In recent years, feeding concepts for companion pets have undergone continuous upgrades, driving pet parents to raise stricter standards on ingredient purity and natural composition of pet food. Coupled with tightening feed regulatory oversight and tighter restrictions on synthetic additives, natural plant extracts have shifted from optional auxiliary ingredients to indispensable staple raw materials for pet food, emerging as the fastest-growing segment across the global pet ingredient market in 2026.
Spurred by China's nationwide rectification of pet feed industry and enforcement of updated national feed standards, numerous medium and large-sized pet food brands have phased out chemical preservatives and synthetic antioxidant additives. Instead, manufacturers adopt blended natural plant extracts to satisfy dual demands of food preservation and pet gastrointestinal conditioning. Industry statistics reveal that year-on-year order growth for mainstream raw materials including curcumin, rosemary extract, dandelion extract and matrine has exceeded 42%, with application spanning complete-age dog & cat food, veterinary prescription diets and functional pet treats.
In terms of practical application scenarios, rosemary extract stands out for its superior natural antioxidant properties, serving as a viable replacement for synthetic antioxidants BHT and BHA to inhibit oil rancidification, applicable across extruded kibble, freeze-dried food and baked pet food. Curcumin is formulated primarily for anti-inflammation and gastrointestinal protection, widely added in sensitive-stomach care feed and senior pet recipes. Benefiting from its inherent natural bacteriostatic effect, matrine is extensively incorporated into puppy/kitten food and intestinal care snacks to balance food safety and nutritional healthcare functions.
Mushroom-derived plant extracts keep gaining strong traction within the high-end pet food track. Cordyceps militaris polysaccharide, ganoderma lucidum extract and yeast β-glucan have become core functional ingredients for premium-grade feed and prescription diets, featured to boost pets' immune systems for vulnerable young pets, geriatric dogs & cats and post-operative recovering companion animals. Driven by advanced supercritical extraction technology, high-purity refined extract products are steadily launched. Compared with conventionally crude extracted powders, these refined extracts contain higher concentrations of active constituents and allow controllable formulation dosage, winning widespread favor from pet food manufacturers at home and overseas.
Policies continue to fuel market adoption of natural raw materials. China's special rectification campaign targeting illegal pet feed additives is in full swing, imposing stringent inspections against unauthorized addition of unidentified chemical additives and non-standard auxiliary materials, which compels feed brands to optimize their raw material portfolios. Clean-label and additive-free formulas have turned into core selling points for market competitiveness; pet food formulated with natural plant extracts enjoys stronger consumer preference across e-commerce channels and offline pet stores with obvious premium pricing advantages.
From an international trade perspective, strict clean-label regulations in Europe and North America keep pushing up inbound procurement orders. Thanks to outstanding cost-performance of China's compliant plant extracts, export volumes maintain steady growth and domestic raw material manufacturers reap benefits from rising production and sales.
For pet food producers, establishing a complete supply chain of pre-registered, fully tested compliant natural plant extracts is not only a mandatory requirement to comply with prevailing regulations, but also a pivotal strategy to develop differentiated products and capture market share in mid-to-high-end pet food sectors. Looking ahead, naturalization, functionalization and antibiotic-free formulation will remain the long-term development trend of the global pet food industry, leaving ample upside growth potential for the plant extract market.
Source of information：https://www.greenagribio.com/
