It´s all about texture

Appearance is everything

Pet owners want to treat their beloved pets in the best possible way, and that means feeding them super-premium quality food, close to human grade. Appearance is a huge influencing factor.

Uniform looks cheap

Traditionally, the raw materials used for pet food commonly included ingredients like mechanically deboned meat and other products processed through an emulsifying process and steam cooked. The resulting texture can typically be described as similar to a sausage. A uniform, unappealing texture, with little or no fibrosity, it gives the impression of a cheap product. 

To achieve a higher quality, fibrous and meaty appearance, would typically require combining these processed ingredients with higher quality raw materials, which, in turn, requires additional equipment. 

Technology can dial up texture

One option is Source Technology’s PowerHeater. A unique and patented cooking process, it can process existing raw materials into pet food products with super-premium qualities. Lower quality grade raw materials are transformed into extremely fibrous products in one continuous and automatic process. 

The growing demand for vegetarian and vegan solutions is also accommodated, as the process also transforms vegetable proteins into fibrous and nutritionally balanced products. The carbon footprint is low (0,1 kg steam / 0,005kW per kilo product), so contributing to creating products with low environmental impact.

Make sure it is safe

A great part of animal welfare is also to serve products which are micro-biologically safe to eat. While pet food products are usually sterilised post packaging, the final product produced using the PowerHeater is already pasteurised and ready to eat. Automated temperature controls enable producers to sell the product as it is, packed in modified atmosphere packaging or as a frozen ready-to-eat product. This offers flexibility for many different applications.

Pet food processing technology that can transform processed raw materials into product with a fibrous texture is one solution to meeting the demand for appetising and appealing, human quality pet food.