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Every pet lover always wants the best things for their pet, including their diet. There are many pet food options with more concern on its nutrition and palatability. Wet pet food is widely consumed and chosen by pet lovers due to some advantages, such as improving the palatability, helping the moisture intake and oral health of the pet, and reducing contamination risk because it’s sealed in cans or pouches.

Hydrocolloids have the main role of provides desired texture and enhancing the quality of wet pet food. There are many options of hydrocolloid used in wet pet food, however, the most important thing is its safety. 

Concerned about the pet food safety, the European Union released regulations regarding feed materials, including stabilizers and hydrocolloids, to guarantee the feed’s safety. There are some hydrocolloids that are phased out from the list of feed additive in EU Regulation due to limited research on the pet food compliancy. With this regulation, it’s necessary to have substitute materials that are listed as ingredient and not as food stabilizer having similar behaviour.

Referring to Commission Regulation (EU) No. 68/2013 on the Catalogue of Feed Materials, seaweed powder is one of the ingredients acknowledge as safe materials to use in pet food. According to this regulation, phytaFIBER, a seaweed powder from Gracilariopsis longissima, is included in the approved feed material category and suitable as a substitution for withdrawn feed additives.

phytaFIBER, known as 2-in-1 as a functional fiber and texturizer. As functional fiber, phytaFIBER contains mostly soluble fiber and minerals and provides high performance and functionality in feed system. phytaFIBER have unique properties as texturizer, it provides desired texture to the wet pet food by giving a thick consistency when it starts to dissolve at warm temperature, while heating at 60°C allows it to form cohesive gel upon cooling. This feature makes phytaFIBER suitable for heat-sensitive processing or if the products contain active probiotics and vitamins. phyaFIBER is an excellent choice of natural texturizer and potential substitute material for wet pet food.

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