Leaft Foods expands into animal nutrition

Leaft Foods, a New Zealand-based company specialising in plant proteins, has announced its entry into the pet nutrition market with alfalfa protein concentrate (APC) – a sustainable protein ingredient that offers meat-like nutrition with significantly lower environmental impacts. The market launch coincides with a new distribution partnership for the US with Meateor Pet Food Ingredients New Zealand. An expansion into Europe is planned for 2026.

According to Leaft’s own information, this move is a natural progression of the company’s integrated food production system, which maximises the value of every part of the alfalfa plant. Having gained recognition for its Rubisco protein isolate for human nutrition, Leaft is now extending its ‘total utilisation’ approach to pet food.

‘Our total utilization approach was always designed to create value from the entire leaf, and pet nutrition represents the perfect application for our Alfalfa Protein Concentrate,’ said Ross Milne, CEO of Leaft Foods`, in the press release. ‘We're not just adding another ingredient to the market. We're providing pet food manufacturers with a way to maintain their premium meat-forward positioning while significantly reducing their environmental footprint.’

The partnership with Meateor accelerates Leaft's entry into the US market by leveraging Meateor's established distribution networks, logistics capabilities and expertise in frozen protein ingredients.

APC's frozen block format allows for easy integration into existing production lines while offering 99% less CO₂ emissions than beef or lamb. When used in just 5% of a recipe, APC can reduce the CO₂ emissions of pet food by up to 20% without compromising protein quality – a breakthrough that combines nutrition, functionality and climate-conscious innovation, according to the company.