Palatability Of Pet Food Is Important, But The Nutritional Needs Of Pet Food Come First, However, Emphasizing Nutrition Over Taste Does Not Mean That Taste (Or Palatability) Is Irrelevant. The Most Nutritious Food In The World Won’t Do You Any Good If Your Dog Or Cat Doesn’t Eat It.
Reality, According To Sales Figures Compiled By a Leading Pet Industry Research Firm And Reported In Petfood Industry Magazine: Dogs And Cats In The U.S. Apparently Love Chicken-Flavored Kibble And Canned Food, At Least That’s The Flavor Their Owners Buy Most Often.
In The Food Aisle Of Your Local Pet Store Across The U.S., There Are Dozens Of Varieties And Flavors Of Canned Food That Might Make You Curious About What Pet Food Tastes Like.
With So Much Variety On Store Shelves, How Do You Decide What To Buy? How Do Pet Food Companies Decide Which Flavored Variety They Will Make?
Whereas Pet Food Companies Choose Based On Meeting Nutritional Needs, Shovelers Prioritize Needs And Ingredients, Said Mark Brinkmann, Vice President Of Operations For Diamond Pet Foods. “We Are Always Looking At Trends In Related Categories, Such As Human Food, And Looking For Ways To Introduce Them Into Pet Food. For Example, Omega-3 Fatty Acids, Glucosamine And Chondroitin, Probiotics, Roasted Or Smoked Meats Are All Concepts In Human Food , Which We Have Been Able To Use In Our Pet Food.
Nutritional Needs Come First
Animal Nutritionists And Veterinarians At Diamond Pet Foods Always Make Nutrition, Not Taste, Their Top Priority When Formulating Food For Dogs And Cats. “Many Taste-Enhancing Additives, Such As Digestive Or Flavoring Agents, Are Used To Entice Pets To Choose One Food Over Another, Which Provides Limited Nutritional Value To The Formula,” Brinkmann Said. “They’Re Also Expensive, Adding To The Price Pet Parents Pay For Pet Food.” However, An Emphasis On Nutrition Over Taste Doesn’t Mean Taste (Or Palatability) Doesn’t Matter. The Most Nutritious Food In The World Won’t Do You Any Good If Your Dog Or Cat Doesn’t Eat It.
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Do Dogs And Cats Have a Sense Of Taste?
While Humans Have 9,000 Taste Buds, There Are Roughly 1,700 Dogs And 470 Cats. This Means That Dogs And Cats Have a Much Weaker Sense Of Taste Than Ours. That Said, Dogs And Cats Do Have Special Taste Buds For Tasting Food And Even Water, While We Don’t. Dogs Have Four Common Groups Of Taste Buds (Sweet, Sour, Salty, And Bitter). Cats, By Contrast, Can’t Taste Sweets, But They Can Taste Things We Can’t, Like Adenosine Triphosphate (Atp), a Compound That Provides Energy In Living Cells And Marks The Presence Of Meat.
The Smell And Texture Of Food, Sometimes Called “Mouthfeel,” Can Also Affect Dogs And Cats’ Sense Of Taste. In Fact, 70 To 75 Percent Of Our Ability To Taste Things Comes From Our Sense Of Smell, Which Is The Combination Of Taste And Smell That Creates Taste. (You Can Test This Concept By Closing Your Nose While Taking Another Bite Of Food. When You Close Your Nose, Can You Taste The Food?)
From Palatability Testing To Consumer Research
For Decades, Pet Food Manufacturers Have Used The Two-Bowl Palatability Test To Determine Which Foods a Dog Or Cat Likes. During These Tests, Pets Will Be Given Two Bowls Of Food, Each Containing a Different Food. The Researchers Noted Which Bowl The Dog Or Cat Ate First, And How Much Of Each Food They Ate.
More And More Pet Food Companies Are Now Moving From Palatability Testing To Consumer Research. In a Consumer Study, Pets Were Fed One Food For Two Days, Followed By a Day Of a Refreshing Taste Diet, Followed By Another Food For Two Days. Measure And Compare The Consumption Of Each Food. Brinkmann Explained That Consumption Studies Are a More Reliable Way To Measure Animal Acceptance Of Food Than Animal Preferences. Palatability Studies Are a Grocery Store Concept Used To Generate Marketing Claims. As People Gradually Turn To Natural Foods, Most Of Them Are Not As Delicious As Junk Food, So They Are Not As Susceptible To “Better Taste” As The Marketing Claims.
The Palatability Of Pet Food Has Always Been An Intricate Science. Changes In The Way Americans View Pets As Members Of The Family Have Complicated Pet Food Manufacturing And Marketing. That’s Why In The End Pet Food Manufacturers Create Products That Not Only Appeal To Your Dog And Cat, But To You As Well.
Post time: Apr-25-2023