November 9, 2023
KibbleCon Lite 2023, bringing together the pet food industry at K-State
More than 115 pet food industry representatives from 18 states — and as far away as Brazil — attended KibbleCon 2023 on Nov. 2 at the K-State Alumni Center in Manhattan.
The event kicked off with an engaging keynote by Michael Johnson from BSM Partners. The afternoon featured industry expert Will Henry from Extru-Tech and a panel of K-State researchers. Kathy Gross moderated the panel, which included Lonnie Hobbs, Sajid Alavi and Guy Allen. To cap off the day, the K-State's pet food program was highlighted, introducing Julia Pezzali, new assistant professor of pet food science, and featuring K-State graduate students with three-minute research presentations.
Attendees were asked to vote on the top graduate student presentations. The three winners are all graduate students in the grain science and industry department. Alaina Mooney finished in first place with her research, "Protein quality evaluation of fish, vegetable, and insect protein sources for pet food," winning an $800 scholarship. Second place was Youhan Chen, who won a $500 scholarship for her research, "Effects of inoculation dosage and fermentation duration on crude protein content increase and in-vitro protein digestibility of soybean meal fermented by Asperigillus Oryzae." In third place was Larissa Koulicoff, who won a $200 scholarship for her research, "Utilization of Dried Bakery Products as an ingredient in Extruded Pet Food."
KibbleCon was created by the K-State pet food program and K-State Innovation Partners, and it is a place to have honest conversations on the future of the industry with pet food visionaries and industry influencers. Since 2017, K-State has hosted an annual Pet Food R&D Showcase featuring networking, cutting-edge research and interactive experiences with top pet food suppliers. As the experience progressed, the event was rebranded to KibbleCon.
Thank you to the KibbleCon Lite sponsors: Extru-Tech Inc., Parker Freeze Dry, United Sorghum Checkoff Program, Balchem, Eurofins, Biorigin, National Corn Growers Association, Wilbur-Ellis, Petfood Forum — Watt Global Media and BSM Partners.
For more information and to sign up for future event updates, please visit the KibbleCon website.