Faba bean ingredient enables full or partial replacement of animal blood plasma (ABP) with no significant change to the end product’s weight or texture, delivering considerable cost savings versus ABP. Trial results also indicate that, when replacing ABP, faba bean provides better binding properties than pea protein concentrate.
Demand for wet pet food is on the rise, with the segment’s growth being driven by pet owners looking for premium and nutritionally balanced pet foods with good palatability. (i) However, with a relatively high total moisture content of at least 50 wt%, the quality of premium and super-premium wet pet food is standardised and maintained through the addition of ABP. Although this ingredient has excellent texturising and emulsifying properties, these functional benefits can come at a high cost. Additionally, due to its animal origin, ABP is increasingly perceived as undesirable by consumers that want to see more plant-based offerings in their pets’ food. Thanks to the recent trials, pet food manufacturers now have a cost-effective, plant-based alternative that offers similar proven functional properties to ABP in wet pet food products.
Initial technical trials conducted on behalf of BENEO by Passion4Food, a specialist service provider for the pet food industry, investigated the performance of faba bean protein concentrate when partially or fully replacing ABP by 50% and 100% respectively, in high protein wet pet food loaves (paté). The results were so promising that follow up trials were carried out using a test recipe suitable for commercial scalability.
Excellent and more cost effective alternative binder to ABP
As part of the additional trials, the same percentages of ABP and faba bean protein concentrate were used and compared to a test recipe in which ABP was partially replaced at 50% with pea protein concentrate. The results showed that BENEO’s faba bean protein concentrate is an excellent and more cost-effective alternative binder to ABP, with no significant changes recorded in terms of the height, weight, hardness or adhesiveness of the loaves. On the other hand, partial replacement of ABP with pea protein concentrate led to a significant decrease of hardness, demonstrating that faba bean protein concentrate has a higher binding capacity in wet pet food loaves.
Thanks to this property, it can improve the texture of the end product, making it a valuable alternative to ABP in such applications. Following the positive trial results, BENEO filed an international patent application for its faba bean protein concentrate as an alternative to spray dried animal blood plasma (ABP) in wet pet food, which was published in August 2025.
As well as offering technical and cost benefits when used in wet pet foods, BENEO’s faba bean protein concentrate offers strong sustainability credentials related to the crop and BENEO’s local sourcing and production process in Germany. With a protein content of 61g/100g on dry matter and an ileal digestibility score of almost 90%, it is a highly digestible source of protein. Its amino acid profile is relatively rich in lysine and can nicely complement cereal protein like rice protein or vital wheat gluten, to achieve a complete essential amino acids profile. In addition, BENEO’s faba bean protein concentrate is included in EU Catalogue of Feed Materials,ii and is suitable for “no grain” claims in pet food.
Dr Maygane Ronsmans, Product Manager Animal Nutrition at BENEO says: “With two in three pet owners considering plant-based proteins to be better for the environmentiii , demand has grown for sustainable and locally sourced vegetal protein ingredients. As the technical trials show, BENEO’s faba bean protein concentrate offers pet food manufacturers a win-win scenario: producers can decrease their recipe costs while benefitting from secure supply and meeting consumer expectations for more sustainable and plant-based pet foods, without impacting the quality of the end product. This is good news for the growing number of producers committing to clear environmental targets.”
(i) Wet Pet Food Market Analysis – Size, Share, and Forecast Outlook 2025 to 2035, Future Market Insights Inc, 2024.
(ii) Commission Regulation (EU) No 68/2013 of 16 January 2013 on the Catalogue of feed materials – Faba bean protein concentrate is listed under entry 3.7.5: “Horse bean protein”
(iii) BENEO Consumer Research On Pet Care 2025. FMCG Gurus conducted a quantitative online survey in 2025 with 2.500 pet owners in the US, Brazil, UK, Germany, and China (250 cat and 250 dog owners per country)
