Putting out the paw print
Domestic dogs and cats are responsible for a whopping quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by animal agriculture, emitted during the production of their food. Dog ownership sets thus out to be a large source of our greenhouse gas emissions. Nicolas Bartholomeeusen wants to eliminate the paw print of dogs completely with his latest endeavour Imby Pet Food. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions on how they will do it.
For centuries, carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere. Methane, in contrary, has a half-life of about ten years which means it degrades quickly. Reducing this gas would have a large effect swiftly and at a lower cost than carbon dioxide. Human activities emit far less carbon dioxide, but the punch of methane on global warming is 86 times as strong and is therefore responsible for 23% of the global temperature rise since pre-industrial levels. Agriculture, in particular the gassy output of livestock farming, is responsible for 1/3rd of the annual methane emissions and is the logical whipping-boy industry.
Large carbon taxes seem blurry in their execution and hints of changing consumer behavior are felt by some people as denying their basic right of freedom in the green future (an (un)conscious echo of antivaxx rhetoric). A better system would compel companies to reveal their full carbon footprint, including emissions from the product they sell and the goods and services they buy. That’s how anybody can work out the pollution of companies they work for today and in the near future. Blanket doubt is reasonable since people mostly don’t want to know their print and a golden mean is due.
As mentioned in episode 23, intuitive realistic solutions with an ambitious outlook are called for. Tom Szaky wanted to eliminate the idea of waste with his latest company Loop. This time, the proposition is equally challenging: putting out the carbon footprint of our pets using alternative food. The pawprint considers the amount of CO2 emitted by the creation and transportation of products your pet uses. A study done by the University of British Columbia concludes that dogs and cats are responsible for a quarter of the greenhouse gas emissions caused by animal agriculture, which adds up to a whopping 64 million ton of carbon dioxide equivalent/per year in the U.S alone emitted in the production of their food since 2015 (equal to 15 million passenger cars). The responsibility of dog ownership sets out to be a large source of our greenhouse gas emissions. Dogs tend to eat meat, after all, meat production is a major contributor of greenhouse gas emissions (mostly methane). On top dogs tend to eat highly processed meat, so their carbon footprint grows as their food is manufactured, and again as it is transported.
Nicolas Bartholomeeusen, previously one of the youngest country managers of the beer company AB-Inbev, sets out to eliminate the paw print of dogs completely with his latest endeavour Imby Pet Food. His company offers dog food using high value proteins from insects and vegetable ingredients skipping any use of processed meat. I had the opportunity to ask him a few questions on Imby and how pet owners can help on the issue of global warming directly.
L: Hey Nicolas, thank you for taking your time and congratulations on launching Imby! How did come upon the idea and why did you leave AB-Inbev for it?
N: Thank you for having me, it’s my pleasure! So, I have worked for about 10 years at AB-Inbev and had some great responsibilities within the company in my latest role. My ambition however was to start up my own business, bring some great people together and work on ideas and products that can have a great impact on our planet. I will miss the people at AB-InBev, but I always wanted to venture something entrepreneurial and impactful, so it was the right time for me to leave.
I chose to start this company in alternative petfood because of three main reasons. First and foremost, there is a real absence of ESG in this category where people aren’t even aware of possible alternative recipes for petfood and what its impact might be on emissions overall. This was the first indication that disruption was due. Secondly, pets are so loving and a real sensitive part of pet owner’s lives that you touch customers close to their heart with your product.Thirdly, the petfood market is growing: people take on more pets and spend more per pet aswell.
The idea of making insect-based petfood which is very nutritious brought these 3 premises together and the sum of it all was worth the jump over the fence.
L: How did you discover the perfect recipe of using insects proteins?
N: Well, our product development phase took about a year. The study on the differences between insects was very important where we compared their nutritional value but more interestingly the nutrients the insects needed themselves to grow efficiently. It would be hypocrite if they only ate processed meat as their sole diet which is luckily not the case. Also, the taste of the bugs was of high priority where we specifically looked at three types: the mealworm, the black soldier fly and the cricket. The cricket was quickly dropped since these aren’t cultivated in Europe on a large scale. The black soldier fly and mealworm were more interesting because their cultivation is more controllable. Eventually the mealworm drew the longest straw because of its great palatability, not so endearing smell as the black soldier fly and the presence of a close supplier in Northern France. Since we produce in Belgium, our own footprint is also minimized this way.
L: Will you try to reduce emissions during delivery and transportation or is it not feasible since most dog owners live outside the big cities?
