Free-to-download publication identifies the three big threats to pet food safety and product quality, and spotlights how technologies new to the pet food industry can counteract these

GEO-US WORLD EXPORT is a fast-growing, Georgia-based hazelnut processing company whose business model is built around exporting to Europe. Thanks to high-tech TOMRA Food sorting equipment, this business has been able to increase output and ensure the high quality of its products, critical factors in creating stable demand from European customers.

In today’s increasingly competitive market, pet food manufacturers must ensure their products are safe, fault-free, and contain exactly what they claim. This means eradicating all traces of foreign materials and cross-contamination, and guarding against the naturally-occurring poison aflatoxin. Not easy, you might say - but now that TOMRA Food has brought its world-class sorting technologies to the pet food industry, it can be done.

No manufacturer of dry pet food likes losing revenue by throwing away good product. And no buyer of dry pet food likes opening the bag to find that the contents look imperfect. Yet both of these disappointments can happen - and happen too often - when poor silo-management allows differing batches of kibbles to unintentionally get mixed-up.

Preventing foreign materials from reaching the end of the processing line is a battle that producers and renderers of pet food must fight on two fronts. On one front are the incoming raw materials, which almost always contain unwanted objects; on the other, the processing line itself, where unwanted materials can accidentally fall into the product mix. Some foreign materials are big and easy to see, some so small they’re almost invisible - but whatever their size and wherever they come from, all must be removed. No exceptions, no excuses.

As a large number of product recalls recently showed, plant-based ingredients in pet foods can hide a dangerous poison. The near-invisible threat is aflatoxin, one of the mycotoxins produced by certain molds (fungi) on plants such as corn, grain and tree nuts. When this slips into the food chain undetected, it can harm pets and pet food manufacturers’ reputations.

Leading French potato producer PARMENTINE has equipped its new line in Samazan with two optical sorters from TOMRA Food - one the TOMRA 5A, the other the Sentinel II.

El procesamiento de atún es exigente, complicado y laborioso. Normalmente requiere un gran volumen de mano de obra para la completa extracción de espinas y escamas, así como para realizar una correcta clasificación de la carne en función de su color y calidad. En estos casos el riesgo de errores humanos está siempre presente. Asimismo, en este proceso otros materiales extraños tales como fibras de ropa y cabellos de los trabajadores, pueden entrar en contacto con el producto.

TOMRA Food and Haarslev have formed a strategic partnership to introduce new sensor-based sorting technologies to the global rendering industry. This is expected to be a game-changer in the industry, enabling renderers and by-product processors to attain unprecedented levels of efficiency, food safety and product quality.