GEA Group (Germany) opens Pet Food Experience Center
The GEA Pet Food Experience Center (PEX) in Galliera Veneta, Italy aims at driving innovation in cooperation with customers and industry partners and functioning as a locus for sharing latest know-how, where partners can anticipate a high level of technological development support.
The new 1000 sqm facility is home to a team of 30 employees, including process technicians, analysts and mechanics who now have at their disposal a new pilot plant for developing new products as well as a laboratory equipped with diverse instruments for chemical, chemical-physical and rheological analysis and nutritional/organoleptic testing. Customers visiting the PEX will find a complete solution line with the latest machinery technology for each processing step.
The mixing and milling section is equipped with a flour mixer,hammer mill and plansifter where new recipes can be tested which includes experimenting with the mixing to find the right solution for each innovative pet food product.
Learning and hands-on education play an important role at the new GEA Pet Food Experience Center. The R&D center can also be used as a training ground for customer employees, where they can learn about efficient processing and best practice.
Workshops provide the participants with an introduction to the basics of extrusion-cooking technology, focusing on preconditioning, energy consumption, as well as the importance of moisture and mass flow balance. The primary aim is to help attendees learn how to be efficient at every step of the dry pet food production process, which includes: selection of raw materials, raw material intake, handling, weighing and dosing, mixing, grinding, conditioning, extrusion-cooking, forming, drying, coating and storage/packaging.
The preparation section includes a GEA CutMaster for the preparation of meat emulsions in batches, which compliments the extruder line. Besides the GEA CutMaster, GEA also can supply continuous preparation lines with grinders, mixers and emulsifiers.
The extrusion and inserts area is furnished with a pre-conditioner and twin cooking extruder. Diverse molds and die are available for testing and experimenting with product formats and shape, and for checking compactness and quality of final products. A coex cutter for pillows, a tumbler and spray unit as well as a flavoring drum are available in the tumbler and finishing section.
Lastly, the drying zone is equipped with both a static and a continuous dryer for achieving specific flavor characteristics, which requires temperature-specific handling.