Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition and Bond Pet Foods Enter into Partnership to Develop Ingredients Through Precision Fermentation

Joint Development Agreement to Create Sustainable Ingredient Blends for Pet Food Applications

ST. JOSEPH, Mo. and BOULDER, Colo., April 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, LLC, a leading provider of innovative animal nutrition solutions, and Bond Pet Foods, Inc., the Boulder-based leader in creating sustainable animal proteins via fermentation, today announced a partnership to develop tailored ingredients for pet food applications. The collaboration is the first of its kind for Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, and it is Bond's second strategic partnership with a global pet food industry player.

"Our partnership with Bond expands our capabilities and opens up new ways to deliver sustainable, innovative ingredients to pet food manufacturers around the world," said Matt Fanta, President of Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition. "We see tremendous opportunity with Bond's technology to expand what's possible with pet nutrition and support our pursuit of a more responsible pet food future."

Animal-derived ingredients are the mainstay of dog and cat diets. While the demand for these ingredients continues to grow, meat production to satisfy this demand can have an oversized impact on the environment. As noted in the scientific journal PLUS One, if U.S. pets were their own country, they would be the 5^th largest meat consumers in the world, and responsible for up to 30% of associated carbon emissions.

Bond approaches production of these foundational pet food ingredients differently, employing a yeast-based precision fermentation process that has been around for more than half a century to make ingredients such as vitamin B12, flavors like vanilla, and enzymes for cheese manufacturing, but has creatively reassembled the process to more efficiently produce proteins like chicken, turkey and fish without the animal. Its "brewing" platform also has the ability to enhance the finished products' nutritional and functional performance, compared with conventional options available today.

"As the petfood industry focuses more on sustainable solutions, precision fermentation is an increasingly attractive tool to produce proteins, flavors, and blends that perform," said Nick Braden, Vice President of Wilbur-Ellis Pet Nutrition. "This collaboration with Bond, and their deep fermentation expertise, will allow us to further advance our ingredient portfolio."

"We are thrilled to partner with Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition on this important work," said Rich Kelleman, CEO and Founder of Bond Pet Foods. "For more than 100 years, they have been known for high-quality ingredients and have a genuine commitment to innovation in the pet nutrition space. We look forward to developing a new class of products through this JDA program that will provide pet food manufacturers with more sustainable, functional formulary alternatives."

For more information on Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, visit wilburellisnutrition.com; for more information on Bond Pet Foods, Inc. visit bondpets.com.

About Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition

Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition has been helping animals thrive for more than a century. With a product portfolio that includes high-performing antioxidants and proprietary functional ingredients, as well as services that include ingredient sourcing, materials handling, and custom-made ingredient blends, Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition serves the animal health industry worldwide. To learn more about Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition, visit www.wilburellisnutrition.com or follow on LinkedIn.

About Bond Pet Foods

Bond Pet Foods is a Boulder, Colorado-based company using biotechnology to create animal proteins that are nutritionally comparable to their conventional counterparts but without all the bad stuff- so people, pets, farm animals and the planet all win. Using some of the same processes that are employed in craft brewing, Bond produces high-quality animal proteins through fermentation, harvests them to better meet the nutritional requirements of companion animals, and supplies the ingredients to manufacturers for pet food, treat and supplement applications.

Bond's investors include some of the most prominent funds in the alternative protein, biotechnology and ingredient space including Genoa VC, Lever VC, ADM Ventures, Cavallo Ventures (Wilbur-Ellis), Agronomics, Thia Ventures, KBW Ventures, iSelect Fund and Plug and Play Ventures.

For more information on Bond's technology and team visit bondpets.com or follow @bondpetfoods on LinkedIn, Instagram, and X.  

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SOURCE Wilbur-Ellis Nutrition