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Pet food industry embraces upcycled ingredients

The use of upcycled ingredients in pet food is growing in popularity, with two industry bodies introducing a new certification for products that use such ingredients.

Upcycled ingredients are byproducts from the human food supply chain, such as surplus fruit and vegetables and pulp from processing, and spent grains from breweries.

In its 2025 Pet Food Production and Ingredient Analysis report, the Pet Food Institute noted that in 2024, US pet food manufacturers incorporated more than 3 million tons of upcycled ingredients into dog food products, and more than one million tons into cat food. That represented a 44% total share of the 9.8 million tons of pet food produced overall.

Earlier this year, independent third-party food verification company Where Food Comes From introduced its Upcycled Certified label in collaboration with industry organisation Pet Sustainability Coalition.

Some manufacturers have worked to produce pet food products manufactured exclusively from upcycled ingredients.

Early innovators in the sector include The Conscious Pet, based in Austin, Texas, which launched its first product – DoggieBag, a human-grade food for dogs made from high-quality kitchen scraps and unused foods from local restaurants – in 2022.

The same year, New York-based Health Extension introduced its line of Upcycled Pet Treats, made from surplus fruit and vegetables.

Upcycled ingredients: ‘The sustainability story is real’

Working with upcycled ingredients helps to improve sustainability but is not the cheaper option as some might assume, explained James Bello, chief executive at Shameless Pets, a US-based manufacturer of upcycled cat and dog treats.

“The sustainability story is real and it’s the foundation of the brand,” he said. “We’re the first and only 100% Upcycled Certified pet treat portfolio in the market.

“But I’d gently push back on the assumption that upcycled ingredients are a cost play. In many cases, sourcing surplus or upcycled inputs is actually more complex and more expensive than just buying conventional commodity ingredients.

“You’re dealing with variable supply streams, seasonality, additional food safety documentation, and traceability requirements that don’t exist when you’re just ordering bulk chicken meal from a standard supplier.

“But the primary driver has always been the mission: keeping perfectly nutritious food inputs in the food chain rather than sending them to a landfill.”

Upcycling ‘forces us into higher-quality formulation’

Using upcycled ingredients also increases the quality of the finished products, he added.

“This is the part of the story that surprises people,” he said. “The ingredients we upcycle aren’t scraps – they’re things like blueberries and sweet potatoes that didn’t meet the size spec for a grocery retailer, or overproduced pumpkins from the fall season.

“These are the same high-quality, whole-food inputs you’d find in a premium human product. They just happen to have been displaced from the human supply chain for cosmetic or logistical reasons, not quality reasons.

“All of our upcycled ingredients have functional, health-supporting elements to them. Blueberries support immune health, sweet potatoes promote digestive health, pumpkin is great for gut function. So, when you compare our ingredient decks to much of what's on the shelf in the pet aisle, you’re not just seeing cleaner labels – you’re seeing ingredients that are actively doing something beneficial for the animal.

“Upcycling actually forces us into higher-quality formulation because the inputs themselves are inherently better than the commodity alternatives most brands default to.”

Millennials and gen Z consumers drive demand

The quality produced by using upcycled ingredients is often the initial draw for customers, with the sustainability credentials adding further appeal, he explained.

“Most of our customers initially find us because the product checks the boxes they already care about – real ingredients, limited and recognisable ingredient lists, and a treat their dog actually loves,” he said.

“The upcycled story deepens the relationship and creates brand loyalty. It gives them a reason to feel good about a purchase they were already going to make.

“And yes, there’s significant overlap with the ‘natural pet’ consumer. The pet parent who’s reading ingredient labels and avoiding artificial additives is often the same person who cares about food waste and sustainability.”

The brand is seeing that cohort grow rapidly, particularly among millennials and gen Z pet owners “who bring the same values to the pet aisle that they bring to their own grocery shopping”, he added.