Pets go gluten free in boon to farmers
WINNIPEG Peas and lentils sitting idle on Canadian farms are increasingly going to the dogs — literally.
Canadian pulse growers and processors are turning to the pet-food market as an emerging source of growth as swelling global supplies weigh on prices and import tariffs crimp demand in India, the world’s biggest consumer. Use of the highprotein, gluten-free vegetarian staples is surging in the pet sector as owners are increasingly seeking grain-free diets for their pets.
“It’s really a perception of the owner of pets: ‘If gluten-free is good for me, then gluten-free is good for my pet’,” said David Nobbs, managing partner of Canpulse Foods in Saskatoon, which shipped 15,000 metric tonnes of pulse crops to the U.S. for use in the pet food sector in 2017.
The gluten-free trend is spilling over from human food where more consumers are increasingly choosing foods “free from” everything from gluten to dairy amid a push toward healthier eating.
In a five-year span, the use of pea ingredients in pet food grew 10 per cent a year and is expected to continue to rise five per cent annually, according to a 2016 Euromonitor study completed for Pulse Canada, a Winnipeg-based industry group that represents growers, traders and processors. Canada exports about 40,000 tonnes of yellow peas, red lentils and chickpeas to the U.S. to be processed into pet food every year, up from virtually zero a few years ago, Nobbs said. That amount will continue to climb as the lower prices of pulse crops makes them more attractive to food companies and consumer preference for grainfree items grows, he said.