood.com.au

 

Problem #2: Human-grade pet food strains the supply chain

Imagine that a large population of pet owners decided to switch to human-grade animal food. That means that our food supply chain would need to be producing even more cows, chickens, pigs, fish, lamb and so on to not just feed us, but our pets as well.

The World Wildlife Foundation already estimates that we’ll be trying to feed around 9 billion humans by 2050. Just think about how strained our supply chain would be by then if our dogs and cats were also eating the same quality of meat as us. All that extra production means more meat processing, more transportation of goods and more food waste. And that all adds up to more greenhouse gas.

 

Your dog isn’t just a pet; they’re a member of your family. Keeping them in line with a healthy lifestyle starts with being as conscious about what you put into their bodies as you do your own. – Hivebrands.com

 

Animal byproducts as a sustainable alternative

So if human-grade pet food is the problem, what’s the solution?

Animal byproducts are an ideal source of pet foods and treats for numerous reasons. For starters, they are what has traditionally been used in most commercial pet foods, so they already have a place in the supply chain. Using animal byproducts won’t overtax the system. Furthermore, using the byproducts is better for the environment because it eliminates food waste.

But what about your poor pets? Don’t they prefer those delicious roasts and steaks that humans eat?

Well, not really. Most animals really aren’t picky about the grade of their foods. If you put a plate of organ meats and a plate of ground chuck in front of your pup, he’ll probably devour both.

What we do know is that organ meats are way more nutritious for pets than prime cuts. In fact, Animal Wellness Magazine describes them as super foods for animals, just like berries and kale for humans. Organ meats are packed with nutrients, particularly vitamin B12, iron, magnesium and folate. Liver is often referred to as “nature’s multivitamin”.

So if your dog or cat doesn’t have a preference, you should opt for nutrient balance over ingredient grades. Feeding them human-grade food could be worse for their diet and worse for the environment.

 

 

Eco-friendly benefits of freeze-dried pet treats

While there are lots of ways to feed your pet more sustainably, freeze-dried pet food stands out as an ideal option for a variety of reasons.

Raw food diet

Many owners prefer a raw diet for their pet as a way to eliminate processed foods, aid in digestion and preserve eating patterns similar to how they would eat in the wild. As an added benefit, raw food involves less ingredients and less processing. This means that there aren’t as many emissions released in production.

All of Freeze Dry Australia’s pet treats and foods are 100% raw. Additionally, many of them are single ingredient foods that give your pet exactly what you are expecting. Our Freeze Dried Whole Sardines, for example, are raw, whole fish from head to tail.

 

 

Freeze Dried 100% Raw Dog Food. You can mix it with other foods or oats, but best on its own.
Raw & Healthy ingredients to keep your dog happy, healthy and relaxed.

 

Sustainable without sacrificing nutrition

Many sustainable pet foods for dogs and cats follow all the guidelines for eco-friendly food production, but do so at the cost of nutrients. Dry kibble, for example, may cut down on food waste by relying on meat byproducts instead of prime cuts. However, it may also be loaded with preservatives and fillers.

Freeze-dried pet treats don’t require the use of preservatives because the freeze-drying process itself is what keeps the food shelf stable. Furthermore, the specific freeze-dry methods we use have been developed to minimise the number of nutrients that are lost in processing.

 

 

Extended shelf life

It’s all well and good that you want to feed your dog a healthy diet of liver, heart, kidney and other organ meats. But let’s be honest: those would be a little tough to keep stocked in your refrigerator. Not only would you lose a lot of fridge space, but you would also have even more expiration dates to keep track of. If you lose track of dates or overbuy for the week, that means throwing food out. In other words: more waste for the landfill.

Freeze-dried pet treats, on the other hand, are shelf stable. You can keep them in the pantry without having to sacrifice precious fridge space. And, because they last much longer than unpreserved meats, you are much more likely to use them up before they go bad.

Want to try freeze dried pet treats out but unsure on what’s out there? Browse our freeze dried Pet Treats! you’ll find the ingredients on the individual product description.

 

 

Shop Freeze Dried Australia For Sustainable Pet Treats For Dogs and Cats

Making eco-conscious decisions isn’t just relegated to what you drive and how you heat your home. Almost every aspect of your life can affect the global environment—for better or worse. And, as we’ve learned in this post, that even includes what you feed your pet.

Freeze-dried pet treats are a sustainable alternative to human grade foods. They are nutritionally safe, minimally processed, less wasteful and easier on the supply chain.

Freeze Dry Australia is committed to making it convenient for you to feed your pet food that is good for them and the environment. Browse our full line of sustainable pet treats for cats and dogs today!