Moisture control: Are you in control or out of spec?

In pet food production, moisture control is one of those topics that seems straightforward…until you actually try to manage it at scale.

Every pet food producer knows moisture affects product quality. But what many teams quietly accept is that moisture also affects almost everything else: yield, density, drying time, cost per ton, palatability, and even how nutritional values should be interpreted.

As one nutrition leader put it recently, moisture is “one of the most variable outcomes” and the one metric that changes how every other nutrient should be understood.

And that’s exactly why moisture is such a powerful pain point in the industry: it touches everyone, but no one truly owns it.

The reality on the plant floor: Moisture level is where plans break

On paper the process looks controlled. Formulations are built, nutrient constraints are locked, and specifications are defined. But once production starts, moisture becomes unpredictable.

Raw material lots arrive with different moisture levels. Seasonal conditions shift. Slurry behaviour changes. Drying performance fluctuates. Coating introduces new variability. And suddenly, the “same recipe” produces a different kibble.

What happens next is familiar across the industry: operators adjust temperatures, water addition, or screw speed based on experience. Quality checks confirm issues after the fact. Finance sees losses later. R&D hears complaints that the formulation “doesn’t work in production.”

Over time, production plants normalize the pain. Rework becomes routine. Safety buffers grow. Waste becomes “part of the job.”

The hidden gap: Everyone has the moisture math, but nobody has the moisture workflow

Many pet food producers already have moisture calculations. Some even built moisture logic into their legacy formulation tools years ago.

But moisture still breaks down in real life because it lives in disconnected places: exports, spreadsheets, manual overlays, tribal knowledge, and last-minute operator adjustments.

That’s why the real challenge is not moisture modelling, it is moisture management.

It is a cross-functional gap:

• R&D models moisture
• QA measures moisture
• Site teams fight moisture
• Finance absorbs moisture through cost variance

When moisture isn’t visible and shared across these roles, the process becomes reactive by design.

Why extrusion becomes the breaking point

Extrusion is where moisture stops being theoretical and becomes physical. This is the step where water, heat, pressure, and mechanical energy combine to define kibble structure. A small moisture deviation can change expansion, density, durability, and drying behavior instantly.

And the cost of getting it wrong is immediate:

• Inconsistent kibble texture and appearance
• Longer drying time and energy spikes
• More fines and lower durability
• Out-of-spec batches and rework
• Pets health issues and reputation damage

This is why extrusion is the moment that defines moisture control and why it’s where many producers struggle most.

Quality and efficiency should not depend on who is on shift

In many pet food plants, moisture control still depends on a human factor. The result is familiar: quality changes, moisture drifts and teams spend time correcting issues instead of producing consistently

This is not a training problem. It’s a system problem. And the good news is: the technology to solve it is already here.

Producers today need a setup where every operator has the same level of support at any time of day.

That means moving toward data-supported decision making that works 24/7. Most plants already collect extrusion data. They can see moisture levels, pressure, temperature, and density. But seeing data is not the same as knowing what to do with it.

BESTMIX Insights goes one step further. It continuously monitors key process parameters and translates them into clear, real-time recommendations. Operators receive practical guidance, including smart temperature adjustments during extrusion, while production is running.

This is not about replacing people. It’s about giving them the right information at the right moment so they can make confident, consistent decisions.

That is what sets modern pet food producers apart: acting on data in real time, not after the batch is finished. Instead of reacting to moisture problems later in the process, they can detect deviation early and stop it before it becomes waste.

Predictive optimization: Less stress, more control

Predictive optimization changes the dynamic on the production floor. Instead of constantly correcting issues after they appear, pet food producers can prevent deviations before they disrupt the process. The impact is clear: less rework, lower production waste, more consistent product quality across shifts and stronger margins.

When raw materials change, the line can be adjusted faster. Drying becomes more stable, production runs more smoothly, and output is easier to plan. All teams have reliable data and can see changes in real time. Rework and cost surprises are reduced because the amount and quality of finished product stay more predictable at all levels of the process.

Most importantly, operators don’t have to guess. They get clear recommendations based on real production behaviour, not assumptions, helping extrusion stay controlled instead of reactive.

Precision: Closing the loop between formulation and production

Moisture control does not begin at the extruder, it begins at formulation. Raw material variability is often the hidden driver behind process instability. Ingredient values and formulas do not always reflect real batch specifications.

The actual lots arriving at the plant can differ significantly in moisture, protein, fat, and functional behavior. Those differences may seem small on paper, and formulator can always add a “safety” buffer, but they later surface during production process as unexpected drift in expansion, density, or drying performance.

To truly keep moisture under control and other nutritional values, pet food producers need to work with precise, up-to-date information.

Precision strengthens moisture control at its source by optimizing formulations using actual, batch-specific raw material data. It accounts for quality variation, including moisture, while aligning nutritional targets, dry matter constraints, and cost considerations before the order reaches production. Instead of relying on averages or manual spreadsheet adjustments, formulation decisions are based on real, current values.

By connecting all the dots, from raw material intake to formulation and production, pet food producers ensure that what is designed in the formula is reflected in production reality. The result is stronger predictability, tighter control over quality and cost, and a smoother process from formulation design to market-ready product.

Who will win from moisture control?

Moisture will never be perfectly stable. Raw materials will continue to vary. Production conditions will change. That is simply the reality of pet food manufacturing.

The real difference is not in the variability, it is in how quickly and intelligently producers respond to it.

The winners will be the companies that:

• Detect moisture drift early, before it turns into quality complaints or costly rework.
• Connect formulation decisions directly to production reality, using batch-based ingredient data instead of averages.
• Give operators clear, data-supported guidance, instead of relying only on experience and guess-based decision.
• Use moisture control as a live production driver, not something managed in spreadsheets with “just-in-case” safety buffers, keeping it visible across formulation, quality assurance, production, and finance.

That is the new standard: moisture control that is measurable, shared, actionable, and supported with real-time insights throughout the entire production process, where all dots are connected.

BESTMIX Software NV
hello@bestmix.com
https://www.bestmix.com/en

Looking for: Manufacturers