Pet Food Processing - January 2024 - 32

FOOD SAFETY
Advancements in control
The pet food industry is continuously embracing technological
innovations to enhance contamination
control. Recent advancements focus not only on detecting
and removing foreign materials, but also on
ensuring the quality and consistency of pet food products.
From optical sorting machines to advanced scanning
technologies, these innovations play a pivotal role in brand
protection, reducing recall risks, and maintaining operational
efficiency.
" Some recent advances in foreign material contaminaTOMRA's
Nimbus
BSI+ is designed
to identify and sort
out meat, bone
meal and biscuit
residue from
dry kibble.
TOMRA
pret results to understand the risk of mycotoxins across
ingredients and diets. Once the risk is known, the pet food
manufacturer can make a more informed choice on ingredient
usage and potential nutritional solutions to mitigate
mycotoxins. "
In raw pet food production, the absence of heat treatment
like cooking or extrusion creates safety challenges
and necessitates strict hygiene and quality control measures
to manage risks associated with raw ingredients.
" Salmonella species and Listeria monocytogenes are the
Alltech's Raptor®
Integrated Analysis
Platform, utilizing
Neogen technology,
is a portable
mycotoxin test
kit allowing users
to test samples
anywhere.
Alltech
biggest concerns in the raw pet food production realm, and
even though it is rare for the pet to actually become sick
due to these pathogens, the humans handling the food can
in fact become exposed and fall ill due to these pathogens, "
Johnson said. " For this reason, raw pet food processors are
seeking differing ways to eliminate and mitigate the bacterial
pathogens that may be present in the raw food. This
may include processes such as high pressure processing, radio
frequency pasteurization, and freeze drying. Important
to any of the steps used to mitigate biological hazard risks
is the critical records needed, reviewed and verified by
trained personnel before shipment to the customer. "
tion mitigation strategies include the use of optical sorting
machines, fluid bed technology, gravity separation, UV
light detection equipment and laser equipment, " Johnson
said. " Most important, however, to any foreign material
prevention program (FMPP) is ensuring that placement of
the detection equipment is at the last point of processing in
the manufacturing chain, and that a determination is made
as to the most common type of foreign material being seen
in the production environment. Low density plastic such
as plastic wraps are a common concern but very difficult to
detect in x-ray systems. "
Determining critical
control points or preventive
controls is an important part
of the site food safety team
as well as understanding what
can be controlled through
prerequisite programs. "
Billie Johnson, Ph.D., BHJ North America
The evolution in contamination control methods is
transforming pet food production. Advanced technologies
are now at the forefront of ensuring quality and safety, a focus
that's exemplified by TOMRA's innovative solutions for
both dry and wet pet food processing.
" The TOMRA Nimbus ensures the highest quality dry
kibbles by scanning and controlling each one against the
chosen recipe, " Povlsen said. " With its advanced technology,
the composition of each kibble is analyzed, allowing
only those that meet the desired composition (e.g., salmon-based)
to be included. This guarantees unique quality,
brand protection and minimal downtime, with zero recalls.
" Similarly, for wet food, the TOMRA 5B is setting the
standard in the inbound area safeguarding against FM and
bones before the mixer. It offers unique sorting performance
at high capacities and state of the art product and
supplier control, " he added.
Through further research and development of new technologies,
the industry can work toward minimizing risks
and ensuring high standards in pet food production.
32 PET FOOD PROCESSING | January 2024 | www.petfoodprocessing.net
PFP
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Pet Food Processing - January 2024

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