Pet Food: How it is made

Pet food: from production to packaging

Pet food is the result of the sophisticated nutritional process to create a healthy product good for our dog and cat's diet.

The formula for cats and dogs differ because they have different feed nutritional needs: cats, for example,

need more fat and protein in their diet. But the basic ingredients used to produce pet food are similar.

First corn kernels, the cereals such as barley, wheat and rice.

All ingredients are ground in a mill and combined in a mixer until they have an even and well blended powder.

A machine called the extruder transforms that powder into bite size pieces of pet food.

Heat steam cooks the mixture and forces it through dies at high pressure.

As the continuous stream of shaped mixture exits the die, a spinning knife cuts it into pieces.

There are different kinds of dies according to the shape that the client wants to give to the pet food.

Next step: Use a special drying machine that will heat the pieces to dry out the moisture, then cools them at room temperature.

Once the pieces exit the drier, they enter a revolving drum with a spray with fat and flavouring.

The fat is put in to add food energy while the flavouring gives the blend an appetizing odor and taste.

The rotation ensures the pieces get cold evenly,

From here the pieces go into store silos.

When they leave the silos for bagging the machine screens out any crumbs.

In the packaging department, the weigher gives the exact quantity of pet food per package.

The package sizes range from 300 gr up to 50 kg according to the machine and the bag format.