CHICAGO — Innovafeed, ag-tech company and producer of black soldier fly for animal and plant nutrition, has announced a partnership with pet food brands Jiminy’s and Arch Pet Food to roll out its “Powered by Hilucia™” co-branding. Jiminy’s Good Grub dog food and Arch’s Insect and Plant Recipe dog food will feature the new front-of-pack label to showcase that the products contain Innovafeed’s black soldier fly — Hermetia illucens — ingredient.

“Our consumer research shows that simple education is crucial for the adoption of insect-based pet food, and once pet parents overcome that initial hurdle, they keep coming back,” said Sean Madison, director of Global Pet Food & North American Growth at Innovafeed. “The Hilucia™ brand has been a way for us to both meet consumers where they are by using the new brand as an educational focal point, as well as providing us the ability to refer directly to Innovafeed’s uniquely pioneering industrial model within our partners’ value proposition to consumers as opposed to insect farming more generically.

“We believe that rolling out these consumer-facing brand partnerships will further contribute to promoting the adoption and growth of the insect pet food industry, and we couldn’t have found more forward-looking partners to kick things off with than Jiminy’s and Arch,” he added.

Source: Arch Pet Food and Jiminy’s

In addition to the front-of-pack logo, the packages will feature more detailed explanations on the back of the package to help educate consumers on the advantages of the Hilucia ingredients. Innovafeed research showed that after some education, the percentage of pet owners who would be completely or very likely to feed their pets insect protein increased from 23% to 32%.

The collaboration between Innovafeed and the pet food brands will extend beyond the on-pack education, the brands will also partner on marketing, consumer-oriented collateral and in-store activities, as well as online testimonials across the brands’ websites and on social media.

“We’re thrilled to announce our partnership with Innovafeed and are committed to going beyond traditional on-pack co-branding,” said Anne Carlson, chief executive officer of Jiminy’s. “One dynamic way we’ll achieve this is by creating engaging educational content for social media, including TikTok. This will elevate our consumer conversation, fostering meaningful, informative engagement with our audience.”

The partnership will provide Jiminy’s and Arch with Innovafeed’s expertise in insect-based ingredients and research. Innovafeed also developed the Hilucia™ Pet Council — a meeting that will gather brands, academics and other experts to share best practices and discuss next steps for the industry when it comes to insect pet food development. 

“We’re beyond excited to partner with Innovafeed and to benefit from their expertise, high-quality products, and positive impact to create an insect-based pet food that redefines pet nutrition for the betterment of both the pet and planet,” said Gabriel Huertas del Pino, co-founder and chief executive officer of Arch Pet Food.

Read more about the latest developments in insect-based pet food.