Salmon is a popular ingredient in pet food. In the wild, it's under threat from overfishing, habitat loss and ocean warming. And farmed salmon comes with its own set of issues. Meanwhile, other species of fish are doing too well. In many US lakes and rivers, Asian carp are outcompeting native fish for food resources.
Tackling both problems in one go, sustainable dog food brand Chippin just introduced kibble made using silver carp, one of those invasive species. In Asia, silver carp is a common food source for humans, which controls its population. Not the case in the US, where it's underfished, flourishing and can grow up to 50 kg. Getting US consumers to develop an appetite for a carp is one option, but a faster route is to get people to feed it to their pets.
Silver carp kibble is the first daily dog food by Chippin, which previously launched a line of treats that included crickets as a sustainable source of protein. The start-up is focusing on dogs first, but aims to expand to cat food, too — if all US dogs and cats formed a sovereign nation, they'd have the fifth highest meat consumption globally.
