This episode was recorded at the 2025 Petfood Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.
This episode was recorded at the 2025 Petfood Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.
Alexandra and Jim begin by introducing themselves and their backgrounds, as well as sharing what they do in their current roles. (00:58)
Dr. Ranovic gives an overview of her presentation at the conference, including a review of how dogs and cats metabolize fatty acids, current recommendations for EPA and DHA requirements, and alternative fatty acid sources like algae oil. She notes some of the differences in fatty acid metabolism between dogs and cats and whether or not adult animals really have a recommended requirement for omega-3 fatty acids. Some of her research has found that algae oil is less shelf-stable than fish oils, and perhaps feeding excess omega fatty acids does not benefit pets. (12:13)
Jim shares the Pet Sustainability Coalition has software called How Good, which is the world's largest ingredient database for sustainability. He explains how it works and ties in with diet formulation software. (22:53)
Jim gives some insight on how pet owners make decisions about sustainability. (25:51)
Dr. Rankovic details what future fatty acid research still needs to be done in dog and cat nutrition. She notes another longer chain, plant-derived fatty acid, SDA, might be one avenue of investigation, both for its use in conversion to EPA and DHA and for its merit alone. (28:26)
The panelists wrap up the episode talking about balancing formulation and pet owner education to achieve the best outcomes possible for pet health and wellbeing. Lastly, they give some recommendations for where pet parents can go to find more information. (32:50)
Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to invite more people to join us at the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.
If you want one of our Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll mail you a shirt.
Scott (00:08):
Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Real Science Exchange, the podcast we're leading scientists and industry professionals meet over a few drinks to discuss the latest ideas and trends in animal nutrition. Hi, I am Scott Rell. I work for Balchem Corporation. I'm a director of global marketing, and I'm gonna be your host here tonight. Uh, we've got, uh, Alex Kovic, Dr. Alex Kovic from, uh, university of Guelph, and she's going to give a presentation later today called Sustainability and Nutrition Considerations for supplementing Omega Threes in Companion Animal Diets. Now, Alex, before we get started in diving into your presentation, what I'd like to do is just kind of ask you to give a a bit of background about yourself, what do people need to know about Alex? And also then I want you to tell us a little bit about, uh, I know you have five pets,
Alex (00:55):
Won't take up too much time. Yeah.
Scott (00:57):
Alex (00:58):
Yeah, of course. I'd love to. Uh, so, uh, thank you for the lovely introduction. Uh, so as was mentioned, I am from the University of Guelph. Um, I worked there as a research associate and a lecturer. Uh, so I did all my degrees at Guelph, uh, started with a Bachelor of Science. Um, and at that time I, I have a horse, which I'll get into later, which is very expensive.
Alex (01:48):
Is that with Phil into place? Yes, it, I was with Dr. Aga. Um, so then I did my master's with her, uh, looking at the different starch sources and commercial dog food and how they affected insulin, glucose, and satiety. Um, and then I stuck around for a PhD looking at the effects of choline, um, in overweight and fat cats, um, specifically related to fat metabolism. And so that was, uh, very generously all my products were donated by Balcom. Uh, so that was lovely. And then, um, had the opportunity to do a postdoc with Dr. Anna, Kate Shoveler, um, at the University of Guelph. Uh, so I stuck around, did that, uh, worked a little bit as an equine nutritionist, um, between the PhD and the postdoc. But, um, I missed research, so I came back and, uh, now I'm still there, uh, teaching others and, uh, working on research. So, um, I think that's, that's mostly my background. And, um, yeah, I've got five pets at home,
Scott (02:46):
For quite a while. That's, oh,
Alex (02:48):
So it's a different horse now. Okay. Unfortunately, that horse did pass away. And then, um, really, uh, intelligently at the end of my PhD, I got a bunch of scholarships and I was like, oh, this is silly. Like, would've been nice to have those, those scholarships during the PhD. Um, decided to spend all that money on a new horse. Um, so that was my gift to myself. So I have her, um, I have a rabbit, uh, he's free range boss of the house. Um,
Scott (03:12):
So free, free range of the house
Alex (03:14):
Outside. Yes. Yeah. And he is in the house, can do whatever he wants. Litter box, trained bosses, the other pets around. Uh, we have a dog as well, uh, Havanese. And then we have two cats, uh, one, which was a research cat at the University of Guelph, and I took him home. Um, and we just recently adopted a kitten about, uh, two months ago. And that's, it's been a lot
Scott (03:34):
That that is a lot. Yeah.
