In May of this year, Ÿnsect, France’s leading insect-protein production startup, launched their revolutionary new product, Sprÿng, cementing their place in the world of sustainable petfood production.

But how exactly is such a product more sustainable and what makes it more attractive than the other petfood ingredients currently on the market?  

In a world where friendships between pets and humans have become stronger and stronger[1][2], most pet owners are now looking more and more for petfood products of a higher quality, almost akin to human food. Similarly, the current concern of the rising climate crisis is one at the forefront of most consumers’ minds, pet-owners included. Ÿnsect have studied the LCA – lifecycle analysis – of their product Sprÿng to ensure that what they are offering to petfood companies is not only the highest quality product but also one of the most sustainable.

In order to effectively study the full LCA of their product, Ÿnsect looked at all stages of their product’s life, including rearing of the mealworms, any and all feedstock that is required to bring them to a healthy level, and processing of the mealworms to turn them into the final product. This LCA has alerted Ÿnsect to two key things: notably that the section of their product’s lifecycle producing the most carbon emissions is the feedstock, and that their products, particularly their product for wet petfood, are far more sustainable than the current alternative.

As such, they are proactively taking steps to ensure that they can innovate in regard to their feedstock chain, to work with farmers upstream to ensure that the feedstock they are being provided with becomes even more sustainable. This being said, the LCA has already demonstrated that their products are more sustainable than others on the market: as far as dry petfood is concerned, one kilogram of lamb protein concentrate generates 5.51kg CO2-eq, and one kilogram of soy protein concentrate generates 6.25kg CO2-eq. Sprÿng’s ingredient, Protein70 generates only 3.2kg CO2-eq for the same amount.

What of the quality of the products? With Ÿnsect’s protein production being innovative and top-of the range, petfood manufacturers can rest assured that Sprÿng is the best quality possible. Sprÿng have undertaken extensive research into pet well-being, to provide the best product for pet-owners; one aspect in which they are a cut above competitors is in regard to allergenicity. Pets can develop allergies, similar to their owners, even if they have been exposed to an allergen their entire life without a problem.

Sprÿng’s work in studying hypoallergenics has revealed two key things: firstly, protein created by insects is in the short-term an excellent option for pets with allergies as their body and immune system would not be used to such protein, thus would be far less likely to attack it – which is what causes allergies. However, the company is aware that this is not a sustainable long-term solution. This is why they have begun to develop a higher-quality form of hypoallergenic protein by hydrolysing the proteins they already have. These proteins, Hydrolysate70 and Hydrolysate15 (a dry and wet form of the protein respectively), drastically reduce the likelihood of allergies developing, and have the added bonus of being very easily digestible – they both have a peptic digestibility of near 90%, and neither of them contain Chitin, an insoluble fibre often found in insects. 

Overall, Ÿnsect’s work on Sprÿng – both from a sustainable and a quality point of view – has been groundbreaking in terms of the petfood ingredient market. Ensuring the most premium product for pet-owners is at the heart of their work in this area, and since their launch earlier this year the research and products have come in leaps and bounds.

Please do let us know if you require any further information, or would like any form of interview – whether virtually or via email – set up with a spokesperson at Ÿnsect to go into further depth on this exciting and innovative subject.

[1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/515579/dog-population-europe/

[2] https://www.avma.org/blog/pet-populations-are-way