Processing of pet food

   The processing of pet food mainly refers to the process of using various means and methods to shape multiple raw materials or a single raw material, thereby maximizing the improvement of pet nutrition, palatability, digestion and absorption, in order to maximize the potential nutritional value and use value. The processing range of pet food is very wide, including pet snack food, snacks, dental cleaning sticks, bone setting, bone compression, nutritional supplements (liquids), nutritional powders, dry food, wet food, semi dry food, canned food, and so on. In order to maximize its nutritional functionality, different raw materials are processed in different forms and degrees. The processing of puffed foods can be basically divided into three categories: physical methods, chemical methods, and microbial methods. Physical methods mainly refer to the extrusion, heating, crushing, bonding, etc. of raw materials, while chemical methods involve starch denaturation, protein degradation, etc; Microbial law refers to the fermentation of a certain raw material. Today, I would like to briefly discuss the puffing processing technology in physical methods, hoping to exchange and explore with everyone:

 Firstly, let's understand the concept of puffing in pet food processing. puffing is a food processing method that involves placing the processed food in a closed container, heating and pressurizing it, and then suddenly reducing the pressure. The water in the food vaporizes and expands, causing many small holes to appear in the food, making it crispy and becoming puffed food. Puffing technology, as a new type of food processing technology, originated in 1910 and was applied to pet food in the United States in the 1950s. The United States was the first to use the extrusion principle to produce pet food, which uses the screw and screw sleeve inside the puffing machine to increase the temperature and pressure of the raw materials through extrusion, and aims to empty the high-temperature and high-pressure food extrusion mold, achieving rapid volume expansion due to sudden pressure reduction.