Read more about the hi-tech equipment from Dinnissen and other processing best practices used at Jonker petfood in the Netherlands.

Getting it done with Dinnissen

When Jonker decided to set up its third extrusion line, the company was not just looking for extra capacity but also for high flexibility, the most advanced technology of the entire extrusion process and to gain both in cost efficiency and product quality.

Jonker found the right partner with Dinnissen, explains Martin Sonneveld, who closely followed the extension project, which was completed and fully operational by 2007. The new line, called Magi-N.ext, was adapted to fit inside the existing building and completed with dosing silos for finished product and a system to minimize contamination and manual cleaning.
"The Magi-N.ext's major benefits for us are the ability to switch fast and efficiently to new products and recipes, enabling us to produce a wide variety of petfoods of different kinds and range-like standard to premium and superpremium-all from the same single line," says Sonneveld. "We also realize savings in terms of energy consumption and production costs due to downtime reduction."

The Dinnissen line is easily accessible for maintenance-moisture and steam is removed from the production line at several locations, limiting cleaning time to a minimum, while complying with the strictest standards of hygiene which is essential in terms of product quality at Jonker.

Other new items introduced with Magi-N.ext are a method to add and blend pigments before they go in the preconditioner, precisely and homogeneously via a continuous dosage system. This method avoids any possible formation of lumps or undesirable colors in the extruder and obtaining a uniform and consistent final result on the kibble.

"The Pegasus vacuum coater makes it possible for an accurate and homogeneous distribution of fat and liquid palatants, and the weighing and dosing of precise amounts of micro-ingredients-such as powdered flavor enhancers, vitamins, enzymes and other additives-that is particularly critical especially when working with big volumes as we do," Sonneveld says.