COVER STORY What do Pet
COVER STORY What do Pet Food Producers Need for Efficient Production? The pet population boomed across many continents during COVID-19 lockdowns as many of us spent our working days at home. Combine this with a population that’s increasingly knowledgeable about food and ingredients and we find ourselves in a position whereby pet owners are demanding more from their pet food. Ensuring products are safe and contamination-free has always been the most important premise for the pet food industry. However, new trends in pet food production are forcing manufacturers to be flexible whilst complying with regulations, directives and sustaining supply. With its broad product portfolio of weighing and inspection solutions, Minebea Intec offers manufacturers the right solution for future-proofing their business. Photos: Minebea Intec "The reliable X-ray inspection system Dymond reliably detects foreign objects. At the same time, the system helps to check important quality attributes, such as mass, filling levels, completeness and integrity." Pet food has long ceased to be merely a source of food for pets, but often reflects the lifestyle of their owners. Nowadays, pets are a member of the family and pet owners often have the same demands on their pet food as they do on their own diet. New topics such as sustainability or organic products, for example, are playing an increasingly important role in pet food. Such new products are initially produced in smaller batches. To achieve this, the machines used in the production line must be flexible and allow changes even after the initial installation. The variety of pet food also requires production lines to be increasingly flexible with products taking such varied formats; dry (kibble), wet (canned and sachets), semi moist, fresh, dehydrated, freeze-dried and rawinfused food, treats and chews. Slight variations in moisture within a product can be a common cause of high reject levels due to an increased level of conductivity in the pet food when wet – so called product effect is an issue the metal detectors of Minebea Intec can cope with. The global volume for the pet food industry has shown a steady increase since 2014 and is expected to show a volume growth of 5.3% in 2023. In 2018 there were 471 million dogs and 373 million cats kept as pets worldwide. This huge and ever-growing pet population is also reflected in the increasing turnover of pet food producers. But how do producers ensure that they can meet the changing demands of the market? Flexibility in production - solutions from Minebea Intec Minebea Intec, one of the internationally leading manufacturers of industrial weighing and inspection technologies, has long-standing relationships with many of the pet food producers. Therefore, the requirements and complexities of these businesses are well known and understood. "We can offer manufacturers and producers of pet food flexible, highperformance and highly bespoke solutions for every required process step," says Matthias Rehren, Global Sales 6 Technology & Marketing
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