by Wiehan Visagie

Novatek dog food is a specialty food for companion animals. It is formulated according to the dogs’ nutritional needs. In general, dog food consists of meat byproducts, cereals, grain, vitamins and minerals.

Dog food was first commercially produced in England as a dry, biscuit-style product during the late 1800’s. Shortly thereafter, local manufacturers started producing more sophisticated formulas that were essential for dogs at that time. At the start of the 20th century, pre-packed dog food started to become available and it primarily consisted of dry cereals, but after World War I, dog food was made of canned animal meat. It was only in 1960 when semi-moist and expandable type dog food became available.

However, demands for dry dog food increased in 1980 as research indicated that a soft diet of canned dog food led to gum diseases more rapidly than dry food. This sparked a growing trend in health-consciousness from dog owners and it led to the development of a more nutritious and scientific approach to dog food formulation.

Therefore, Novatek Animal Feeds decided to invest and implement modern production technology systems to ensure that we produce dog food of the highest quality. We are the only animal feed company in Zambia with an ISO 22 000 accreditation.

This means that we ensure that the correct raw materials are analysed before manufacturing. We also do quality checks on our final products to validate that we are within limits according to
allowable production standards.

Furthermore, we know that we have a competitive advantage over other dog food producing countries as we source local raw materials to produce nutritionally good dog food. This puts us in a favourable position to manufacture at a lower cost.

At Novatek we only include fish and bone meal to provide the required calcium for dogs and we do not make use of limestone. The reason why we do this is to ensure that your dog has an uptake of a natural calcium source because it plays a big role in building strong bones and it keeps your dog’s nails, teeth, and coat healthy.

Our dog food is scientifically formulated to provide a well-balanced amino-acid profile. This ensures more efficient growth by allowing your dog to use less energy for the breakdown of protein. We recently appointed a new Animal Nutritionist who takes care of all the quality checks and feed formulations. She is also studying towards her masters degree in dog nutrition, and we are confident that she will keep optimising our products and take care of our NovaDog brand.

Lutangu Kamona, Technical Advisor, Olipa Lumponge, Sales Manager, Marné Meyer, Dog Food Nutritionist, Kakoma Chihungu, Technical Advisor.