Alex (03:35):
But he, uh, fits in very well and we love him. It's just, um, a lot of, uh, digging in the soil and the plants, lots of plants that have fallen over, lots of leaves that have gone missing. So it's chaos, but it's good chaos.
Scott (03:48):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Myself, I've got two pets. I'm down to two now, but we've got Oh, so you need more,
Alex (03:52):
You need need at least
Scott (03:53):
Three more. I know. Well, the kids are outta the house now,
Alex (04:00):
Oh,
Scott (04:00):
They're lovely. Since I was an infant, uh, we had a border collie named Butch. Yeah, okay. And so I've had border collies ever since
Alex (04:06):
My husband had one. Um, and the intention was that he was supposed to herd the, the cattle on the farm, but he was afraid of the cattle
Scott (04:15):
Well, that's what they're good for. They, they're amazing. Yeah. Great. Well, thank you for that. Of course. Um, my co-host today is Jim Laman Cusa. He's the CEO of the Pet Sustainability Coalition. Jim, kind of the same, uh, uh, curricula here. Let's, why don't you just start off, tell me a little bit about yourself and then tell me about your pets. Sure.
Jim (04:33):
So, um, yeah, Jim Laman cus I'm the CEO of the Pet Sustainability Coalition. I came here through a very different route than I think a lot of people ended up with sustainability. So I have been in for-profit companies for the past 25 years, the outdoor industry, natural foods, and now in the pet industry. So I, and I also own my own tea and coffee brand for the past eight years. And when I sold that, I was looking for like, what is my next thing to do in my career? And I really wanted to give back to the planet that we do have major issues that are facing our globe. And it's debatable in certain circles, whether it's human caused or nature cause, but one way or another, it's obvious that the world is changing and that's causing a lot of uncertainty and risk in the business community.
Jim (05:16):
And so our board of directors was looking to hire somebody that has that experience because we, the pet Sustainability coalition has 200 members just in the pet industry. It's across the entire supply chain. So from distributors to retailers, manufacturers, brands, ingredient suppliers, packaging suppliers, service providers. Um, so we really have the whole breadth of the industry as members. And essentially what we do is help individual companies advance their sustainability goals. I often like to explain that we are like your outsourced sustainability team, so you don't have to hire a full-time sustainability team that you can work with PSC for a fraction of the cost. And we have a whole team of experts that can advance things like greenhouse gas, accounting, supply chain, code of conduct, looking for more innovative ingredients or packaging solutions. So really, each company's journey is slightly different. Sustainability is a huge umbrella that can affect areas, different areas across the each company.
Jim (06:13):
And so we work with companies to say, what are your goals? How can we help you achieve them? Let's create a roadmap to doing that. And we also bring together the entire industry on issues that are too big for one company to solve on their own. And so our board of directors was looking for somebody that has been in the seat of where our members are. So I've run companies that are for profit. Sustainability is challenging because there has to be a return on investment that you can't help the planet if you don't stay in business. And so we often look for where is that low hanging fruit where you can save money and do better for the planet, and then again, create that roadmap to becoming better and better. It's always progress over perfection. You'll never get to the summit, you're never finished, but you can take steps forward one step at a time.
Jim (06:57):
Um, as far as personally, I am in between pets right now, which is probably a really good thing because I didn't realize how much travel was involved with this job. Uh, I'm on the road constantly and with conventions like this. And so it's great to be able to meet our members face to face. I do have 13 nieces and nephews, and they all have pets. And so I get to be a great uncle to them as well as an uncle to all of their pets. Um, and then personally, I, I live in Colorado. I'm a big backcountry skier, ice climber. I spend a lot of time in the outdoors and it really drives me to want to protect the places that we love and we recreate in.
Scott (07:31):
Yeah. Good for you. Uh, one of the things you, you, you were talking about, it sounds to me if I heard you correctly, a lot of the sustainability is related to the supply chain and not necessarily the animal itself. My, my paradigm is, uh, I come from production animal agriculture, and we're looking to reduce the carbon footprint of the animal itself. And so that sounds like it's a little bit different than, uh, what you're involved with. Would that be a fair statement?
