How about going rogue this month? Unusual topics like product recalls and related topics based on internet intrusions or simply jumping around and see what is going on. It started last month with a notice that came up on my feeds about a petfood recall. Names don’t matter as being an extrusion kind of guy it interested me in who has more recalls and why etc. All of the new fresh petfood which seem to be relatively uncooked versus what everyone believes is highly overcooked extruded products at least this is or was my perspective with the blame obviously not on extruded products.
Research showed that on a tonnage basis extruded has more recalls and on an incident basis the fresh has more but in general the numbers are very close to 50/50. What are the main reasons for petfood recalls? Seems the following head the list of reasons; bacterial contamination, nutritional deficiencies, salmonella, listeria, E. Coli, rodent and or avian contamination and foreign materials in the products. Dog cast and treat products over the last few years. From the list you can see that the full range of possibilities happened. Uncooked, non-sanitary situations, loss of suitable cold transportation methods, micro ingredient addition or formulation miscalculations, storage problems and simply foreign materials getting in the line all happened in one form or another. What can be said other than following good manufacturing practice could have avoided these situations. Now the correction phase of understanding what happened, correct it and don’t do it again sets in.
FDA informs everyone including what to look for in your pets and what to do as well if your pet consumed a recalled product. With bacterial situations Lethargy, diarrhea (sometimes bloody), fever, vomiting and decreased appetite, muscle stiffness or coordination issues might occur. Nutrient deficiency in general looks for loss of appetite, salivation, wobbly gait, or in severe cases, seizures.
See any of these, then check codes on product, stop feeding, sanitize everything in contact with this food and consider a refund request. The internet will be full of information and specifically the FDA who has zero tolerance on salmonella outbreaks in petfood.
Continuing my quest for info on fresh/frozen (raw) petfood versus kibble it was noted that the most common reasons for raw petfood recalls is pathogens such as salmonella or listeria while kibble is aflatoxin (mold) issues as well as nutritional imbalance ort metal in the kibble. Reasons given are ‘no kill-step’ not high enough heating in the process to destroy bacteria in the raw products and ingredient quality or equipment failure in the kibble foods.
The recall frequency is higher per unit sold in the raw category and lower in the kibble side. As mentioned earlier by the pound raw is relatively low and kibble is extremely high, which goes along with more boutique market production rates versus tons per hour continuously.
The focus on fresh product testing by FDA is centered on the fact that there is more risk to humans from handling the products. The safety barriers in fresh are high pressure processing, retorting or cold frozen systems and if these fail bacteria thrive. Also, the consideration of the current popularity of fresh petfood means more brands are now available in the market.
Back to kibble and the main reason of recalls being aflatoxins, these can come in with the ingredient cereal grains mainly where the moisture might be slightly high and this can occur overall or in a hot spot or localised. It can also develop after extrusion where the kibble is not completely dried correctly and molds develop after placed in the bag. Ok, systems now exist to constantly take samples and test for moisture along the chain as well as product temperatures as well as other parameters such as NIR analysis. There are many other aspects also such as humidity, atmospheric temperatures, plant conditions inside and outside for possible condensation developments. It is a complex equation keeping track of everything as best as possible to avoid recalls.
Further to the above when browsing a terms came up that caught my eye, FRESHEXTRUSION and this is not going to pass by without more review.
Fresh Extrusion a specialised, low-temperature (approx. 82°C) cooking process used primarily in petfood production to preserve nutrients and improve digestibility by using high levels of fresh meat. Unlike conventional high-heat extrusion, it treats ingredients gently to produce nutrient-dense kibble.
Key aspects of Fresh Extrusion (Freshtrusion) technology:
- Enhanced Nutrition: The lower temperature preserves protein integrity and nutritional value compared to conventional methods.
- High Fresh Inclusion: It allows for high percentages of fresh, raw animal proteins to be included in the mixture.
- Improved Quality: Produces highly palatable and digestible food.
- Sustainability: Offers a more efficient, nutrient-conscious method for manufacturing high-quality pet diets.
Full transparency means this was out there and related to www.wholebuddy.co.uk.
Ok, this has my interest as in recent history discussions with Dr Isabella Corsato Alvarenga occurred as we visited about an article based on her work here in International Petfood which involved lower temperature process in extrusion. I was involved in some special work on aquafeeds, which I intend to write up for International Aquafeed, centered on making a feed that was neutrally buoyant and did not go over 80°C in the process. Don’t want to spoil my article now but this was worth noting as finally some were thinking cook yes but to what degree. Extruders can blast the heat to the product but it can also be modulated.
Back to fresh extrusion by following up on internet who makes equipment for this kind of process. The research showed:
Top providers of fresh food extrusion equipment focus on high-moisture texturisation, meat alternatives and petfood, with key manufacturers including Wenger Manufacturing, Bühler Group, Extru-Tech and FAMSUN. These companies offer systems designed for high fresh meat inclusion, plant-based proteins and specialised snacks, utilising advanced twin-screw technologies.
Top Fresh Food & High-Moisture Extrusion Providers
- Wenger Manufacturing: Provides complete extrusion cooking systems for textured vegetable proteins, meat alternatives, fresh meat petfood and aquatic feeds.
- Bühler Group: Delivers customised twin-screw extruder solutions for petfood and aquafeed, specialised in handling fresh meat inclusion and high-moisture ingredients.
- Extru-Tech, Inc.: Specialises in high-capacity, live-steam extrusion systems designed specifically for high fresh meat inclusion in petfood.
- FAMSUN: Offers machinery for food and feed that handles raw materials ranging from grains to proteins and high-moisture ingredients.
- DC Norris North America: Specialises in forming and extrusion systems, particularly for food-based applications.
An earlier search also stated Andritz with a specialised Twin Screw extruder for high meat applications.
Getting out of the box is now spotlighting some new possibilities and developments in the field of petfood extrusion.
