Application studies, dosage optimisation, stability, compatibility, prototypes, benchmarking and technical support — for ingredient companies and the pet food brands that use their ingredients.
An ingredient that performs well on its own does not always perform in a finished pet food. Heat, moisture, pressure, other ingredients and months of storage can reduce an active, change texture or affect palatability. Application science answers the practical question: does this ingredient work in this product, at this dose, for this shelf life?
We take ingredients through application studies, dosage optimisation, stability and compatibility testing, prototype development and comparative benchmarking — and turn the results into technical material customers can use. The work draws on our formulation, bioscience, testing and pilot teams.
Start your project with Guires PNLUse one service or combine them into a full application programme for a new ingredient.
Put a new ingredient into real pet products — kibble, wet food, treats, soft chews and powders — and measure how it behaves through mixing, extrusion, retort, baking or drying.
Find the inclusion level that delivers the intended nutrient or active level after processing and through shelf life — balancing efficacy targets, palatability, regulatory limits and cost.
Real-time and accelerated stability of ingredients and finished products — active levels, oxidation, moisture, texture and microbiology tracked against your target shelf life.
Check that an ingredient works alongside the rest of the formula — interactions with minerals, preservatives, fats and other actives, and effects on colour, odour, texture and palatability.
Turn an ingredient concept into demonstration products — bench and pilot prototypes your sales team can show customers and your customers can test for themselves.
Compare your ingredient or product side by side with market leaders and alternative sources — composition, processing performance, stability, palatability and cost-in-use.
Build the technical support package customers ask for — application guides, recommended dosages by format, formulation examples and technical data sheets for pet food teams.
Prove a new ingredient works in pet food formats and give customers the data they ask for.
Choose between ingredient options, set dosages and confirm stability before launch.
Check how a new ingredient runs on your process before committing a production slot.
Application guides, prototypes and benchmarks that support customer conversations.
Your ingredient, target formats, claims and markets.
Formats, dose levels, controls, time points and tests agreed up front.
Bench and pilot trials in the chosen formats.
Analysis through our labs and qualified partner laboratories.
Results reviewed by our nutrition and formulation scientists.
A clear report, prototypes and technical content you can use.
Every project ends with documents your technical, regulatory and sales teams can use straight away. Clients own their project data.
Peer-reviewed and regulatory findings that shape how we work — each linked to its source.
In moist canned cat foods, on average 48.6% of lysine had undergone early Maillard reaction.
Processing losses are allowed for in the formula and checked on pilot product.
Canned cat food lost 17.8% of added thiamine over six months; thiamine deficiency outbreaks have been linked to low-thiamine cat food.
Thiamine measured in finished product and during storage, not only assumed from the formula.
A 2022 meta-analysis of 72 trials found clear evidence for omega-3s in canine and feline osteoarthritis, but “a very marked non-effect” for chondroitin–glucosamine.
Evidence reviews come first, so studies target ingredients and doses that can work.
Stay ahead with regulation updates, the latest research, ingredient spotlights, recalls and market trends for ingredient application — written by our formulation, testing and regulatory teams.
Every project at Guires Pet Nutrition Lab runs inside an ISO 9001:2015 certified quality system and FSSAI-licensed operations, with documented methods, calibrated instruments, traceable raw materials and reviewed reports — so the results behind your product can be checked and defended.
For application work in your own product, yes — we need the full formulation to interpret results. For new prototypes, we create the formula ourselves.
Yes. Comparative benchmarking uses commercially available benchmark materials, tested side by side under the same conditions.
Both. Accelerated studies give an early indication; real-time studies confirm shelf life. Most projects run them together.
You do. Clients own their project data, and we do not share it with other clients.
Tell us the ingredient, the formats and the markets — we will plan the application work around them.
Every Guires PNL product is formulated to comply with the FEDIAF Nutritional Guidelines and the AAFCO Dog and Cat Food Nutrient Profiles. Neither body issues certificates to manufacturers, so compliance is verified independently against their published standards — and every product comes with a complete documentation package for regulatory submissions in the EU, US, Australia and Asian markets.
How we verify compliance →