We are excited to launch our Kind Earth recipes – a plant-based and an insect-based dog kibble. These two recipes are the result of years of testing, analysis, and development partnering with animal nutritionists and veterinarians to ensure that each includes only the highest quality ingredients, delivers complete and balanced nutrition for dogs, as well elevate our mission to Do Some Good for animals and the planet.
We named this line “Kind Earth” because it embodies our approach to grazing lightly on the environment and comprehensively addressing sustainability. In these recipes, we want to raise the bar not only in animal welfare, but also waste and the environmental impacts of ingredients and processing.
Since we were founded in 2014, we have sourced meat according to the strictest animal welfare standards because ethical sourcing is core to who we are and now part of what our customers have come to expect. Our Kind Earth line is an innovative approach to ethical sourcing: we are able to provide a full and complete meal for dogs without incorporating conventional animal protein.
For our insect-based kibble, we were thoughtful about selecting the alternative protein and intentional in partnering with suppliers who could provide AAFCO approved Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) sourced in accordance with our high animal welfare standards. There is not an animal welfare certification for BSFL, so we consulted with International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, a European non-profit organization, to ensure the welfare of the insects. We source BSFL in accordance with The Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare. This means that the environment they’re raised in enables them to express natural behaviors, be free from hunger and thirst, discomfort, pain, injury, disease, fear and distress. The BSFL are humanely processed with a high, dry heat which quickly euthanatizes the larvae. While not thought of as conventional sources of animal protein, they’re still animals and it was critical to ensure that they were being treated as all other animals in our supply chain: with kindness and respect through out their life.
These recipes are each designed with sustainability in mind and ingredient selection was critical to that. We obsessed over finding the perfect ingredients: those with low carbon footprints and high protein content that are grown and produced in a way that uses water and energy efficiently and minimizes carbon emissions. We meticulously measure the carbon footprint of our ingredients, processing, waste, and logistics each year so we can design better products with lower environmental impacts. You won’t be surprised to learn that the plant-based kibble is our lowest carbon footprint kibble with ingredients like barley and oats. In addition to having a low carbon footprint, these crops are used by our regenerative farmers as cover crops to help restore nutrients in their soil and increase biodiversity.
These recipes are packaged in widely recyclable bags and labeled clearly with instructions on How2Recycle. These bags are made from a multi-layer mono-material that is curbside recyclable in Canada and recyclable through store-drop off locations in the US. As mentioned in our Zero Waste to Landfill announcement earlier this month, we envision a future without waste. That means making recycling as easy as possible for the customer, so we’re changing what our bags are made of and how they are recycled. This is a first for us in kibble and we are excited that Kind Earth is leading the way.
We know that feeding plants or insects to your dog may be a little unconventional, but so was only sourcing animal welfare certified meat when we did that in 2014. Our unconventional decision then resulted in the highest quality ingredients for your pet and the strictest animal welfare standards in the petfood industry to date. And Kind Earth will be no different. We’re not afraid to challenge the norms in pursuit of quality, nutrition, and sustainability and we’re excited for your pup to try these two new recipes!
