Pet Food Processing - March 2023 - 28

FOOD SAFETY
Isostatic pressure
is applied to food
placed in the HPP
chamber to eliminate
foodborne
pathogens and
spoilage organisms.
Northwest Naturals
has the unique advantage of not effecting taste, texture, appearance
or nutritional aspects of the food.
" HPP is a food safety technology, " said Errol
Raghubeer, Ph.D., senior vice president of food science,
JBT/Avure Technologies, Middletown, Ohio. " One of the
benefits that you get using HPP in pet food production
is you will eliminate the pathogens of concern - and it
will not damage the nutrients. That's one of the biggest
concerns in the pet food industry, keeping the nutrients,
such as vitamins and bioactive compounds, intact.
" When you inactivate pathogens like Salmonella,
Listeria and E. coli, you're also reducing spoilage organisms,
so you get the added benefit of shelf-life extension, "
he added.
Many processors of raw and freeze-dried pet food forTechnology
solutions
can
provide processors
with digital tools to
help design, train
and track sanitation
programs.
Taryn Hickey, KLEANZ
Food Safety Technologies
mulations, including Seward, Neb.-based Petsource by
Scoular, utilize HPP as a pathogen control mitigation technique.
Because the ingredients, including raw meat, don't
go through a thermal cooking process, such as extrusion or
retort, the risks for foodborne pathogens are high.
" HPP is a non-thermal lethality process that kills
harmful bacteria while preserving the nutritional benefits
of the product. All of Petsource's raw pet food
blends undergo HPP and are tested for Salmonella and
Listeria monocytogenes before continuing production, "
said Steven Moore, vice president of food safety, quality,
regulatory and innovation at Scoular.
As co-owners of Morasch Meats, a USDA meat processing
facility in Portland, Michael and Steven Morasch
looked to HPP technology as way to keep their products
safe from pathogens. They utilize HPP on their meat
products as well as on the human-grade, raw frozen dog
food produced under their Northwest Naturals brand.
" We did research and found that [HPP] eliminated
the risks of Salmonella, E. coli, even Listeria in properly
handled food products, " Steven Morasch said. " And we
learned that HPP maintained all the vital nutrients in
the food - the food enzymes. We made the decision to
invest in that technology for that reason... Heat can kill
off a lot of food enzymes, so HPP was the best method to
use to protect the food.
" There's complete certainty about HPP - just being as
clean as you can be. When you put food product in the
chamber to apply the pressure, every particle in the chamber
receives the same amount of pressure to kill the pathogens.
When you heat product, the cooking has to get to the
core in order to get to the kill step, and you don't get the
kill step unless you add more heat. HPP has this unique
feature of equalizing the pressure of everything that's in the
chamber at one time. It's ideal for raw product. "
Even though HPP is a time-tested method of controlling
pathogens, Petsource ensures its freeze-dried pet food
and treats are safe before continuing through the production
process through essential testing and verification.
" Petsource tests its products for Salmonella, Listeria
monocytogenes, and other microbiological quality indicators
after high pressure processing, freeze drying, and
packaging (as applicable). At each of those steps, all critical
records are reviewed and verified by trained personnel
before continuing through production or shipping to
the customer, " Moore said.
28 PET FOOD PROCESSING | March 2023 | www.petfoodprocessing.net
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Pet Food Processing - March 2023

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