Premium petfood: extrusion of high
meat inclusion products

Natural and evolutionary diet trends are on the rise. Initially starting as a fad diet for pet enthusiasts, the category of premium petfoods is fast becoming a larger market as the humanization of pets becomes more typical. With this higher demand for premium products comes a new set of processing issues for manufacturers who need to add or increase fresh meat levels to their formulations.

Following are the primary points of concern and methods to appropriately deal with each.

Watch this video to see Extru-Tech’s dual conditioning cylinder with advance setup in action. To find out more, click here.

Moisture

As the levels of meat in the diet increase, the total moisture level of the feed being processed at the extruder increases. This added moisture leads to various extruder issues.

Increased extruder
component wear

Tip: Using the appropriately sized preconditioner, such as a dual conditioning cylinder (DCC), with the most technically advanced paddle configuration designed for high meat

Table 1: Mixing ingredient

Dry rate (lbs./hr.)

moisture Meat added in meat (lb./hr.)

Steam (lb./hr.)

Max. water Max. water (lb./hr.) (% of dry)

1,000

65 300

104

32 3.2

1,000

1,000

1,000

1,000

1,000

66

67

68

69

70

300

300

300

300

300

104

104

104

104

104

27

23

19

15

10

2.7

2.3

1.9

1.5

1.0

Since the typical meat slurry is high in moisture, an aggressive and efficient mixing configuration is required in the preconditioner and, with some formulations, may also be required in the extruder barrel.

addition is the best method to reduce wear on extruder components. Reference the September 2007 Preconditioning issue of The Extru-Technician for further details.

Reduced capacity

Tip: The addition of extruder speed control and new technology screw elements coupled with the aforementioned DCC paddle configuration will help reduce the ill-effect higher meat inclusions have on your production capacity. Also, an extrusion system designed for high moisture and process

September 2008 Extru-Technician 6