Animal nutrition firm Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition and Bond Pet Foods, a US-based company creating sustainable animal proteins via fermentation, have announced a partnership to develop tailored ingredients for pet food applications.

Bond employs a yeast-based precision fermentation process to make ingredients such as vitamin B12, flavours like vanilla and enzymes for cheese manufacturing, but has creatively reassembled the process to more efficiently produce proteins like chicken, turkey and fish without the animal.

Its platform also can enhance the finished products' nutritional and functional performance, compared with conventional options available today.

Matt Fanta, president of Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, said: "Our partnership with Bond expands our capabilities and opens up new ways to deliver sustainable, innovative ingredients to pet food manufacturers around the world. We see tremendous opportunity with Bond's technology to expand what's possible with pet nutrition and support our pursuit of a more responsible pet food future."

Wilbur-Ellis Pet Nutrition’s VP, Nick Braden, commented: "As the pet food industry focuses more on sustainable solutions, precision fermentation is an increasingly attractive tool to produce proteins, flavours and blends that perform. This collaboration with Bond, and its deep fermentation expertise, will allow us to further advance our ingredient portfolio."

CEO and founder of Bond Pet Foods, Rich Kelleman, added: "We are thrilled to partner with Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition on this important work. For more than 100 years, they have been known for high-quality ingredients and have a genuine commitment to innovation in the pet nutrition space. We look forward to developing a new class of products through this JDA program that will provide pet food manufacturers with more sustainable, functional formulary alternatives."

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