Companion animal health is a fast-growing area of innovation, driven by increasing consumer willingness to invest in the health, wellbeing and longevity of their pets. This award celebrates the most innovative ingredients developed for companion animal applications, recognising solutions that support areas such as digestive health, mobility, cognitive function, immune health, skin and coat condition, healthy ageing and overall vitality.

Eligible entries may include functional ingredients, probiotics, postbiotics, botanicals, proteins, bioactives and other nutritional solutions backed by scientific substantiation and commercial relevance.

This award recognises ingredients that help pets live healthier, happier and more active lives while addressing the evolving needs of pet owners and veterinary professionals.

Our Judges looked at how your ingredient meets specific needs and based their scores on the evidence to demonstrate:

• A genuine consumer demand or requirement based upon a common issue or risk factor
• Solid scientific evidence to demonstrate a unique nutritional solution to this need or problem – including peer reviewed data to back up any performance or health claims made
• Commercial success and engagement from your core target market(s). Give numbers and examples of sales and applications that are available in the market
• What gives your ingredient the ‘X factor’ – something that makes it stand out from the crowd and edge out the competition (including evidence to back up claims)

To view the entry questions for this category, click to download

REQUIREMENT: Entries for the NutraIngredients Europe Awards, Ingredient of the Year categories were required to have the ingredient in a finished product that is commercially available in Europe.