Have you ever taken notice of the list of vitamins and minerals on the label of cat and dog food package?
The extensive list of vitamins and minerals labeling cat and dog food may prove daunting, but vitamins and minerals are vital components for the well-being, health, and longevity of our pets. Each vitamin and mineral plays an important role in the body, stressing the importance of properly balancing these nutrients in petfood.
Vitamin and mineral supplementation are applied in a variety of food for cats and dogs including in dry food, canned food, wet food. These supplements are used to provide the essential nutrients in the correct proportions that pets require.
In the case of petfood, vitamins and minerals are generally added as a premix. Due to the need for high precision in weighing micro-ingredients making up the premix, petfood factories often purchase this ready-made product from a supplier. By using the premix,it ensures greater reliability that the mixtures are more homogeneous, and therefore safer in petfood.
Another factor to consider is the shelf life and extrusion process’ impact on the loss of vitamins. This is important when formulating a premix.
Currently, there are several companies specialising in developing premixes. These companies are in the process of refining personalised petfood premixes to deliver to the market, to fulfill missing micro-nutrients in the ingredients used in a greater proportion in the formulations of products.
