Kansas State University’s IGP Institute will offer a course in formulating pet foods in January 2018. The course will help participants gain knowledge of different elements and processes necessary to create new products in the feed industry.
The pet food industry is constantly developing new products using or taking out certain ingredients to improve the product. Individuals who are interested in learning more about the formulation of pet food are encouraged to attend the IGP–KSU Pet Food Formulation for Commercial Production course scheduled for January 8–12, 2018.
Course topics
The course will cover several topics in the industry to help participants develop a working knowledge of ingredients, processes and software necessary to create new products, revise existing formulas and perform business and production analysis.
“The pet food formulation course is set to be very exciting for the participants with a dynamic set of pet food industry topics,” said Greg Aldrich, research associate professor in the department of grain sciences and industry at Kansas State University.
These topics include a general understanding of the raw ingredients used to produce pet foods, their general composition and processing considerations; fundamental principles of companion animal nutrition and dietary needs (specifically dog and cat); processes involved with producing pet foods, the regulatory constraints regarding claims and requirements, and the transportation and storage factors involved with marketing effective foods for companion animals; and the range of formulation tools common to the trade.
Creating pet food formulas from concepts, reversing engineer existing pet foods and troubleshooting pet food production and quality control compliance issues using formulation software are also learning outcomes that participants can expect from the course. In addition to courses offered in feed manufacturing and grain quality management, the IGP Institute also offers courses in grain marketing and risk management, and grain processing and flour milling.