Mealworm protein, the nutritional and sustainable solution of the future.
A booming pet food industry
The recent surge in the global pet population, along with the increasing demand for high-quality pet food, has led to a heightened demand for alternative proteins and a reduction in the environmental "pawprint." Pet food manufacturers face the challenge of improving pet nutrition and high-quality mealworm ingredients tick all those boxes.
Even the partial substitution of more traditional protein sources contributes to improving the sustainability of pet food.
Environmental transparency: a life cycle assessment of Sprÿng’s mealworm product line
At Sprÿng, the pet food arm of Ÿnsect, we have carried out a LCA of our products in adherence to the Product environmental Footprint (PEF) framework. Our analyses are peer-reviewed by an external company (O2m) which has verified our methodology and calculations.
Using an allocation based on final product economic value, our process delivers consistency compared to other ingredients in the pet food sector, such as by-products from meat abattoirs.
How does mealworm protein measure up in the pet food industry?
Armed with our LCA data, we can compare the environmental “pawprint” of Sprÿng products to similar high-quality alternative products in the same sector. This has revealed that our insect protein products have comparatively low environmental impact.
Taking the example of our dry pet food ingredient, Protein70, our LCA has measured its GHG impact to be 3.20 kg CO2-eq per kilogram of the ingredient. As reported previously, this is considerably lower than other high-quality dry pet food ingredients, such as lamb (at 5.51 kg CO2-eq) and soy protein concentrate (6.25 kg CO2-eq). Similarly, Sprÿng’s WetPro15 has a carbon footprint of only 0.80 kg CO2-eq, which is much lower than ingredients made from beef offal (14 times higher) or lamb (nearly 26 times higher).
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