Jim (07:55):
It is. I mean, we try to go throughout the whole supply chain. So we do have members that are upstream working with the animals themselves to reduce methane production. For example, in cows. There's a lot of great feed additives that are healthy for the animal and can reduce the belching of cows of methane and that can help reduce climate change. Um, but a lot of the work that we do is downstream as well of the processed ingredients. What are you putting in the bag there? There's a really dangerous trend right now in the pet industry for human grade food, for pets. And it's the worst thing that we can do for the environment because these animals are grown for human food. And then there's the other half of the animal that needs to go somewhere, should go somewhere. If we're, if we're gonna raise the animal and slaughter the animal, we should use the whole thing.
Jim (08:39):
And when we start competing with the human supply chain and not using the other half of the animal, essentially it doubles the environmental cost of growing that animal. Not to mention the fact that the other half of the animal is extremely nutritious for pets, and frankly, humans should be eating more organs as well, but we don't. Right. But it's extremely nutritious for the pets and it's a perfect compliment to the human supply chain because pets will use the other half of the animal. Yeah. So it's things like that that we're working to educate all of our recommendations are data backed to make sure that it's not just a pie in the sky, let's save mother earth type stuff. It's actually these things will benefit your business. Yeah. And also, like the other half of the animal is less expensive. Yeah.
Scott (09:20):
So, well, Jim, I think we could have a whole podcast on, on this topic, but we, we invited Alex here that's invited
Alex (09:25):
That I'm sure I, I'm sure we'll kind of have some conversations around sustainability, especially with, um, oils and fat sources. 'cause I feel like maybe, at least in my experience, I feel like there's a lot of conversation about protein and protein sources, but, um, maybe not so much on how we can provide some of these fatty acids in a more sustainable way. That sounds great. So I think we'll, we'll get back to it.
Scott (09:44):
Yeah. Great point. So why don't you talk about that. So you're giving a presentation here to pet food form Yes. On sustainability and Omega-3 fatty acid. Now I'm fascinated to hear all about that. So kind of give us what, what the high points your presentation's gonna be about.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
Welcome to the Sure. Video series. I'm Robert Mason, senior application Scientist with Biochem. Today we'll discuss the new sensory systems line of inclusions. As a pet parent myself, I love sharing those special times with Pam, our rescue lab. There is no better feeling than offering her favorite snack and sharing her excitement. As we try new treats now we can help bring that excitement and create those special moments for families everywhere. The Chem Pet team has created a unique line of lipid-based inclusions that will make your treats look and smell good enough to place in your own cookie jar. Currently we are offering a variety of flavors, including cranberry, blueberry, pumpkin, cinnamon, cheese, peanut butter, and bacon. Include them in your baked treats individually or in combination to offer specialty and seasonal treats with minimal product development time, reformulation or major production changes. There are stable during handling and mixing, no matter the batch size with limited color bleed or streaking in the finished product offered as a flake or nugget, your selected sensory systems product should be incorporated at the end of the do stage as the last ingredient after thorough mixing is complete as a lipid-based inclusion, the sensory systems line offers a high degree of protection for color stability, providing that visual burst of color.
Speaker 4 (11:30):
The lipid matrix also protects the flavor during the baked cycle to provide a strong aroma impact and excitement when pet parents open the package. These specialty inclusions are made with all natural colors and flavors and non-grain non GMO ingredients to meet the highest quality and label standards in the industry. Contact the Petra technical team to learn more about sensory systems or other product innovations.
Speaker 5 (11:55):
This is just one in a series of videos highlighting product usage examples and new ideas. Visit the pet Sure. Webpage to see more ways to turn your imagination into reality.
Alex (12:13):
Yeah, of course. I'd love to. Uh, so there's sort of three learning objectives that I've outlined with this presentation. Uh, the first will be just kind of bringing everyone up to speed on how do animals metabolize these fatty acids. So when we talk about dogs versus cats, it is a little bit different, uh, because dogs are able to use the fatty acids that we find in plant sources. Uh, so the N six LA and the N three A LA, um, and convert it into these longer chain fatty acids. Um, like E-P-A-D-H-A when we're talking about our n threes and erect acid, a a when we're talking about n sixes. And both of these produce those signaling molecules, uh, which give us, you know, anti-inflammatory and inflammatory effects. Um, whereas cats, cats don't have quite that same ability. Uh, so we do need to provide them with fats that are found in, um, animal sources. So cats being historically carnivores, they've kind of relied on eating animals that already did this conversion. And so they don't have to do the conversion, right. They eat a mouse or something that's converted the fatty acid found in plants to the longer chain one and, and they're good to go. Um, so there is some kind of conversations about that and how that sort of dictates the recommendations that we have. Yeah. Of, lemme ask real
Scott (13:26):
Quick. Of course. Why are dogs different than cats? Uh, how'd that happen? 'cause they're carnivores as well. Is that right?
