Happy New Year to everyone for 2024. It will be interesting to see what develops as this year unfolds. 2023 was full of travel and events where the industry showed it is well on its way back from the last few years of interrupted activities.
Looking forward to the 2024 events on petfood and feed production in general. These industries do have common ground and thus it is most interesting to keep up with new developments and devices that will serve the industry. What drives these developments and how do they get realized and put into use?
I thought a different tangent would be interesting to start the year. Why is the petfood production industry so dynamic? My guess is that it is based on the pet owners, millions of them who love their pets and care for their welfare, as their pets are fun and pleasant to be around. Many of these pet owners are in the business and advancing their love for pets through their activities in business.
Admittedly, having had five outstanding four-legged friends, my case is not so different. All were pals who loved to get in the truck in the up-front looking out the window position.
All were bird dogs and they loved finding quail and pheasants out in the wild. They knew what we were doing, and obviously loved their part in this. For me the greatest part of the trips was watching and interacting with the dogs. I had always though how great it would have been to be able to talk with them for a day. We communicated and our feelings about each other were mutual, and from the heart.
Where is this heading? Well, as with all pet owners, we attend to everything the pets need. When you have a hunting dog you see how his energy and activity level, and everything is going and no doubt all of this enters your thoughts on how you can do better for them if needed. It is the same for all pet owners, you are going to take care of your best friend.
There were not many choices back when this industry really started, and no doubt Universities and Veterinarians had big impacts in changing this. Courses on pet nutrition, studies on feeds and every aspect were mainly at institutions of higher learning. Some of the biggest petfood companies were started by Veterinarians who obviously had visions of what a petfood should be. When feeds went from scraps either from the table or factory byproducts towards processed feeds trials were unending on nutritional studies for pets.
Mostly standard ingredients initially used in petfoods were basically from feed mills. Nutritional studies were no different than studying chickens and seeing what worked best for their growth or egg production. The difference was however nutritional studies for the pet’s well-being and proper growth. These events did not happen overnight and are actually still ongoing.
An example of development the movement from what was referred to as the ‘brown and round’ petfood to more advanced formulas as seen today. Petfood production back in the day was simple, the machines were simple and some not so effective. In any case, typically a formula used for dogs which was as you can see feedmill style would have been: 18 percent meat and bone meat, 18 percent wheat mids, 18 percent soybean meal and 46 percent ground corn. Once extruded about eight percent of number two tallow would be added. Vitamins and minerals were also added, and this yielded a nutritional complete diet for adult dogs.
Continuing as mentioned was all the research and feeding trials in the industry as it was growing and evolving. New ingredients, novel ingredients and all kinds of testing was also required on production equipment in testing settings to confirm the ingredients were extrudable and in what amounts. Grinding studies to optimise the raw material, water and steam flow, pumps for liquid raw materials conveying equipment, drying, cooling, coating, and all other activities, needed to be developed and proved to be generally accepted in the industry. Of course, many of these developments were modified over the years for improvements and to fit the situations as they developed. How about an example or two?
Cutting the product at the knife
Initial designs had the extruder shaft extend through the die with a perpendicular attachment which knocked the product into uneven pieces post die. Testing with a junk yard old drive shaft with U-Joints and variable speed drive motor resulted in what is typically used today. Back then a variable speed motor had sheaves that moved with a belt to modulate the speed. Today direct hook up to advanced motor technology allows for exact control of the rotational speed of knives.
Advancements in the metals used resulted in much longer wear life of parts, not only knife blades but many of the other parts that wear due to frictional developments, like the barrel parts. Machining tolerances greatly improved over time and the improvement in extruder screws, sleeves, dies, shafts and other high wear or critical parts is easily seen. All the design changes, metallurgy and machining improvement typically resulted in improved wear life.
In petfood it would not be unusual to see parts change only once a year. This is possible if attention to all the details is made; grind of ingredient, running conditions, and formulation, for example. A good fine grind is easier to cook and accepts the water faster thus the heat transfer from steam is easier and quicker. Adding the optimum amount of water and possibly a bit of fat allows for a good cook while not excessively wearing the screws.
The year ahead
So, what do we expect to see in 2024 – more of the same as the industry moves forward. New ingredients or modified ingredients, additives, flavors, fresh vegetables, fruits, yeasts, cultured products, and insect products are all out there and waiting to be used in petfood. We will see new and novel production equipment move into the mainstream, quality control by computers for optimal process settings, packaging designs, plant designs and many more.
When have we not seen amazing new and novel products from every angle of our industry show up each and every year? Okay, I admit for years my view of new products centered around my area of extrusion and related production equipment. Today, in this capacity, the future of this industry is in seeing the developments and knowing the products we are seeing. This includes testing products for bacteria on product contact areas, plant sanitation gear, processing equipment improvements, new technologies, and many more.
See you out there and let us know if you have something new the industry should hear about – or we might just come find you ourselves. joek@perendale.com
This Editorial was published in the January edition of International Petfood Magazine