How Pet Food Is Made
How Pet Food Is Made
Manufacturing commercial pet food is a science that has been studied extensively to safely produce complete and balanced diets that have all the nutrients that dogs and cats need to thrive. Understanding the production methods, including the cooking processes that ensure delivery of highly nutritious, palatable foods, and the benefits of dry and wet pet food formats can help improve communication with clients about commercial pet food.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Nutritional Value of Dry Pet Food
How is dry kibble produced?
Dry kibble is usually produced through extrusion, a manufacturing technique used for multiple human foods, including pasta and cereal as well as pet foods.1
During extrusion, finely ground ingredients are mixed, and the mixture is cooked, shaped and cut into kibble, and dried to remove moisture. Some ingredients are then added onto the kibble as an external coating. Coatings add nutritional value and support the palatability of the kibble. Finally, the product is cooled and packaged.
Kibble often has a homogenous look and shape, which is from mixing most of the ingredients before cooking, and then shaping and cutting the food into kibble.
When manufacturers produce kibble with high-quality ingredients, including vitamins and minerals, dry pet food can provide all essential nutrients in the proper amounts and can also provide highly digestible protein.2
For more information about kibble production, see [Cooking Processes & Commercial Pet Foods] and [Purina Institute Digest, Volume 9: Pet Food Manufacturing].
What are the benefits of feeding dry pet food?
Dry pet food (kibble) is commonly formulated to be complete and balanced, meaning it is designed to provide all required nutrients for dogs or cats when fed according to the feeding guidelines. Due to its low moisture content, dry pet food is able to maintain its nutritional quality and stability over time when properly stored.
When dry pet food is produced by a manufacturer with robust quality assurance and food safety programs, it can provide veterinary health care teams and pet owners with confidence in both the food’s safety and nutritional adequacy.3,4
Documented benefits of feeding dry dog or cat food produced by a trusted manufacturer include:
- Provides complete and balanced nutrition, supporting overall health throughout a pet’s life
- Exhibits high digestibility, allowing for efficient nutrient digestion and absorption
- Supports optimal stool quality, an indicator of gastrointestinal function
- Demonstrates palatability, confirmed through product development and feeding evaluations
- Maintains nutritional value and freshness over the intended shelf life of the food
- Is made with carefully selected ingredients, evaluated for safety and nutritional contribution
- Is produced under strict quality and food safety standards, helping ensure the food is safe to feed
- Supplies essential and functional nutrients that help pets maintain normal physiologic function and thrive
- Offers a convenient and consistent feeding option, supporting reliable nutrient delivery
What additional considerations are there for dry pet foods?
The extrusion process used to produce dry pet food has been extensively studied, and dry foods are manufactured using defined processes designed to deliver a complete and balanced finished diet.1 These processes support consistent nutrient delivery while maintaining food safety and quality.
In addition to meeting essential nutrient requirements, some dry pet foods are formulated to provide targeted health benefits, such as supporting healthy aging in dogs and cats or helping promote a healthy body weight. These benefits are attributed to specific nutrients and ingredient combinations incorporated into the kibble during formulation. The intended outcomes are evaluated using scientific research methods, including feeding studies conducted in dogs and cats.
Dry pet food may also offer advantages related to ingredient utilization and sustainability. Compared with some other forms of pet food, dry pet foods can incorporate wholesome ingredients that do not directly compete with the human food supply. For example, meat and poultry co-products generated during the processing of foods for human consumption can be safely, effectively, and responsibly used in pet food. This practice supports the efficient use of available resources and contributes to dry kibble being considered a sustainable feeding option.
Cooking Processes and Commercial Pet Foods
How are extruded kibbles produced?
Depending on the recipe, dry ingredients are typically ground and mixed before wet ingredients (meats, liquids, and fats) are added. The mixture then enters a machine known as an extruder, where it undergoes a relatively fast cooking process using steam, pressure, and heat. The mixture is compacted under pressure as it moves through the extruder. Exiting the extruder, it passes through a die, which creates the food’s unique shape(s), and the food is then cut into kibble-sized pieces. Once reaching air pressure, the kibble expands, is dried, coated, cooled, and packaged. Typically dry extruded kibbles contain less than 12% moisture which helps preserve the food.
What physical characteristics of kibble are impacted by extrusion?
Extrusion influences these physical characteristics of kibble:
- Size
- Shape
- Color
- Uniformity
- Texture
How are wet pet foods created?
The ingredients are ground, mixed and precooked before adding the gravy or jelly, where part of the recipe. The mixture is then packaged in the final container (e.g., can, pouch, or tray), which is closed with an airtight seal before entering a machine known as a retorter. Commercial retorters are essentially oversized pressure cookers, and help sterilize the food, preventing it from spoiling before opening. In wet pet food manufacturing, the final product can be made into a variety of forms and textures from simple loafs or paté, chunks with or without gravy or jelly to more “culinary inspired” products.
How does the cooking process affect the nutrients in pet food?
Purina food scientists and other experts in manufacturing processes (e.g., expert engineers in extrusion technology) provide critical input when formulating recipes. They understand how the cooking process affects the ingredients and nutrients in a specific recipe, and this is addressed during development to ensure the finished product contains all the nutrients in the optimal quantities and balance.
When properly controlled, the cooking process can actually enhance the nutritional value of the food (e.g., improve protein and starch digestibility).1 While some nutrients (e.g., water-soluble vitamins) may be partly broken down during cooking, this is highly regulated and compensated for in the original recipe. All Purina pet food recipes are formulated so the nutrient levels declared on the label are present in the food through the “best before” date.
What additional benefits are obtained from the cooking processes used in manufacturing pet food?
- Carefully controlled cooking can enhance both flavor and aroma by inducing a Maillard reaction (similar to cooking human foods when “browned” food acquires its distinctive flavor, e.g., seared steaks).2 Different flavors and aromas are obtained from the ingredient reactions with key amino acids.
- The cooking processes also help ensure safety and quality of the food. In addition:
- All ingredients in each formula meet Purina’s rigorous safety and quality standards and meet or exceed nutrition standards for dogs and cats.
- From arrival at the factory, throughout manufacturing until the food leaves the factory, multiple safety and quality checks are performed on each batch of food.
- Packaging scientists design packaging to ensure food is kept fresh and maintains guaranteed levels of nutrients for the food’s shelf life (typically 12–18 months for dry foods; canned foods, 24 months from the date of manufacture).
What pet food manufacturing standards do Purina® pet foods meet?
Purina pet foods meet or exceed the highest industry standards for pet food manufacturing. All foods are formulated so the finished product provides all essential nutrients in the optimal amounts and balance to meet a pet’s special needs or life stage requirements.