The proper combination of inspection technologies assures consistent manufacturing of high-quality, contaminant-free pet food products, maintaining pet safety and brand reputation. Pet food is a profitable and expanding business opportunity for food producers.
According to Frost & Sullivan, the global pet food ingredients market is predicted to increase from $818.9 million in 2020 to $1.2 billion in 2026, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.6 %, driven by rising consumer expenditure on pet food products.
Increased pet adoption in high-spending economies, combined with pet owners' concern for their pets' health, strengthens this possibility.
Treats and supplements that improve the immunological, digestive, and joint health of pets compete for market share alongside standard kibble and canned diets. Product quality is at the center of this competition, from small pet food makers to developing enterprises and big food producers' pet divisions.
Pet owners' widespread perception of their animal companions as members of the family drives decision-making based on the same high-quality criteria that apply to human family members' diets.
As a result, pet food suppliers who understand the importance of pet safety as well as brand reputation aim to meet world-class food inspection requirements. To do so, producers must use the appropriate equipment for each food kind (dry, moist, liquid) as well as the packaging type.
There are no one-size-fits-all solutions. Packaging developments continue as firms seek more sustainable formats and containers that stand out to people browsing shop shelves or can be delivered undamaged directly to consumers' homes via e-commerce.
In addition, producing pet food products at sufficient volume to meet consumer demand necessitates high manufacturing throughput while maintaining the highest level of product quality and safety.
Such inspection integrity requires a thorough understanding of both inspection technologies and the regulations that govern inspection requirements for human consumption.
Image Credit: Thermo Fisher Scientific – Production Process & Analytics
The regulatory framework for human food and pet food production is the same. Government rules, such as those of the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA), are often extensive in scope and encompass a wide range of risks and manufacturing requirements.
Retailer codes of practice set even higher standards, creating a more comprehensive food safety framework through increasing prescriptiveness. Retailer standards of practice are often guided by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), a non-profit, industry-driven initiative aimed at continuously enhancing food safety management systems.
GFSI's benchmarking strategy compares food safety methods, allowing retailers to implement the approaches that work best for them.
While many food safety schemes meet GFSI standards, the three most commonly used certification schemes are the BRC (British Retail Consortium), the Food Safety System Certification FSSC 22000, and the Safe Quality Food (SQF) code.
Image Credit: Thermo Fisher Scientific – Production Process & Analytics
A retailer may dictate not only the inspection techniques that a pet food supplier should use, but also which stages of production should incorporate which inspection technique(s).
Stipulations may also include equipment sensitivity criteria at certain inspection points, hardware-driven fail-safes, record-keeping regulations for audit reasons, periodic verification of equipment operation, and expected standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Inspection Equipment Types and Where to Apply Them
The location of inspection equipment in the process is determined by where foreign matter, such as debris from worn-out processing equipment, could enter the process. These critical control points are where inspection is most likely required.
At each key control point, producers must consider what is being examined and how it is packed before selecting the appropriate technology or combination of technologies.
Other aspects influencing this decision-making process include the manufacturing environment, machine calibration, and machine sensitivity.
Considerations for the processing environment include equipment cleaning regimes, which can range from mild (end-of-process dry and wet food packing) to heavy.
In addition to minimizing microbiological contamination, producers must choose equipment with a sufficient ingress protection rating, which can tolerate moisture and dust from the surrounding environment throughout a lengthy service life.
Other plant environment concerns include vibrations and electromagnetic interference (EMI) sources that can impact inspection systems. Are the system subcomponents strong enough to withstand the weight of the packages being inspected and the speed at which the line moves?
In short, detecting technology is a starting point, but a more comprehensive approach to the system is required for seamless integration into your specific production environment and reliable, long-term operation.
The majority of the principles that guide the type of inspection equipment used in the process vary depending on the manufacturer's food products, package type, and packaging materials.
Metal detection, X-ray inspection, and checkweighers are the three most regularly used types of inspection equipment. "Placement" refers to the equipment's position along the manufacturing line.
Metal Detection
Metal detectors, which can detect ferrous, nonferrous, and stainless-steel foreign contaminants, are an excellent solution for a wide range of pet meals, including frozen raw meals and kibble. The metal detector assesses the magnetic and conductive properties of the packaged goods under inspection.
Any inspected product will have intrinsic magnetic and conductive signals, known as product effects. The product effect varies by product and package type. For example, dry products like kibble have a minimal product effect, whereas wet cat food has a more pronounced product effect due to its high moisture and salt content.
A successful metal detector measurement will ignore the product effect and respond exclusively to the contaminant signal. The presence of contamination will cause the package's magnetic and conductive signals to shift, prompting detection and activating a reject system or possibly a line halt, depending on the operation preference.
Incoming ingredient processing, combining, cooking, molding, packing, and storage are typical steps in the pet food manufacturing process. Contaminants, such as debris from old blending blades or loose bolts and nuts, can be mistakenly introduced at any stage of the process.
