Planet A Pet Food launches with a focus on flexitarian, sustainable and healthy pet food

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Healthy food and flexitarian diets have become a mainstream choice for many people, but what about our canine companions?

A new pet food is making it easy to serve restaurant-grade meat-free meals to your dog, so they can take part Meat-Free Monday with the rest of the family!

 

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The environmental impacts of raw meat diets for dogs

One of pet food’s hottest trends is the raw, fresh, and high meat diet for dogs.

The demand for increasingly ‘human grade’ meat meals for dogs continues to rise, despite cost-of-living pressures.

But high meat diets can have a huge environmental impact.

Up to a third of greenhouse gas emissions globally come from the food system and pet food accounts for about 25% of that.

With 32% of Australians adopting a flexitarian diet, and reducing their own meat consumption, a new pet food brand wants them to take their dogs along for the flexitarian ride.

Getting pet parents to rotate in Meat-Free Mondays and Flexi-Fridays for dogs, is the goal of Newcastle-based Planet A Pet Food, which launched last week.

 

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How Planet A Pet Food began

Planet A Pet Food is Australia’s freshest, entovegan dog food, combining upcycled veg and insect protein with restaurant-grade plant-protein.

Amanda Falconer, co-founder of Planet A Pet Food, says it was a documentary she saw that gave her the inspiration to create a product that aligns with her values.

“After watching ‘Planet A: Our Climate Challenge‘, I decided that it was time to start the fight,” she says.

“And I love the concept of Planet A so much, I immediately set out to trademark ‘Planet A’ for pet food and then began working on what that would look like.”

The challenge was to create a product that was not only sustainable but also healthy and complete for dogs.

“It wasn’t until a few human plant-based ingredients were released that I saw a way to create something that would fit the bill…and Planet A was born,” Falconer explains.

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Creating a sustainable and healthy pet food range 

In recent years, there’s been an ever-growing trend of pet owners seeking raw and fresh meat for their pets.

Which, Amanda says, can be confusing for owners trying to work out the best, and most sustainable, dog food.

“I really appreciated the conflict for pet parents,” she says.

“When you want to feed dogs what’s healthy for them, but the dominant narrative is that dogs and cats need or thrive on meat, and lots of it.

“It’s even trickier if you’re anti ultra-processed food aka kibble, as I was.

“What do you feed them that’s fresh, sustainable but also healthy and complete and balanced?”

Working closely with small animal nutritionist Dr. Anna Sutton, Planet A Pet Food makes nutritionally complete, meat-free meals that dogs love.

Dr Anna says a diverse diet for dogs is essential for optimal health and wellbeing.

“A diverse diet is good for their gut health, just as it is for ours,” she says.

“It encourages diversity in the gut flora, and we know this has lots of benefits for brain and body.”

“Basically, the gut interacts with every other system in the body, so anything you do to the gut will impact somewhere else in the body.”

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The ingredients

Planet A Pet Food combines upcycled vegetables and insect protein with a restaurant-grade plant protein in their meals.

The combination mimics the taste and texture of meat when rehydrated.

“Even though dogs don’t require meat – they need the nutrients it provides,” explains Amanda.

“And giving dogs the pleasure of the taste and texture of meat with this plant-protein, was important to us.”

As the trend towards reducing meat consumption continues to grow in Australia, Planet A Pet Food is at the forefront, offering a sustainable, healthy, and enjoyable option for our canine companions.

“A diverse diet does this in a good way,” says Dr Anna.

“Otherwise, you’re potentially missing out on a lot of benefits; it’s not about just meeting minimum requirements for growth and maintenance, which is what most commercial pet food is formulated to do. 

“We also know that a healthy dog readily accepts different foods in their diet – so no need for lengthy transitions.

“If a dog has been fed the one food for ages and ages, then go a bit more slowly.

“But to be clear here, what we’re really suggesting is that people rotate in a meat-free meal, up to two or three times a week.

“Not necessarily switch to a completely vegetarian diet.

“While there’s some good research emerging that dogs are healthy on properly formulated and nutritionally complete vegan diets, I personally think it’s a good idea to mix it up and go flexitarian.

“That still does good things for the planet and it’s great for dogs and keeps it interesting for them!”

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Meat-free Mondays for dogs, the benefits of sustainable pet food?

The brand’s mission is to encourage pet parents to adopt a flexitarian approach for their dogs.

This means integrating initiatives like ‘Meat-Free Mondays’ and ‘Flexi-Fridays’.

“I’ll consider us successful if we can get people to swap out conventional food a few days a week and swap in meat-free meals…for their dogs,” Amanda adds.

And the environmental benefits of Planet A Pet Food are significant.

For example, the production of their black soldier fly larvae protein incorporates pre-consumer food by-products.

This results in a substantial reduction in carbon emissions.

Additionally, their use of vegetable powders from food by-products further highlights their commitment to sustainability.

The healthy pet food that dogs love!

The new meals have been well received so far, with customers already embracing this new approach to dog nutrition.

Sydney-based Milo and Newcastle’s Lexi & Tilly are among the dogs who have enjoyed the variety and health benefits of Planet A’s products.

“With the arrival of Planet A, our concerns have been alleviated,” says Dani, Lexi & Tilly’s dog-mum.

 

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