Don’t bug out — it’s good for the environment.
Purina PetCare is launching a new pet food line to offer dogs and cats a more eco-friendly meal option. Starting this month, the company — which is owned by Nestlé — will sell insect-based Purina Beyond Nature’s Protein to pampered pooches and pussies in Switzerland.
“The insect protein comes from black soldier fly larvae, which are already in use in animal feed in Europe,” Purina wrote in a press release. “The millet and fava beans provide protein, energy, and fiber to aid digestion. All the ingredients are steamed to maintain nutrient quality.”
Separate versions of the new bug-based meal option have been created for cats and dogs.
The formula is intended as a new eco-conscious choice.
“With our new Beyond Nature’s Protein dry pet food, we are offering a complete nutritious alternative to conventional dog and cat products, while taking care of the planet’s precious resources by diversifying the protein sources,” said Bernard Meunier, CEO of Purina’s Europe operations, in the release. For every product sold, it noted, Purina will be planting a tree in Sumatra, Indonesia, as part of a partnership with the group Reforest’Action.
The creepy crawly decision to create the new line comes in response to customer cravings, the company said.
“We see increasing demand for diversified sources of proteins for pet food products,” Meunier told Reuters, adding that Purina was also buoyed by decreasing European meat consumption.
Many scientists and chefs have long promoted eating bugs, including mealworms, as a sustainable food option with “great promise” — for not just pets, but for humans, too. The concept is not so strange as, for plenty of our ancestors, bugs were an established part of the daily diet.
“Insects were a very important part of the pre-Hispanic diet, from mosquitoes’ eggs, ants’ larva, grasshoppers, worms, flying ants and more,” Mexico City food tour company founder Rocio Vazquez Landeta told The Post earlier this year.
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