WET PET FOOD AS BAD FOR THE PLANET AS LONG-HAUL FLIGHTS
Source: Stuff (Extract)
Posted: November 18, 2022
Your dog’s “carbon pawprint” could be as large as return flights to Iceland.
Brazilian researchers calculated wet meals consumed by a 10kg dog over a year were responsible for 6.5 tonnes of carbon dioxide – that’s the equivalent of flying between Auckland and Reykjavík and back (according to Toitū Envirocare).
Switching to dry pet food could slash this pawprint, the team concluded.
Dog biscuits offering the equivalent amount of energy would produce just 0.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide over the year. That’s one-seventh of the greenhouse pollution of wet food, the researchers wrote in the Scientific Reports research paper.
The researchers crunched more than 900 cat and dog foods, from store-bought packs to homemade meals. Dry food is the lowest impact option of all pet diets available, the study concluded.
Dog and cat biscuits also provided the most energy per gram of food.
Wet food contained higher proportions of meat and other animal parts – offering higher protein but also more fat. But most cat and dog food provided more protein and fat than recommended, the paper concluded.
“This excessive intake of nutrients can be seen as a potential waste of resources,” the researchers wrote.
Meat content bumps up the carbon footprint of any food, said University of Otago research Alex Macmillan. Red meat from cows, sheep and deer have “an order of magnitude greater impact on the climate” compared other foods, particularly plant-based options, she added.
These animals belch out planet-heating methane – but that’s not the only contributor, Macmillan said. “The other emissions are related to how we grow the livestock. There are carbon emissions involved and the long-lived potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide gas from fertiliser.”
Pet food can contain food production leftovers that humans won’t eat – but not always. To attract consumers, pet products are often made from desirable cuts of meat and other ingredients, the researchers said.
The researchers noted that pet ownership is increasing across the world, and advised owners to consider the environmental impact of their cats’ and dogs’ diet “since it is significant”.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of pet ownership in the world, according to one organisation, with two-thirds of all households having a companion animal.
Food-producing farms are responsible for at least one quarter of all greenhouse gas produced, the researchers said.