Alex (13:31):
So dogs have been sort of, have evolved to be more omnivores. Um, so when we look at even like dogs versus wolves, there is some differences there in terms of, um, their genetics when it comes to starch digestion. So as they've kind of sort of evolved next to us and kind of evolved eating some of our waste and the things that they've had access to as they've evolved with us next to us as our companions, uh, they have more capacity to consume, um, more plant-based products. So a lot of the different requirements that we have with cats, um, are related to kind of their carnivorous nature and the fact that they just don't have some of this ability to produce certain nutrients on their own because the animals that they eat do that for them. Uh, so there are, it's, it's not just the fatty acids.
Alex (14:17):
There are a couple other ones as well. Um, amino acids being a big one. We always talk about toine when it comes to cats and how they have that recommendation. Uh, whereas dogs don't, uh, but it, it comes down to fatty acids too, and they have that extra requirement, uh, for ar arachidonic acid, whereas we don't see that, um, to the same effect in, in dogs. So, um, kind of starts there, bringing everyone up to speed and then talking about current research, where the recommendations are. Um, so, uh, you know, we always talk about fish oil, right? And providing EP and DHA, and we always talk about those, uh, health benefits. Uh, but really the recommendations are that yes, there is a need for DHA specifically with growing animals to develop, um, the brain and retinas. Um, but we don't see that in adult animals.
Alex (15:04):
And so it, it kind of leads to the next part, whereas, you know, do we provide fish oils just because we can, when we talk about sustainability, it's, it's not sustainable. We know that since the sixties, I think, and correct me if I'm wrong, like the amount of marine products that we've consumed has been, I think, six times greater than the human popul. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Six times greater than the human population since the, the sixties. Um, and that's not even talking about our companion animals now. So if we're having a hard time meeting the EPA, the DHA requirements and providing enough fish and fish oil to people, can we continue down this path of just putting fish oil and EPA and DHA in excessive amounts when the research doesn't suggest that? And so, um, you know, algae oil is now one that's being considered more, um, in the pet industry, um, and in humans as well, um, as being a more sustainable source of these long chain omega threes, um, EPA and DHA, um, because that's how fish actually derive, uh, those n threes is they consume algae and then they have that in their tissues.
Alex (16:15):
Um, and the production of algae is more controlled, it's more sustainable, um, than harvesting fish and then, um, getting oil from them. Um,
Scott (16:24):
So talk a little bit about that. Yeah. Why is that not sustainable? Just for, for the audience, kind of bring us up to speed on why. Yeah,
Alex (16:31):
Of course. Um, so there's a, a lot of different, I guess, considerations when it comes to using fish and fish oil. Um, there's the environmental kind of discussion where we know that overfishing and kind of commercial fishing practices do harm marine life. They can disrupt ecosystems. We also know that the working conditions of some of these employees that are working on these fishing boats are not great. There's questions about, um, what their work life is like, what the labor laws are, like, long wages or long hours, low wages, hazardous working conditions. Um, so that's another, another piece of that as well. And, um, just where we're deriving these fish stocks from as well, it's, it's not as controlled as our algae production is. Um, so there's a lot of different pieces to it, um, that have sort of led to this increased discussion and utilization of algae.
Alex (17:28):
Um, but with that being said, too, and now I'm kind of getting into the last part of the presentation. We recently did some research at the University of Guelph, um, where we did kind of an extreme shelf life study where we had kibble and we enrobed it in 10% of these different oils and fats with different levels of, um, saturation in regards to the fatty acids. Um, and we found that the algae oil performed really poorly, like the treatment when we enrobed it, um, that the shelf life of it was not great, it oxidized the most. And so now there's this conversation of, yes, we need to look at nutrient profile, we need to look at sustainability, but we also need to consider the oxidative stability of these products because we can't feed oxidized oils to our pets because that's also gonna harm them as well. And so then the conversation comes back to, well, we know that dogs can use these n threes that are found in plants like flaxseed and camelina and convert them. We also know that there is you
Scott (18:26):
Called Lin Linolenic?
