Before you know it, you’re knocking over a pet excitedly awaiting a portion of kibbles. Kibble isn’t the only option for a dog’s diet, but your furry friend will be perfectly happy eating it; if your pooch is too picky, don’t worry because there are lots of other pet food options on the market. Most dogs prefer beef and pork to chicken and lamb.
Kibble can be baked or extruded, and how it’s made will affect its flavor (much has been done in the past to raise its nutritional value and the quality of the ingredients). Kibble is a low-moisture product, so you can moisturise the food before feeding it using water or bone broth.
If you feed your four-legged friend a kibble-only diet, they’re not getting enough moisture to be healthy; simply setting out a water bowl doesn’t solve the problem. It’s fine to feed your best friend high-quality kibble, but you should also provide them some fresh food.
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Kibble, made by a reputable company, ensures complete nutrition for dogs, so it’s good. Pet food companies must achieve targets such as tastiness, product efficiency, and nutritional value, not to mention keep the kibble free from mould. Mycotoxins can cause everything from eczema to lethargies. The big challenge is that mould is hard to kill (but not impossible).
Maintain Proper & Consistent Moisture Levels in Kibble
Managing water activity in pet food processing helps ensure a safe, quality product and, above all, maximises profits. Kibble is nutrient dense because the water has been removed – simply put, it’s a concentrated food, providing a ton of nutritional value in the same or a smaller number of calories.
To maximise the shelf life of pet food, it's necessary to establish the ideal water activity as far as microbial growth and chemical degradation and texture are concerned. Severe conditions that aren’t suitable for extrusion and drying can reduce moisture levels.
Nevertheless, they can have a detrimental impact on consumption preference. Once the ideal water activity is established, production performance and efficiency must be monitored via testing in the QA lab.
Water activity and moisture content are connected at a given temperature by the moisture sorption isotherm, so if the composition or the quality of the pet food changes, the sorption behavior also changes.
A higher water activity translates into the fact that free water is available for microorganisms to grow and consume invaluable nutrients. Pet food companies are constantly adjusting moisture to maintain the quality of their products using real-time sensing, data collection, and data analysis and interpretation. If the kibble is too dry and hard, it negatively impacts palatability, meaning it doesn’t stimulate the appetite of dogs to encourage eating and satiety.
Add Chemical Preservatives to Prevent Mould Spoilage
A sack of dry dog food has a shelf life of up to 12-18 months. Once it’s opened, it must be used within six weeks because it will start to go stale after that time. Chemical preservatives are necessary to inhibit the growth of mould and other undesirables so that customers don’t come across green kibbles.
Some common examples include but aren’t limited to sorbic acid, sucrose, and calcium sorbates. These active agents work by interrupting the growth of the vegetative microbial cells; no ill effects were reported in dogs. Sorbic acid, for instance, occurs naturally in fruit, yet the ingredient intended for commercial use is obtained by direct synthesis in dedicated chemical facilities.
Kibble eventually goes mouldy due to swings from hot to cold, as moisture develops in the food bag. More exactly, toxins develop in the food. Adequately storing the pet food reduces the odds of mould, so pet parents should store the kibble in a cool, dry place, such as the fridge.
Mould inhibitors are added during the pre-condition process to withstand the extreme conditions of the extruder, achieving a prolonged effect that can meet the extended shelf-life requirements of the environmental conditions of commercial environments. Pet owners stock up on food, purchasing enough to last for a few months.
Ensure Dosing Mechanisms Are Aligned with The Production Environment
Ingredients are carefully selected in the animal feed industry according to the manufacturer’s requirements, and the recipe is formulated to deliver complete and balanced nutrition for dogs. The mixture is directly dosed into trays or bags that are sealed and sent to sterilisation.
Now, if the mechanisms for dosing aren’t in agreement with the production environment, it’s impossible to get the desired effects. Some pet food companies have developed quality control programs that combine products and services with effective dosing slides for finished kibbles, equipped with smart operating systems that take into account the flow characteristics and handling requirements of the pet food.
Owing to dosing equipment, it’s possible to ensure the effective distribution of the kibble, enabling optimal inclusion in the process. Moisture penetration in pet food is the result of better starch availability and improved palatability.
As mentioned earlier, controlling the final moisture level can be challenging if an adequate product isn’t properly applied, and studies have shown that applying high energy usage during extrusion and drying produces quality kibble.
Managing moisture not only improves shelf life, but also offers economic benefits to producers. To retain that impressive shelf life, kibble has had its moisture removed, so your furry friend will need to get hydration somewhere else.
Wrapping It Up
Previously limited to moist types of pet food, interest is spreading to dry pet food products. Picking out pet food is a personal decision, so it depends on the owner’s lifestyle and budget, to say nothing of the dog and their tastes. Mould in kibble can be prevented by actively testing incoming ingredients and using mould inhibitors.
Our four-legged friends are more than pets, which means they deserve food that’s nourishing and supports a healthy life, so great efforts are made to ensure kibble formulas don’t become contaminated. It’s a good idea for consumers to purchase smaller bags so that there’s not a large supply of pet food sitting around.
