Pet Food Seminar Highlights Benefits Of Sorghum, DDGS As Ingredients

In late July, the U.S. Grains Council’s (USGC’s) Mexico office sponsored a pet food seminar where industry representatives in the country learned more about the use of sorghum and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS) as ingredients for pet food. Attendees also gained knowledge on new trends in pet food nutrition and formulations, while learning about the advantages these ingredients can bring to the pet food industry.

“In June, two representatives of the pet food industry attended Export Sorghum and took a course at Texas A&M University. The course instructors mentioned that the pet food industry in Mexico had not evolved much, mainly because it continued to produce the same formulations with the same ingredients it had been working with for years. When asked if they had considered using sorghum in their pet formulations, they didn’t seem to know how to use it in pet food and didn’t know the benefits of sorghum as an ingredient. This event turned out to be an eye opener for most of the participants in attendance,” said Patricia Esqueda, USGC marketing specialist in Mexico.

Recent growth in the Mexican pet food market has been attributed to significant advances in the industry and, oddly enough, the COVID-19 pandemic, when households saw a spike in pet acquisition. In 2021, the volume of dog and cat food stood at more than 1.23 million metric tons, equal to a 6.5% increase over the previous year.

The Council’s event welcomed more than 40 participants, all of whom represented the pet food industry in Mexico, including nutritionists, plant managers and company owners. Speakers, including USGC Consultant Miguel Angel Lopez; Lisa Schole of Evolve Consulting, LLC; Dr. Kevin Herrick of POET; Gianni Carniglia of Eurochilena SpA; and Dr. Martin Talavera of Kansas State University covered a wide range of topics, including latest trends in the pet food sector, the benefits of sorghum in pet food and new technology DDGS in pet food, among others.

“The event was highly applauded by the participants. The information presented was of great interest to them, especially the information on the use of sorghum for pet diets, as well as the palatability and sensory tests. Additionally, they were very participatory during the exercise,” Esqueda said.

While Mexico has experience using sorghum as an ingredient in animal feed, the Council will continue sharing more information on its use, in addition to DDGS, specifically as a feed ingredient for pet food as the industry grows. With more representatives in the industry considering the use of sorghum and DDGS in their formulations, the Council expects there to be increased demand and export opportunities for the U.S.