Alex (18:28):
Alpha Linolenic, yes. Yeah. A LA, um, we know dogs can convert them. Um, we know that there isn't a set requirement in adulthood for EPA and DHA, so it just comes back to sort of revisiting the whole picture, um, and reconsidering really how we're supplying these n threes and how much we're giving them. Um, and, and yeah, just making sure that we're not harming the environment, harming our pets, um, and that we're continuing to formulate in a way that meets all of those different considerations. Yeah.
Scott (18:58):
Boy, there's a lot there. Yeah. Sorry,
Alex (18:59):
I feel like I spoke forever.
Scott (19:01):
That's great. I I I do wanna, before I forget it 'cause I am forgetful, but, uh, you talk about the oxidation of these fatty acids. Yes. And I am very aware of that, uh mm-hmm
Alex (19:25):
And I, I will just say as a note like it, that is very extreme. Normally you don't, enro kibble in 10% oils and fats. And we added the same amount of antioxidant at the same amount and the same type to all of our oils and fats, which normally you wouldn't do either, but it just kind of allowed us to control for that additional variable. Um, so it's just about being proactive if you're gonna use algae oil, you know, it doesn't mean you can't just be proactive about the antioxidants that you're using. Talk to antioxidant experts. I know there's a whole bunch here, uh, today. And, and just be aware of some of these considerations. Um, when you're picking your oil right, there's no magic oil or fat source. Um, but it is about formulating with intention.
Scott (20:05):
Yeah. Yeah. Uh, one question I had is, so in human nutrition, uh, seed oils are very negative right? Today, uh, is the same true in in the pet food nutrition industry
Alex (20:19):
Are you're talking about
Scott (20:20):
Yeah. The like, like soybean oil, uh, corn oils, the, the, the high, uh, ole uh,
Alex (20:26):
Right. Yeah. So it's, um, we, we know that n sixes do have a really important role, so we definitely don't want to not feed them. They're really important for innate immune system. They're really important for wound healing. Um, so we definitely do need them. I
Scott (20:42):
Was, I was thinking more of the polyunsaturated ones. Uh, 'cause we find benefit in, in, in large animal reduction for the, um, oleic.
Alex (20:52):
Yeah. The, sorry, the n the N six you're talking about, or,
Scott (20:56):
Um, so I'm not exactly sure the nomenclature with N six, it's, it's, uh, it's got poly insect. I think it's got one carbon and one double bond the
Alex (21:06):
Ole. Okay. Because yeah, we have the, uh, linoleic, which is our N six and alpha linoleic, which is the N three. And so you have, um, soybean would be higher in the N six. Um, and then you've got like your flaxseed and your camelina oils, which are higher in the N three. So there, the different seeds do sort of have different fatty acid profiles. And it's about sort of that balance between the two of them. You, there is a maximum amount of n sixes as compared to n threes that afco has outlined, uh, for dogs, um, not in cats. Um, but to my knowledge, I don't think I've seen, I mean, we don't really do studies like that anymore where we
Alex (21:46):
Give them such a high amount of one and not the other, uh, just because we, we are trying to, you know, make sure that we're not harming animals when we do research with them. Um, but it's not really, um, yeah, it's, it there's no harm in feeding them. Absolutely not. And, um, there is harm in feeding excess n threes. We know that, um, for sure. And so it's just about the balance between the two of them. And if you have an animal that does have a chronic inflammatory condition like arthritis, then increasing those n threes is warranted just because they do have that inflammatory, anti-inflammatory effect. Um, so it, it depends really on the animal and what your formula is striving for when it comes to this ratio. So for healthy animals, a ratio of N six is to n threes between five to one and 10 to one seems to be beneficial. But for animals that do have a chronic inflammatory condition like arthritis or dermatitis, then there is some research supporting going below that ratio of five to one, uh, for those animals.
Scott (22:49):
Got it. Yeah. Jim, sorry, I'm taking over here.
