A little about pet food production
So I started working at a pet food company 3 weeks ago as a lab tech. I can't be too detailed on some of the stuff according to work in case someone decides to steal our ideas *eye roll* I can talk about the overview
There are two jobs I alternate doing. One is that I do the micro stuff and I check for salmonella through out the whole process, by swabbing and testing finished product and whatnot.
The other I test incoming trucks, either make sure the product meets our standards like protein, fat etc. or make sure there are no toxins like in corn or rice bran etc. Also I test the food thru out the process to make sure the spec are right it protein, fat moisture etc. Its interesting to see what all the ingredients on the back of the package actually look like. I had no idea what flax seed looked like or lamb meal.
Below is what I have kind of pieced together as what happens, I could be wrong on certain parts.
So we get our products in, they are tested. Then they are given the ok to unload and go into bins. Some time after that certain ingredients like corn and vitamins go thru a hammermill and and is turned into "mash" from there its makes its way to be mixed with the meat i think. It is cooked but is still soft and can be molded and then is shaped on a dyeplate. I have seen the soft stuff come out of "extruders." It then goes to a dryer and is hardened and then cooled. That is a check point. It then goes thru another process where the fat and digest are applied (I'm not completely sure what digest is someone did tell me it was like flavoring but idk) That is why your dog food is greasy the fat is on the outside. From there it is blended or bagged, watching the bag line is kinda cool. Then it sit in a warehouse until it passes all the test before shipping.
We are a small company that has big aspirations, most of our food is walmart food, the nasty dyed 70% percent corn crap. However I think we are trying to get on the same playing field as diamond, which is currently on the end of a lot of jokes right now. I almost got into an arguement with a big black lady I work with, she was telling me that Oroy was great and her dogs loved it... as I was about to open my mouth I realized that since she herself isn't big on her nutrition she probably feeds her dogs what taste good. Olroy has sugar in it so its really sweet. Also mad at said lady because one of our supervisors brought in two cookies... one for each of us... she ate both
For those that maybe concerned with diamond, from what the higher ups said. Diamond claimed that there plant was so clean there was no need to test the final product. Then the FDA or someone like that came in and was like no your plant isn't near as clean as you say it is. And since they have never tested their final product they have no record of when their product was clean, so that's why they have such a huge recall window.
We are currently upping our standards trying to bring in new business, can't discuss what we do tho. I can answer a few questions just nothing that could be considered potentially leaking info. LIke i can't tell what test or methods we use to check for salmonella or test for aflatoxin etc.
I hope I didn't write this book and annoy anyone for posting it.
There are two jobs I alternate doing. One is that I do the micro stuff and I check for salmonella through out the whole process, by swabbing and testing finished product and whatnot.
The other I test incoming trucks, either make sure the product meets our standards like protein, fat etc. or make sure there are no toxins like in corn or rice bran etc. Also I test the food thru out the process to make sure the spec are right it protein, fat moisture etc. Its interesting to see what all the ingredients on the back of the package actually look like. I had no idea what flax seed looked like or lamb meal.
Below is what I have kind of pieced together as what happens, I could be wrong on certain parts.
So we get our products in, they are tested. Then they are given the ok to unload and go into bins. Some time after that certain ingredients like corn and vitamins go thru a hammermill and and is turned into "mash" from there its makes its way to be mixed with the meat i think. It is cooked but is still soft and can be molded and then is shaped on a dyeplate. I have seen the soft stuff come out of "extruders." It then goes to a dryer and is hardened and then cooled. That is a check point. It then goes thru another process where the fat and digest are applied (I'm not completely sure what digest is someone did tell me it was like flavoring but idk) That is why your dog food is greasy the fat is on the outside. From there it is blended or bagged, watching the bag line is kinda cool. Then it sit in a warehouse until it passes all the test before shipping.
We are a small company that has big aspirations, most of our food is walmart food, the nasty dyed 70% percent corn crap. However I think we are trying to get on the same playing field as diamond, which is currently on the end of a lot of jokes right now. I almost got into an arguement with a big black lady I work with, she was telling me that Oroy was great and her dogs loved it... as I was about to open my mouth I realized that since she herself isn't big on her nutrition she probably feeds her dogs what taste good. Olroy has sugar in it so its really sweet. Also mad at said lady because one of our supervisors brought in two cookies... one for each of us... she ate both
For those that maybe concerned with diamond, from what the higher ups said. Diamond claimed that there plant was so clean there was no need to test the final product. Then the FDA or someone like that came in and was like no your plant isn't near as clean as you say it is. And since they have never tested their final product they have no record of when their product was clean, so that's why they have such a huge recall window.
We are currently upping our standards trying to bring in new business, can't discuss what we do tho. I can answer a few questions just nothing that could be considered potentially leaking info. LIke i can't tell what test or methods we use to check for salmonella or test for aflatoxin etc.
I hope I didn't write this book and annoy anyone for posting it.
Comments
Animal digest is the product of the chemical rendering of roadkill, euthanized anything (the protein source doesn't have to be specific), restaurant garbage, supermarket waste, rats, animal shelter kills, etc. There is no control of quality. No wonder salmonella is an issue!
Also on a semi-funny side note one of the higher up laughed at me today when I was reading the label on the back of a bag of dog food... he was like you have access to all the formulas, and exactly how we make it ...and you're gonna read that?