Grub’s up! Can insect pet food cut dogs’ carbon pawprint?

By ITN News Editor January 16, 2019 15:38

Love your dog, but worried about the environmental impact of their meat-heavy diet? Now one British company is offering a solution – feed your pooch insects instead. It launched a dry dog food on Thursday made from black soldier fly larvae in a bid to tackle the “carbon pawprint” created by pets in the animal-loving nation. There are nearly 9 million dogs in Britain where almost half of adults own a pet, according to the PDSA veterinary charity. Studies suggest pets consume about a fifth of the world’s meat and fish, and a dog’s carbon footprint is more than twice that of a 4×4 car, according to Yora. Compared to beef farming, it said the grubs need just 2 percent of the land and 4 percent of the water to produce each kilogram of protein, which means they generate 96 percent less greenhouse emissions. The grubs are grown on vegetable waste at a Dutch farm and the left over matter provides fertiliser for crops.