Pet food buyers increasingly demand high meat dog and cat foods, but tripling the amount of raw meat in a formulation also triples the pet food safety risk exposure, Will Henry, director of research and development for Extru-Tech Inc., said at Petfood Forum.
Raw meat ramps up risk
Food safety is becoming a more prominent concern for the pet food industry, and pet food safety risks depend on the ingredients used in manufacturing, Henry said. Meats carry a higher risk of harboring dangerous pathogens than many other pet food ingredients. Therefore, high meat dog and cat foods face more exposure to risks.
Managing those risks can be a difficult process, but it’s not impossible for pet food manufacturers who are willing to grow with pet food industry trends, he said. Meeting standards for pet food safety requires extensive documentation of the manufacturing process. Extru-Tech uses a biosafety level 2 laboratory to scientifically validate customers’ pet food manufacturing safety procedures.