Jim (22:53):
It's great. Happy. No, it's, yeah, I mean, honestly, so the things that you're talking about really resonate with us as well. Mm-hmm. And especially from a sustainability perspective. Uh, we have a software, it's called How Good, which is the world's largest ingredient database for sustainability. Okay. Yeah. Which measures ingredients across 10 different criteria. Wow. So like land use, carbon emissions, water use, um, up both upstream, downstream, um, uh, employee welfare, and it gives each ingredient a score. And then that helps our us educate our members that if, you know, looking at their formulations, if they're trying to choose between a fish oil Yep. Or an algae oil, you can literally see in the scores that the algae oil ranks significantly better. Mm-hmm
Alex (23:57):
Yeah. I love that. And can you, if, can you, like, if you're doing formulation, does that, is it kind of tie into a formulation software? Its
Jim (24:03):
So can do, you can basically use it two ways. You can look at an individual ingredient Yep. And then you can build a formulation mm-hmm
Alex (24:27):
I love that. Um, and I will say too, one other thing is we, we have talked about environment and sustainability a lot, but we actually did some research at Guelph too, where we had 27 client owned dogs and we fed them different doses of EPA and DHA for eight weeks. And the dogs, again, healthy dogs that received the highest amount of EPA and DHA for those eight weeks. There was no difference in those, um, cytokines, those inflammatory, uh, signaling molecules because these were, again, healthy dogs. They weren't really, they didn't have a chronic chronic inflammatory condition. So we didn't see any benefit there. But what we did see was there was lower levels of alpha tocopherols in the high dose groups. So we now have this conversation of are we taking healthy animals, giving them these high unnecessary doses of VP and DHA and actually causing antioxidant depletion and increasing their risk of oxidative stress. So I think there's a lot of layers. It's environmental sustainability, but it's also the health of the animal too. Um, when it comes to just feeding excess fish oils and EPA and DHA because we can, and sometimes we think, well, a little bit of one thing must be good, so a lot must be even better. Right. And, um, that that's not the case. Yeah. More isn't more,
Scott (25:39):
Yeah. Many times it's very much negative mm-hmm
Jim (25:51):
So in the research that multiple groups have done, including Euromonitor and Mintel, a lot of consumer facing research, they, when you ask a pet parent, how do you rank the choices when you're buying pet food and pet products? The health of the animal is always number one, and it should always stay number one. Number two is sustainability. And 87% of customers will pay more for a product because it has sustainability, it's marketed as sustainable. Now we can get into a little bit of a rabbit hole when it comes to greenwashing and is it actually better for the environment or is it just marketed as sustainable? Um, but there, there's an interesting, um, or not in, there's an university called the Stern School, New York University, stern School of Business that does an annual report on sustainable products. And they look at conventionally marketed versus sustainably marketed, sustainably marketed products have grown twice the rate of conventionally marketed products over the past 10 years.
Jim (26:45):
So brands that do invest in more sustainable ingredients and packaging and then market it well will see a faster growth. And so, again, when we go back to that return on investment, a lot of times it will cost more if you're gonna buy organic regenerative agriculture ingredients, higher grade ingredients, or better packaging, recyclable compostable packaging. But you see that return on investment from increased customer loyalty and a higher price point typically. But there's also a difference between you can't be double the price. So there is a range depending on the type of consumer. And that price range usually is anywhere between four and 15% that you can charge in addition to a conventionally marketed product Above that. Consumers, they say that they might buy it, but they don't vote with their dollars. So you still have to be targeted with the initiatives that you want to do and then continue to build that roadmap for what do you do next? What do you do next to continue to educate the consumer and gain more loyalty?
Scott (27:42):
Yeah. So what does that adoption curve look like? When did it start? Yep. And, uh, is it, is it accelerating? Is it kind of a hockey stick or are we kinda leveling out? Uh,
Jim (27:51):
We're definitely not leveling out this, the growth has maintained pretty consistent. So over the past 25 years, we have seen this just consistent year over year growth. So now sustainably marketed products represent about 30% of all products on shelf. So that's still 70% that are not sustainably marketed, but that's grown from around 4% of products 30 years ago. So it continually grows and grows because that's what the consumers are looking for.
Scott (28:14):
Yeah. Interesting. Um, Alex, give me an idea of, uh, so you've been doing some research. What does the future research look like? What are some unanswered questions that you need to get at?
Alex (28:26):
Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. Um, so when we talk about, um, especially with the n threes, we often talk about, um, a LA, so alpha-linolenic acid that's found in flax camelina. And then we talk about our marine derived longer chain N threes, um, EPA and DHA found in algae and fish oil. Uh, but there are some sources, um, plant sources that have this other type of fatty acid called SDA in it and it's an N three. And so there's been some more research, um, in regards to humans and rodents on, well, if you give that, which is kind of a little lower down in the chain of elongation, you know, we have a LA at the very start and E-P-A-D-H, it kind of at the bottom, it's sort of between those. Um, and so there's research in humans and rodents looking at, well, if we feed that, do we have an increased conversion to these longer chain fatty acids?
