Regarding updates to the original supplement.
We have updated and renewed the original supplement used in HITOWAN's handmade meal series.
Previously, we used one type of supplement for the six types of handmade meals, but we have now increased it to three types to further reduce variations in the nutritional value of the meals.
These are labeled as Supplement A, Supplement B, and Supplement C. (All are listed in the ingredients online and in brochures, but details are provided below.)
・What are nutritional variations?
Just like with "meat," "vegetables" in particular are susceptible to seasonal changes and soil conditions throughout the year, so their nutritional value is not always constant. Therefore, even if the nutritional design is perfectly executed, analytical tests may reveal differences from the design values. For this reason, HITOWAN repeatedly conducts analytical tests every 1-2 years, and each time, we revise the supplement or raw material mixing design.
If there is a change in raw materials (related to allergies), we will announce it in an alert as needed.
Analytical tests cost several hundred thousand yen per recipe and cannot be performed very frequently, but we plan to continue conducting them to coincide with seasons particularly affected by soil changes: summer, autumn, winter, and spring.
・Reason for increasing supplements from one type to three types
The six types of handmade meal recipes use unique ingredients to avoid overlap in raw materials as much as possible and to consider allergies. Therefore, some raw materials may not be listed in the Japan Food Database (a site primarily used by registered dietitians that contains nutritional values of ingredients), so we perform analytical tests on those individual ingredients before designing the nutrition.
As mentioned above, we also conduct analytical tests after the meals are completed. The results showed that some nutritional values had significant variations, so we have redesigned three types of supplements with the goal of further reducing these variations across all six meals.
・Why supplements are necessary
For pet food, if the comprehensive nutrition and AAFCO 2016 nutritional standards cannot be met with only naturally occurring ingredients, supplements become necessary. However, since the pet supplements primarily used in current pet food often lack display regulations and their contents are unclear, HITOWAN has designed original supplements that meet all human food standards and are edible for humans, in collaboration with veterinarians and human registered dietitians, based on AAFCO 2016 and comprehensive nutritional standards, and manufactured by Takeuchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
【New Supplement Ingredients】
