Foto: Colourbox.de
When eating raw meat, it is
assumed that the pH of the dog‘s
stomach is lower than in humans
and that the dog is protected
from pathogens from food. But
everything has its limits and there
is a risk of intoxication with heavily
contaminated meat. The case is
known in which meat was sold
which was spoiled due to an inter-rupted
cold chain with Clostridium
sordelli and after its consumption
three retriever puppies had to die.
„More „comfortable“ growers use
granules or cans as basic food.
If they are of good quality, they
contain all the nutrients in the
optimum ratio. A healthy diet is
guaranteed and the dogs enjoy
it. The advertising of a renowned
Czech manufacturer with „Nutri-tion
Prevention“ is also true. How-ever,
this does not always apply to
super cheap supermarket products,
whose price and nutrient content is
reduced by the addition of ballast.
Canned food: What‘s in it
The most important raw material
is of course meat, plus bones (resi-dues
after separation), meat sepa-ration,
vegetables, various premixes
with minerals, vitamins and other
valuable components, salmon oil,
etc. Some contain grain, others do
not (grainfree). From the individual
components a meat emulsion is
produced, which either fills the
entire volume of the can as a pâté,
or so-called chunks are produced.
Here the cooked cubes of sausage
meat and pieces of bone float in
the juice in the can. The second
variant is more sophisticated and
more expensive.
As packaging we usually find tin
cans made of steel or aluminium,
plastic capsules (especially for mini
dogs, e.g. Chihuahua or Yorkshire).
More and more sausages (calibre
60 mm or more) are available for
dogs in plastic casings. The chunks
are produced by extruding the base
mass onto a heated steel strip in
the form of an endless coil or prism
that passes through the tunnel,
this mass being heated above the
denaturation temperature (approx.
60°C). The sausage meat solidifies
and at the end it is cut into cubes
or short prisms with a cross cutter.
For aesthetic reasons, differently
coloured (light, dark, red) cubes are
often mixed together. After filling
the packaging, they are heated in
hot brine and sealed. In the case
of pâté, production is easier. This is
only filled in and closed.
Preservation
An important manufacturing step
is sterilization. It does not gener-ally
differ from the sterilization of
canned food for humans. However,
there is a difference here. Raw ma-terials
for canned animals include
not only pure muscle, but also
more contaminated substances.
Some doses - especially for cats -
contain a digestive tract, including
contents. This heavily contaminat-ed
raw material meets the eating
needs of four-legged consumers.
The sterilizing dose must therefore
usually be significantly higher for
canned animals. For certain formu-lations
the value Fo = 20 min but
also Fo = 30 min or more.
To achieve such effects, the sterili-zation
temperature in the autoclave
is also significantly higher, about
130°C or more, or a correspond-ingly
higher pressure can be set.
The following process steps -
cooling, back pressure, labelling,
thermostat check, storage, etc.
- correspond to those for the pro-duction
of human food cans.
Nutrient-rich granulates
Due to their low water content,
granulates contain a high con-centration
of nutrients. Granules
can be eaten directly when dry.
Pre-moistening or flavouring is
possible, e.g. with salmon oil or
raw egg. The raw material is meat
(lamb, chicken, rabbit, beef, game,
salmon), plus other components in
varying proportions. These mostly
include poultry fat, salmon oil, po-tatoes,
rice, brewer‘s yeast, crusta-ceans,
cartilage, dried apples, dried
sugar beet pulp, cellulose, fruit and
herbal extracts, yucca, inulin, milk
thistle (Silybum marianum), etc.
If the quality is good, the protein
content of such granules is 25% or
more. The water content is up
to 10%, that of calcium about
1.5%. In addition, there are
vitamins and minerals.
To produce the granulate, the
matrix is preheated and extruded
under high pressure. After coo-ling,
packaging takes place in an
oxygen-free atmosphere. Bags of
various shapes made of oxygen-im-permeable
material are used for
this purpose. These can be stored
at room temperature and are
often reclosable, e.g. with a Velcro
fastener. The available sizes are
aligned to the size of the animal
and range from one to 20 kg.
There are differences in price and
quality - low price is usually not
a good choice.
Conclusion
It is up to the pet owner or breeder
what type of food and what
product he chooses. The large
number of high-quality feed on the
market shows that animal feed is a
lucrative commodity.
Prof. Petr Pipek &
Dr. Heinz Schleusener
Der pH-Wert des Hundemagens ist niedriger als beim Menschen. So ist das Tier
besser vor Krankheitserregern geschützt.
The pH-value of the dog’s stomach is lower than in humans. This provides
better protection against pathogens.
TIERFUTTER
PET FOOD
GENUSS-FAKTOR
GARANTI ERT
Mit Technik, die eines verspricht:
Qualität, die man am Ende schmeckt.
KUTTER,
WÖLFE, MISCHER:
FÜR HANDWERK
UND INDUSTRIE
www.kgwetter.de