Pet Feed Processing Plant & Machinery Solutions

Cereals, meat meal and poultry meal are ground to a fine, even meal. Fine grinding matters here because kibble shape and surface finish depend on a uniform dough.

The ground meal is weighed to recipe with vitamin and mineral premixes and blended. Recipes are held in the control system, so a brand's variants can be run in sequence without manual reset.

The mash is cooked with steam under pressure in the extruder, which gelatinises the starch and expands the dough as it leaves the die. A rotating cutter at the die face shapes the kibble into the biscuit form the brand sells.

Kibble leaves the extruder wet and is dried on a moving bed of hot air until it is shelf-stable. It is then cooled before coating, so the fat does not simply run off.

Fat and palatant are sprayed onto the dried kibble in a tumbling drum so every piece is coated. This outer coat carries most of the aroma and is what decides whether the animal accepts the food.

Coated kibble is weighed out and filled into consumer bags, pouches or stand-up packs. Every pack is checked for metal contamination and for correct fill weight before it leaves the line.

Packs are coded with batch and date details, then collated into shippers. Cases are stacked and wrapped for retail distribution.