Premier Pet Nutrition has launched three petfood calibrations to enable petfood manufacturers to maximize their NIR machine's capabilities and enhance petfood palatability, shelf life and quality.

The three new calibrations can be uploaded to an existing NIR machine:

• The Cook Value calibration measures how well a dry petfood has been cooked, stating the level of starch gelatinisation (percent). It also provides instant feedback to the extruder operator if they are putting too much or too little energy into the petfood.
• Peroxide Value (PV) is a measure of the level of oxidation in fats in a petfood. By measuring the PV using NIR, it is possible to assess how oxidized the fats are and if the palatability or shelf-life are going to become issues for that batch of petfood.
• Water activity (aw) is one of the most critical factors determining the quality and safety of a dry petfood. If it is too high, the dry petfood will mold and spoil due to microbial growth. The new aw calibration gives instant feedback on how likely a petfood is to spoil once packed.