The application potential of Nisin in pet food

Nisin is a natural bioactive antimicrobial peptide produced by Streptococcus lactis, and it holds significant application potential in pet food, with specific manifestations in the following aspects:

Extending Pet Food Shelf Life

Nisin can effectively inhibit Gram-positive bacteria that cause pet food spoilage, such as Lactobacillus, Clostridium botulinum, Staphylococcus, and Listeria—it exhibits particularly strong inhibitory effects on spore-forming bacteria. This prevents pet food from deteriorating due to bacterial contamination during storage and transportation, extends its shelf life, and ensures the quality and safety of pet food.

Safeguarding Pet Health

Nisin can inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria in pet food, reduce the potential threat of bacterial toxins to pet health, and lower the risk of pets falling ill from consuming contaminated food. Furthermore, as a polypeptide substance, it is rapidly digested into amino acids by proteolytic enzymes in the digestive tract after ingestion, leaving no residues in the pet’s body and causing no alterations to the normal intestinal flora. Thus, it is harmless to the health and safety of pets.

Preserving Food Nutrition and Palatability

The addition of nisin allows for lower sterilization temperatures and shorter sterilization times in pet food production. This reduces the destruction of nutritional components caused by high temperatures, enabling pet food to better retain its original nutrients, flavor, and color, thereby providing higher-quality food for pets.

Meeting Consumer Demands

As pet owners increasingly focus on the quality and safety of pet food, natural and safe food additives are gaining growing popularity. As a natural preservative, nisin aligns with consumers’ demands for "green" and "healthy" pet food, helping to enhance the market competitiveness of pet food products.

Adapting to Different Types of Pet Food

Nisin possesses excellent solubility and stability—its stability is even better under acidic conditions, and it exhibits superior acid resistance and heat resistance. It can be applied to both dry pet food and wet pet food, and is capable of meeting the processing and storage requirements of different types of pet food.

Broad Market Prospects

According to forecasts by Mordor Intelligence, supported by factors such as high-yield fermentation, process optimization, and production capacity expansion, the global nisin market size is expected to reach $707.12 million by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.10%. Among these, the pet food sector, as one of the application fields of nisin, is also expected to see growing market demand alongside the development of the pet food industry.