An Introduction to our Pet Food Manufacturer and their Aims and Processes
Our Pet Food manufacturer are a local company based just 19 miles away in the North West of England.
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As a family-owned and family-run business, their values and dedication have never changed. However, their constant investment has meant that the early beginnings in a farmhouse have been transformed into a state-of-the-art pet food innovation and production site.
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Below are some of the industry leading initiatives that they use to bring you the very best quality Pet Food available.
Freshtrusion™
In 2012 The Production embarked on a journey that would revolutionise the pet food industry. True to its core values it was decided that they would invest significantly in technology that would provide pets with a diet rich in nutrients using freshly prepared ingredients.
The result of this ambition was Freshtrusion™
They produce the world’s finest pet food by utilising this unique process and sourcing the world’s finest fresh fish and meats from farms and fisheries that they know and trust, as they know the importance of great ingredients when creating the perfect recipe.
From Farms They Know and Trust
The Freshtrusion™ journey begins with the trusted farms and fisheries, where they collect only the finest fresh meats and fish, providing pet foods with fantastic stories of provenance and traceability.
Using their own refrigerated transport to maintain the highest quality conditions, they collect the meats and bring them back to the production site in Lancashire, where they undergo extensive quality testing before being used in the unique recipes.
The pets you feed deserve the best. That is why our manufacturer has developed their unique Freshtrusion™ technology.
They have also worked closely with the University of Nottingham
for further analysis and testing.
Benefits of Freshtrusion™ technology
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Higher nutrient bio-availability
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Higher digestibility
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Protected protein
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Improved sensory acceptance
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Better health and wellbeing through superior quality and nutrition
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Reduced levels of spoilage & micro-organism biomarkers that are associated with off flavours, rancidity or even toxicity
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Better density of kibble
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Low temperature, low pressure cooking provides a fuller flavour
The Meat Kitchen
In the on-site meat kitchen, they gently cook each meat at circa 82ºC (180ºF) to both protect the proteins and ensure maximum digestibility and nutritional value to the pet. With the use of world-leading technology, they are also able to reduce the moisture content of the freshly prepared meat and include increasingly high amounts of fresh meat into market-leading recipes.
In addition, they are also able to produce separate high-quality oils from the fresh ingredients of known provenance and add these to bespoke recipes providing further USP’s in the market.
More Fresh Meat Inclusion
They understand that pets know fresh is best. That is why fresh meat is their passion and using the unique process they provide the opportunity to develop recipes without the need for rendered meat meal.
Protecting the Protein
Animal material/meat that is used to produce dried meat meal is not collected at source as fresh, nor transported using refrigerated containers. It is instead collected from various locations and sent, at ambient temperatures to a rendering plant where it is processed at very high temperatures (300ºF/150ºC) to extract moisture, separate fat and kill off the bacteria.
This process can also denature the protein and result in it being less digestible and therefore of lower nutritional value to the pet.
Our manufacturers gentle cooking approach ensures the proteins are protected and thus provide increased bio-availability to the pet.
Denatured Protein
Protected Protein
Differences between Traditional category 3 methods and the revolutionary Freshtrusion™ method:
Traditional Category 3 Meat Meal
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Unknown or multiple origins
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Stored at ambient temperatures
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Cooked at 300ºF (150ºC) to kill off bacteria
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Denatured protein
Freshly Prepared Meat
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Collect at the source
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Cold chain transportation
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Cooked gently at 180ºF (82ºC) to protect the protein
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Protected protein
Human Grade Quality Oils and Fats
Our Manufacturer press their own oils on-site in small batches using dedicated equipment which operates similar to a kitchen salad spinner where the oil is squeezed away from the meat.
This allows them to coat the kibbles with amazing high-quality fats and oils, seen normally in human foods, and gives them full traceability back to the source, from the farm, fishery or boat.
The super quality palatability success and traceability is second to none. These oils are not your usual high temperature rendered ‘pet food grade’ oils. They are so fresh, the laboratory testing finds little to no signs of oxidisation or ageing.