N: When specifically looking at D2C, we couldn’t be transporting greener than PostNL or Bpost. They have a perfect distribution network which is very efficient and we pay an extra fee to offset their carbon emissions even further. On top, some orders are too small to deliver separately which makes it economically logical that we work together with Bpost and PostNL right now.
L: How will Imby be a part of society’s sustainable goals?
N: Sustainability is a loaded word and we’ve listened to very diverse opinions to eventually conclude on two food recipes at this moment: insect-based and plant based. This way, we can suit any customer as trustworthy as possible, both the proponents of less emissions for the climate as the advocates for more ethical treatments of animals. In short, a transformation to a more sustainable way of living should be painless, like driving an electric car, and therefore we’re convinced that this change can start in your backyard without throwing your normal way of living overboard. With Imby, we also claim to be CO2-neutral because we have two initiatives going to properly close our lifecycle: we plant trees in Belgium and the Netherlands and on top we buy certified carbon credits to independently do the same in Brazil. In order to keep doing this, we position ourselves with Imby as a premium brand to be able to finance these projects in the future and to stay CO2-neutral. I truly believe that these actions are a prerequisite for going green and only viable if the customer/company doesn’t lose his or her standard of living/functioning.
L: I think I can only agree with that! Most people that I have talked about the promise of bringing your paw print to zero were very excited about it but always ask the question whether alternative petfood is healthy for your dog? Have you had advice from vets on this?
N: The goal is of course to sustain both the living standard of the owner as the dog. We wouldn’t be willing to be CO2 neutral if that compromised the good health of your dog. Also, we prefer to use the name alternative protein food instead of vegan food because the insect powder (a derivate of insect meat) is actually qualitatively better than the average meat processed in normal petfood. It contains amino and fatty acids in larger concentrations than normal food and all veterinaries that we’ve consulted agree that insect-based is at least as healthy or even healthier for your dog in the long run. Our plant-based recipe is a little bit more tricky (and it is the reason we say we are 99.9% plant-based) because we have to add some pure vitamins to this recipe, specifically D3, to eliminate any health risks for the dog. In essence, all our ingredients are natural except for a few additives in our plant-based recipe.
L: Is there a difference in price between your insect and plant-based meal?
N: Currently we charge a little bit less for our plant-based food because the cultivation of insects is a little bit more expensive and not so easy to scale quickly. Nevertheless, the extra feature which makes us unique for both recipes is that we add 15% oven-baked pieces. In Belgium, 96% of dogfood is dry and 4% is wet and of this dry segment 90% is made using extrusion after which the extruded pieces are heated at their cooking temperature. The oven-baked pieces that we add are made at lower temperatures, preserve the nutrients much longer and the dogs love it. The downside is that it takes longer to process which makes it more expensive. Despite that, by mixing these pieces in our recipes, we score very high on taste tests.
L: Why would someone choose the plant — or insect based food for their dog?
N: Initially, we started solely with insect-based petfood but after doing our survey, there was a strong demand for plant-based as well. This was mostly a reflection of the preferences of vegetarian or vegan pet owners who wouldn’t want to harm any living creature that has a nervous system. In Belgian this segment of customers is relatively stagnant but in the U.K., Netherlands and Germany a growing number of people are living this new lifestyle and prefer plant-based petfood. So voilà, there is a market for it for sure.
L: Are you planning to only sell online?
N: We’re aiming on selling both on- and offline. I really believe that customers should be able to do the things they want to do. Even though the world is evolving towards e-commerce, three-quarters of petfood products are bought offline and this might stay for a while. Specialist retailers are really aiming on ‘experiences’ and make it fun for everybody to shop for pet products. For our online sales, you have the choice between our subscription model and one-time purchases. The subscription model comes with a 10% discount and free delivery. For our offline model, we have some exciting news which will be shared during our official press launch but I can’t spill the tea yet.
L: Where do you see Imby Pet Food in a few years?
N: I would find it amazing if we would be one of the pioneers in the ESG segment within the petfood industry while breaking a lance for more applications of alternative proteins. It would be great to remove the ‘uhg’ factor around insect-based food in general and showing its value for our future. Your dog might make you more open-minded about eating a perfectly nutritional insect meal and give an incentive to not only find your proteins in red meat. Imby will serve as its stimulus for sure.
L: I wish you all the best and surely you will make it happen!
N: Thanks for having me again!
See you next week,
Laurent
