Pea Fiber used for Pet foods

2019-12-05

One of the newest odd ingredients showing up in commercial pet foods lately is pea fiber. 

It’s apparently replacing other fillers like beet pulp and wheat/corn/soy fiber to answer consumer discontent with low quality pet food ingredients.There are two types of pea fiber available on the market. Both contain a very high amount of insoluble fiber.Both are very low in fat, high in crude fiber,and low in protein. 

Pea fiber is used in pet food as a “functional” fiber.Functional fibers are non-digestible carbohydrates that have been isolated from foods.They aren’t the same as the dietary fiber found naturally in foods like vegetables.Pea fiber is a filler added to inexpensive mass-marketed pet foods for a variety of reasons, none of them having to do with appropriate nutrition for dogs and cats.

There are two types of pea fiber available on the market -- one is derived from a dry process; the other from a wet process.In the dry process, the seed coats and hulls are separated from the seed as part of the normal operation of cleaning the peas.In the wet process, the pea starch is separated from fiber.The seeds are ground, and then water is added to decant the fibers.The pea fiber resulting from the dry process has a higher concentration of dietary fiber,and is rich in xylose sugar.The pea fiber produced from the wet process contains about 70 percent dietary fiber and is rich in three other sugars.Both types of pea fiber contain more than 50-70 percent insoluble dietary fiber.When pea fiber is compared to other,comparable fibers,it performs about the same,except that it doesn''t seem to produce as much gas as other vegetable fibers.

Pea fiber is very low in fat and high in crude fiber (50 to 70 percent).This makes it a perfect ingredient to lower the calorie content of those ''low fat'' and ''weight management'' pet foods I NEVER recommend for overweight dogs and cats.

Pea fiber doesn''t have much protein--and what little it does have is vegetable protein,not the animal protein your pet's body requires --but it''s high in lysine and also contains tryptophan.

Use of Pea Fiber in Pet Foods
The pea fiber that goes into pet food is a light colored, nearly odorless powder. It has a bland taste that doesn''t affect the palatability of the food it is added to.It can be used with both wet and dry ingredients.It is used to bind water and fat, and also as a thickener in wet foods.

Functional fibers are non-digestible carbohydrates that have been isolated from foods.They aren't the same as the dietary fiber found naturally in foods like vegetables, grains and legumes – not that your dog or cat needs much of that type of fiber,either.

On food labels functional fibers appear as maltodextrin, polydextrose and cellulose. Cellulose is derived from different types of fiber, including pea fiber. Human food manufacturers use "functional fibers" in their packaged products to increase the fiber content of the food, making it appear to be more nutritious than it actually is.To take this a step further,Pet foods manufacturers add various types of fibers,grains and other carbohydrates to their formulas to give the appearance – to human consumers – that the foods are nutritious for companion animals.This completely ignores the fact that balanced nutrition for canines and felines is not what is commonly considered balanced nutrition for humans

It's a filler and high in insoluble fiber. Neither ''fillers'' nor high fiber ingredients are part of a balanced, species-appropriate diet for dogs and cats.
You won't find pea fiber in high quality commercially available pet foods,nor will you find it in healthy recipes for homemade pet meals.Where you''ll find it are in very affordable, highly processed, low-quality pet foods.

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