Collagen & Collagen Peptides in Pet Food
A unique feature of our Pet Food manufacturer is being able to collect the finest meat and fish ingredients at source. They know that these ingredients naturally contain collagen, although the amounts vary between different types of animal tissues.
On a test of different parts of a whole chicken, for example, will see that collagen is most abundant in the skin, followed by the carcass, (from the bones and cartilage), with lower amounts in skeletal meat and internal organs (viscera).
Kibbles made with natural collagen-containing ingredients, such as certain Freshly Prepared meat and fish materials, will be digested and absorbed by the pet providing the building blocks (particularly amino acids glycine and proline) for the body to make more collagen, which can help maintain healthy bones, joints and skin.
Thanks to their latest work on protein hydrolysis and the introduction of an innovative ‘Highly Digestible Protein’ (HDP) process, our manufacturer can ‘pre-digest’ the collagen within their selected meat and fish ingredients into collagen peptides using carefully controlled enzymatic hydrolysis before incorporating them into a delicious kibble.
Bespoke Cooking Conditions
Hot and fast or low and slow? Our manufacturer favours the second approach for cooking their fresh meat and fish raw materials. But even within the scope of low temperature and slow cooking, their research has shown they can dramatically affect the palatability of kibbles depending on the duration of cooking and the temperature profile through the process.
As they look to deliver on their promise to ‘make and deliver the world’s finest pet food’, they continue to research and refine the times and temperatures for different meat and fish raw materials to provide the finest and most palatable kibbles for pets to enjoy.
State of the Art Manufacturing
Our manufacturers investment in the world’s first thermal twin extruder allows them to include extremely high levels of fresh meat in premium dry pet foods without the use of dry meat meals.
The improved palatability of a Freshtrusion™ diet is then further enhanced using their new vacuum coater to evenly distribute fats, oils and palatants on and throughout each kibble.
This new patented process also means carbohydrates like potato or rice content can be processed without the stickiness previously encountered in other extruder designs. Starches may be fully cooked without damage to functional and organoleptic properties. The most exciting prospect, however, is the ability to produce dry foods and treats with up to 70 per cent fresh meat.
All this means that our manufacturer has the most advanced production facility in the world for the production of Super Premium dry pet foods.
Ingredients Kitchen
Our manufacturers obsession with the world’s finest pet food and the world’s finest ingredients has led them to invest more than £80 million to build a state-of-the-art Ingredients Kitchen that tests, processes and stores all of these fantastic ingredients and finished products.
This investment will guarantee that we all can have complete confidence in the provenance and traceability of all recipes that they produce, with all ingredients fully traceable from source.
The addition of an environmentally friendly odour abatement plant, made up of 5 Bio Beds that filter the dust and odour before being released into the environment,. All ensures the least pollution emitted is possible, and keeps emissions low to
help preserve our planet for the future
generations.
Laboratories
Having a core value of Quality is of paramount importance in all functions of the business and none more so that the onsite laboratories.
As a science-led manufacturer, their technicians perform around 1,166 tests per week, including micro-testing, ash, fibre, oil, moisture and protein testing on all raw and finished products.
Their quality and food safety laboratories are designed to be cross-functional across nutritional and regulatory compliance, authenticity and micro profiling, safety, sensory and innovation. Their expert team deliver peace-of-mind for all, providing unrivalled claims and food quality.
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Investments in the latest technology, means they supply data on food integrity to ensure all goods in and out meet the regulatory criteria. Having the latest technology allow them to carry out many tests that they previously had to outsource to external labs.
This allows for a tighter control over testing and also dramatically reduces testing timeframes for their many ingredients. Equipped with the most advanced instruments and outstanding technicians allowing rapid parameter assessments and generating objective data, means they can report MOP (Moisture, Oil and Protein testing) results in minutes instead of hours.
All ingredients at the plant are subjected to numerous quality checks to ensure only the best ingredients are accepted for use in the products.
Every ingredient has an individual tailor-made testing regime and specification in line with the attributes and vulnerabilities of the ingredients.
There are four on site laboratories on site at the plant.
