The Rainforester Expands Its Sustainable Pet Products Range.
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Laurene Rey-Millet
- 5th April 2023
- 5 minute read
The Rainforester has expanded its sustainable pet treat range, by launching 19 natural grain + gluten-free dog treats – with rain-forest super-food ingredients.
Sustainable pet treat manufacturer, The Rainforester’s new range – is packed with healthy and nutritious ingredients.
Made in Britain, this exciting and innovative range consists of Forest Bars, Forest Bites, and Kuli Bites.
The ingredients used include: wild rabbit, venison, and crayfish (which are combined with rain-forest fruits and vegetables – to create snacks that are high in protein and fibre, with vitamins A, B-3, B-6 and E). Rain-forest super-food vegan options are also featured in the new range, in the form of Forest Soil – a meat-free super-food.
The rain-forest super-food ingredients featured in the products include: cocoyam, peanuts, green banana, moringa, coconut, pumpkin leaf, bitter leaf, scent leaf, eru leaf, turmeric, ginger, ogbono, egusi, mango and pawpaw. These ingredients boast a huge range of benefits. They’re anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-fungal, larvicidal and antipyretic, and a natural probiotic.
As well as this, the new range is available in compostable packaging, and a fraction of the profits from each purchase will go towards supporting conservation work – both in the UK, and across the world.
“Our new range is a fantastic example of commercial conservation and sustainability – that demonstrates how we can popularise and develop non-timber forest products (NTFPs) from the rain-forest, and combine them with British indigenous animals – to create healthy, nutritious treats for dogs,” said The Rainforester’s Founder, Jonathan Mbu.
Kuli Kuli (a traditional West African snack – that’s made entirely from dry roasted peanuts) was the inspiration behind The Rainforester’s range of treats. The peanuts are ground into a paste (known as labu), the oil is then squeezed out, and the resultant ‘dough’ is then mixed with herbs and spices, before being fried in its own oil.
Kuli Kuli was the first range of The Rainforester’s treats, and after some tweaks to the cooking methods and the ingredients, the result was a highly nutritious, reduced fat range of products.
After launching in 2020, the company saw a turnover of over £30,000 the following year, and in 2022, the business became the winner of the southeast start-up of the year, AND the southeast green start-up of the year.
Also, The Rainforester has recently attracted a private investor, and they’ve moved to a new site in Oxfordshire – where the company will increase production. This new location has enabled the founders to establish local links with the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) – to secure sustainable local sources of animal proteins.
The Rainforester was launched just before lock-down, by a father-and-a-son, named Thomas and Jonathan Mbu.
Jonathan (Jonny) Mbu is a zoologist, a nature photographer, and a conservationist – who was born in Lago, Nigeria. His father Tom was born in England. Tom studied at King’s School Canterbury, before continuing his education in the US.
During his childhood, Jonny would often bring home injured or sick wildlife – to nurse back to good health – ready for re-release (hence his passion for animals). In total, 400 animals benefited from Jonathan’s care.
Find out more here: https://www.therainforester.org