Alex (29:20):
And do these fatty acids on their own provide an independent health benefit? Um, and the same thing with a LA, there is research in humans and rodents that on its own it does provide an independent health benefit, but we don't have those same research in dogs and cats. So I think looking more into what are the health benefits of these plant sourced fatty acids on their own, independent of their conversion, um, is one thing. And can we look at these other novel seed oils that have this SDA and does that offer any health benefit to our dogs and our cats? Um, I know there is a product, uh, kind of geared towards horses that has it, um, but I haven't seen it yet, um, kind of geared towards dogs and cats. Um, so, and I, I also dunno what the supply of these ingredients is like either and whether that's sustainable.
Alex (30:A09):
Um, but I think looking more into the health benefits of these plant sourced fatty acids and really understanding what do they offer our pets beyond this conversion to EPA and DHA, um, I think would be very beneficial. And, um, also just trying to understand, uh, a little bit better if we can really narrow down what that ratio of N six is to n threes should be in our pets. Um, and especially for our adult animals, we don't really, we know when it's bad and, but we don't really know where the best kind of requirement lies, I guess I wanna say that. Um, so I think there's a lot that can be done in kind of fine tuning, um, the amounts that we give our animals and understanding the health benefits related to that.
Scott (30:49):
And do you have an idea where the source of these SDAs are? What, what kinds of oil potential?
Alex (30:53):
Yeah. So I know that, um, oh my gosh, I'm gonna pronounce it incorrectly. I think it's called AHI flour. Does that Ahi? Yeah, that one. Um, I think BGE seed oil as well. Um, those are the ones that I'm most familiar with. I know that there are some genetically modified plants as well that do have it. Uh, but I, I don't know how open the pet industry would be using, uh, would be to using these geno genetically modified oils. Um, so I think there needs to be a little bit more around that too. Um, because if, you know, if people are looking to have more EPA and DHA in the tissues of their animals and more of these anti-inflammatory signaling molecules, especially for animals that do have chronic inflammatory conditions like arthritis, then maybe these oils that do provide SDA is kind of the middle ground between that. So,
Scott (31:39):
Interesting. Any big topics we haven't covered yet, uh, related to this subject,
Speaker 4 (31:55):
Trim meat and plant-based proteins can be processed to look and work more like whole muscle cuts. Here. We'll show you how the pet sugar structuring and forming technologies work. In this example, we have taken chunked trim meat and restructured it into this finished whole muscle like Chubb. As you can see, it resembles a whole muscle cut that with pet sugar restructuring and forming technology can be further processed like any other whole muscle cut. This is a cost-effective way to transform trim meat into high value, nutritious, solid meat products while improving production efficiency.
Speaker 5 (32:31):
This is just one in a series of videos highlighting product usage examples and new ideas. Visit the pet share webpage to see more ways to turn your imagination into reality.
Jim (32:50):
I dunno. Well, I think going back to what you were talking about in the beginning, it's really interesting to bring up the formulation. There's the marketing benefits mm-hmm
Alex (33:06):
Planet as well as Yeah. To the animal potentially too. Right, right. Um, yeah. 'cause we, especially if you are feeding something that I think the conversation needs to be too around if we are feeding or formulating with a large amount of n threes, do we need to have conversations with pet owners around, Hey, this is how you should be storing your food. Right. Because if it's gonna be at an increased risk of oxidizing, well that's not good for the animal. Um, or do we formulate with lower n threes and then talk to pet owners about supplementing additional on top of that, keeping that those oils in their fridge, um, and kind of doing it on an as need basis versus just formulating these diets that have very large amounts of E-P-A-D-H-A where they're ne not necessary for the entire population. Um, I dunno if that's Yeah,
Jim (33:53):
No, no, it does answer. I mean, the, we also see an issue similarly to the over protein Yes. Content of pet food. Absolutely. That, that pets don't need as much as we're putting into it. Which if you look at the environmental footprint of all pet food, the protein source typically has the largest footprint. And so if you go from a 90% protein ingredient to a 75% protein, which is still extremely healthy mm-hmm. And it's within range for the nutritional profile for the pet, then there's a big environmental savings, emissions savings, and then it as well as if you're putting in things that the pet doesn't need on top of it. Yeah, absolutely. For a marketing purpose. Um, it just, it's a recipe Absolutely.
