Driving Sustainable Pet food Innovation with Faba Bean Ingredients

Faba bean ingredients present an attractive opportunity, offering a combination of nutritional, technical, and sustainability benefits that can support both product innovation and consumer wishes.

Evolving Pet Owner Expectations

Recently, there has been a groundswell of consumers driving change in pet food recipe formulation. When it comes to purchasing choices, many are going 'back to basics' regarding the ingredients in their pets' meals. Most consider the quality of ingredients (71%) and the nutritional value (72%) to be very important factors in their purchasing choices.ⁱ  Also, more than 1 in 3 cat and dog owners buy natural pet food products when looking for pet food for specific needs.  Because of this, focusing on recipe composition and ingredient choice is increasingly important for pet food producers to drive sales. 

 
Alongside ingredient choice, sustainability is a key focus, with around 7 in 10 pet owners expecting pet food brands to actively reduce their environmental impact.ⁱⁱⁱ Grain-free formulations and nutritional claims are also gaining more attention, and 'high in protein' is among the most attractive claims positively impacting the likelihood of a product purchase for cat and dog owners.^iv

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Unlock Innovative Possibilities in Wet Pet Food Formulation with the Power of Faba Bean Protein

Plant-Based Protein Popularity
To address these rising trends, manufacturers are turning to plant-based sources for their cat and dog food formulations. 2 in 3 pet owners now consider plant-based proteins to be better for the environment,ⁱⁱⁱ  so natural and high-quality vegetal proteins with sustainable credentials, such as those derived from faba beans, are a valuable resource. This crop is popular with cat and dog owners too, reaching a similar appeal as more widely used crops like wheat, barley, or soy. In fact, 49% of pet owners strongly associate faba beans with being natural, and 45% with being sustainable.^iv  Faba beans provide a range of benefits that make them an attractive alternative to animal-derived or other plant-based ingredients, such as those made from pea.
 

Sustainable Success with Faba Beans
When it comes to sustainability, faba beans help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the farm level. Faba beans can capture nitrogen from the air to provide it for themselves and subsequent plants, reducing the need for fertilizer input and improving soil quality. They are a resilient crop that has significantly lower carbon emissions than animal protein and can be grown easily in the northern hemisphere. BENEO's faba beans are grown in Germany, in close proximity to the production plant, and are REDCert2 certified, which is equivalent to the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) from SAI at the highest 'Gold' level.
 

Localised transportation costs, the fact that no water is used during production, the low energy input needed compared to wet processes, and no requirement for chemicals or processing aids adds up to a more sustainable process that also delivers lower production costs. Also, the long-term contracts with local farmers ensure production and supply chain resilience for both BENEO and pet food producers using the company's faba bean protein, starch, and fibre ingredients. 

The Nutritional and Technical Power of Faba Beans for Pet Food

BENEO's faba bean protein concentrate provides producers with a non-GMO, clean label source of high-quality vegetal protein that offers a good alternative to animal and soy proteins when creating plant-based or hybrid pet foods. Containing a minimum of 60% protein on dry matter, it offers (ileal) digestibility scores close to 90%. It also provides a good essential amino acid profile, which is relatively rich in lysine and can be combined with cereal proteins to achieve a complete essential amino acid profile. Additionally, it benefits from quite high levels of glutamine, which supports the growth of intestinal cells, as well as arginine, which is considered important for cognitive health. 
 

Delivering Cost Savings in Wet Pet Food with Faba Beans
Wet pet food benefits from strong consumer appeal as it is often marketed as a healthier option. This positive perception is driving demand amongst pet owners that are open to spending more on what is considered a high-quality and more nutritious product. In fact, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15.6% between 2024-2029 is predicted for wet pet food in terms of value.^v Plant-based proteins, like those from faba beans, have a key role to play in recipe formulation, especially with almost half of cat and dog owners interested in seeing more plant-based proteins used in wet food.^vi  One great example is the use of BENEO's faba bean protein concentrate as an alternative to spray-dried animal blood plasma (ABP). 
 

ABP is commonly used in super-premium and premium wet pet foods to deliver emulsifying and texturizing benefits, however these advantages come at a relatively high cost. Passion4Food, a specialist service provider for the pet food industry, conducted a series of tests which showed that BENEO's faba bean protein concentrate can either fully or partially replace ABP as a binder and emulsifier in pet food loaves (pâtés) and chunks-in-gravy, with cost saving potential of up to 47%.^vii  Based on these successful trials, BENEO filed an international patent application for its faba bean protein concentrate as an alternative to spray-dried animal blood plasma (ABP) in wet pet food, which was published in August 2025.
 

New Solution for Dry Pet Doods with Faba Bean Starch
Faba bean is also a great ingredient for pet food producers looking to capitalise on the popularity of dry pet food. BENEO's faba bean starch-rich flour is a legume starch alternative that can be used in non-grain dry extruded products such as dry pet food kibbles.
 

In further technical trials conducted by Passion4Food, BENEO's faba bean starch-rich flour was used as a partial and full pea starch replacement in non-grain recipes, leading to no significant differences in energy consumption during processing. The trials showed that full replacement of pea starch, with up to 20% inclusion of faba bean starch-rich flour, is possible without significant changes in kibble quality. The trials give pet food manufacturers another vegetal starch option for their dry pet food ingredient toolbox. 

The Future of Faba is Bright

Faba bean ingredients offer pet food producers a winning scenario. They provide a natural solution with convincing sustainability credentials that allows producers to overcome the volatile availability and prices associated with animal (by)products. Combining this with their strong technological benefits, pet food producers now have more ways to meet consumer demands for healthy, nutritious, and more sustainable recipes.

By Dr. Maygane Ronsmans, Product Manager Animal Nutrition, BENEO, Belgium
Source: All Pet Food Magazine

References
  BENEO Consumer Research on Pet Care 2025. FMCG Gurus conducted a quantitative online survey with 2.500 pet owners in the US, Brazil, UK, Germany, and China (250 cat and 250 dog owners per country).
  BENEO Consumer Research on Pet Care 2025, N = 2.500.
  BENEO Consumer Research on Pet Care 2025, N = 2.500.
  BENEO Consumer Research on Pet Care 2025, N = 2.500.
  Global Data; CAGR was calculated based on value in million euro.
  BENEO Consumer Research on Pet Care 2025, N = 2.500.
  This is based on an indicative annual consumption of 50 metric tonnes of ABP.