Metal detection can be implemented at various stages of the food safety process, from incoming raw materials to final packaging, to reduce contamination risk and achieve Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) objectives.
However, metal detectors cannot be used with metalized film packaging due to the "package effect." Consider that most wet dog feeds are packaged in metal containers or metalized film pouches. If such packaging goes past a metal detector, the machine will sound an alarm based on the packing material.
Instead of an image, the metal detector emits a signal whose strength fluctuates according to the amount of conductive material it senses. This compounded signal precludes inspectors from determining what triggered the detector. So, metalized film packaging requires X-ray inspection.
X-Ray Inspection
X-ray inspection technology creates an image of each package's contents, allowing advanced software to detect packages containing metallic and non-metallic contaminants including glass and rubber, and also utilizes product verification to detect broken food bits and missing components.
X-ray inspection is unaffected by product or package effects, making it suitable for a larger range of items and packaging materials, particularly those composed of metalized film and aluminum foil trays.
X-ray inspection can be used as early as the arriving ingredients stage and through the case packaging stage.
Because many pet meals provide a complete diet, they may contain a plethora of nutrients and vitamins to support the main ingredients, increasing the amount and diversity of contaminants that may be introduced at the raw ingredient stage or later in the process.
For example, incoming meat may contain metal shavings from previous processing, while vegetable harvesting may uncover stones and metal particles that were overlooked during processing.
Checkweighing
Checkweighing ensures that the weight stated on the product label is accurate for each package. This guarantees that the food processor is not underfilling packaging, which could result in significant fines from regulatory organizations, or "giving away" too much product by overfilling.
Checkweighers are often stationed after portioning and packaging. A final check for total weight is frequently performed after case packing to guarantee the correct quantity of packages within each case. Some checkweighers can also provide feedback to the operator regarding the filling process.
For example, the manufacturer determines the fill level and/or fill amounts for a certain product. Over time, the filler may wander away from the specified point, resulting in overfill or underfill.
A checkweigher's capacity to monitor data trends indicating how close each fill is to the target weight and provide real-time feedback on the filling machine can aid in production cost control by enhancing efficiency in an automated manner while proactively ensuring consistent product weight over time.
Other Product Inspection Considerations
Keeping the equipment calibrated throughout the production process is essential for food product inspection. As a result, equipment must be verified on a regular basis. Correct system configuration strikes a balance between high detection sensitivity and dependable system performance, resulting in safe and efficient production.
A company's food safety plan typically specifies the frequency of calibration confirmations, such as every hour, shift, or day.
The most typical technique is to attach standard contamination samples to the outside of one or more packages to guarantee that the detection equipment can detect the specified contaminant at the given size. The operator can then make any necessary adjustments or recalibrations.
Preventive maintenance of detection and weighing technologies is also essential for ensuring up-time and reliable, optimal equipment performance, as well as supporting greater food safety and quality.
It is recommended that processors schedule semi-annual or more frequent preventive maintenance inspections by a trained engineer at a time that is least disruptive to the production schedule.
The frequency of these service visits will vary depending on the shift patterns at a given plant, how tough the industrial environment and process are, and how much the systems will be used.
For example, excessive radio frequency signals from motors and other process equipment will inject background noise into metal detectors, reducing sensitivity and sometimes resulting in false rejects. Vibrations on the manufacturing floor may impair checkweigher accuracy during operation.
The equipment vendor can help establish the optimal frequency of preventive maintenance visits based on previous data from multiple users and individual plant circumstances.
Determining the Right Inspection Solution
When selecting inspection technology kinds and models, it is recommended that inspection equipment manufacturers perform a sample test that simulates the actual production environment (to the greatest extent possible).
Such testing often involves a customer shipping a product to an equipment manufacturer's test lab, where it is run through the proposed inspection system.
The system's contaminant detection capability, as well as the product and its packaging, are characterized, and the customer receives a report with findings that can be used in the decision-making process.
Gleaning such specific information about a system's performance, limitations, and optimal settings, while keeping the larger production environment in mind, helps ensure that the chosen equipment matches the food company's contaminant detection criteria.
Much is at stake for pet food manufacturers, from preserving consumer trust in the quality and safety of their goods to obtaining access to the retailers that control the roughly $1 billion market.
The best assurance - and insurance - of meeting food safety and plant productivity goals is to choose the appropriate product inspection solution for the application.
References
- Frost & Sullivan. (2021). Global Pet Food Ingredients Market | Pet Food Market | Pet Food Industry Growth. (online) Available at: https://store.frost.com/global-pet-food-ingredients-growth-opportunities.html.
- Food Safety Standards: ISO 22000, SQF and BRC - ISO Update
This information has been sourced, reviewed, and adapted from materials provided by Thermo Fisher Scientific – Production Process & Analytics.
For more information on this source, please visit Thermo Fisher Scientific – Production Process & Analytics.