Alex (34:31):
For disaster. Absolutely. Yeah. It's that whole conversation of yeah, like more is more is sometimes how we tend to formulate. Um, and I don't, I don't wanna generalize everyone, but I, I I think it's also about pet owner education too, right? Like if you're a pet owner and you're reading a label and you're going, oh, fish oil, like that's awesome. Yeah, I take that. But even more fish oil is even better, right? Like, so I think we need to start at the bottom and start at the top, start with formulation, but also start with educating pin owners as well and telling them what to look for. Um, because if they don't know, like that's not their fault. Right? So
Scott (35:02):
Yeah. That sounds like you guys are kind of excoriating marketing people and IR one
Alex (35:07):
Not our intention. We're just giving them stuff
Scott (35:09):
To think about. I do think though, marketing people do get ahead of themselves sometimes and that's where a lot of, uh, consumers get their information. Mm-hmm
Alex (35:17):
Scott (35:17):
Absolutely. And so I'm, uh, where, where would be a great source of nutritional information for consumers to go. Do you guys have any thoughts or opinions on that? I'm
Alex (35:26):
Gonna do a quick plug for myself here. Um, I'm a host on the Pet Food Science podcast. Uh, so it's myself and, uh, oh my gosh, four others. Uh, all of them being, um, either, uh, I think they're all university professors. I might be wrong about that. Um, but, uh, that's a really great source. I think, I don't know if you've been there, but someone from the pet sustainability,
Jim (35:48):
Our director of Sustainability Innovation.
Alex (35:49):
Yes. Yeah, I listened to that one and it was really, really good. Uh, so I just do the horse ones
Scott (36:27):
And what platforms can that be found on most of the uh, oh
Alex (36:30):
Yeah, I think, yeah, it's on the actual videos are on YouTube, uh, but Spotify, apple Podcasts, anywhere you listen to your podcasts so you
Scott (36:36):
Can find it. And that was a pet food science podcast? Yes,
Alex (36:38):
It was
Scott (36:39):
Alex (36:43):
I think it comes out, that's a great question. This is terrible. I should know, I know the horse ones come out every six weeks 'cause those are mine,
Scott (36:55):
Certainly I'll put it on my listing list. Perfect.
Alex (36:58):
Yeah. Good. Yeah. I don't know if you had any to, to,
Jim (36:59):
I mean, your local vet is the things that I would, or the place that I would recommend most customers and pet parents get their information that on nutrition. Yeah. 'cause the vets are gonna know things like, well, you probably shouldn't be giving, you know, fish oil to your dog, older
Scott (37:12):
Dog. Yeah. Yeah. Good stuff. Anything else, uh, Jim, we need to cover?
Jim (37:18):
I don't think so. Thanks for having us. Yeah, this
Alex (37:20):
Is great. This has been fantastic. This next time Yeah. We'll need alcohol and
Scott (37:23):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Instead of coffee. So, and, and, and so, uh, I don't think I mentioned that, uh, but, but usually what we, we do here, uh, we, we say that the real science exchange takes place in a virtual pub with real drinks. And so, uh, and all, uh, uh, transparency. It is nine o'clock in the morning here, even though it always is happy hour here at Real Science Exchange. We did offer coffee today,
Alex (37:48):
Time Espresso martinis, you kind of get the little
Jim (37:50):
Bit uppers and downers of both upper.
Alex (37:52):
I love it. Yeah.
Scott (37:52):
Speaker 5 (38:20):
We'd love to hear your comments or ideas for topics and guests. So please reach out via email@anh.marketing at balchem.com with any suggestions, and we'll work hard to add them to the schedule. Don't forget to leave a five star rating on your way out. You can request your Real Science Exchange t-shirt in just a few easy steps, just like or subscribe to the Real Science Exchange. And send us a screenshot along with your address and t-shirt size to anh.marketing at balchem.com. Balchem’s real science lecture series of webinars takes place on the first Tuesday of every month with the top research and nutrition topics that will impact your business. We also include small ruminant, monogastric, and companion animal focused topics throughout the year. Visit balchem.com/realscience to see the upcoming topics and to register for future webinars. You can also access past webinars and search for the topics most important to you.