Do you know the processing involved in the manufacturing of kibble pet food? How many times are the ingredients cooked? The answer might surprise you.
Pet food kibble was invented in 1956 by Purina; that is Purina was the first to produce an extruded kibble pet food as most are made today. Prior to kibble, the greatest majority of pet food sold in the United States was canned pet food. But shortly after Purina’s introduction of Purina Dog Chow, (within two years), kibble became the leading style of dog food in the US.
1960s Purina advertisement. Source: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/animals-ads-1960s/7
And that popularity has continued…
Statistics for 2013, U.S. dry dog food sales were $9.2 billion as compared to U.S. wet dog food sales $2.4 billion.
No doubt about it, kibble pet foods are the most popular style of feeding pets, but are kibble pet foods the healthiest style of feeding pets? With this question, we are not going to consider quality of ingredients – only processing. What processing is involved to make kibble?
Quoted text below is from MadeHow.com.
Emphasis added in the following for heat or cooking of ingredients…
Kibble is a cooked dough-type pet food (comparable to dough used to make a cookie or a cracker – with meat). Because it is made from dough, all ingredients in a kibble pet food need to be ground fine before mixing. Raw ingredients are “brought together in a mixer” with added supplements (mixer can hold 10,000 pounds or more of ingredients). Next the dough “is heated in the preconditioner prior to introduction to the extruder.” “The extruder, essentially a giant meat grinder, is where the primary cooking phase for dry extruded pet food products occurs. The dough is cooked under intense heat and pressure as it moves toward the open end of the extruder.” At the end of the extruder the dough is forced through a “shaping die” and cut into desired shape. “Kibble is dried in an oven until its moisture content is low enough to make it shelf stable like a cookie or cracker.”
Ingredients are cooked or heated 3 times during the manufacture of kibble pet foods.
But wait…
There is more processing to consider; some ingredients are cooked or processed prior to arriving at the pet food plant such as rendered ingredients like beef meal and chicken meal.
Meat meals are commonly used in kibble pet foods. Meat meals are made by finely grinding meats (and often bone), cooking the material, and separating the remaining moisture from the solids. The solids are dried into a powder like substance (above – meat meal). All of this processing occurs before ingredients arrive at the pet food plant (where it is cooked again in the pet food).
Similar processing can be used for vegetable ingredients too…
To help kibble keep its shape after drying, multiple starches are included. One commonly used starch is pea protein (especially in grain free pet foods). As you can see in the image above, this ingredient is processed into a dry powder prior to its inclusion in the pet food manufacturing process (where it is processed again in the pet food).
So…what is the total? How many times are pet food ingredients cooked during the process of kibble manufacturing?
Note: This explanation is for extruded kibble pet foods. Baked kibble pet foods are not processed the same as extruded kibble pet foods (but most pet foods are made by extrusion). Baked kibble pet foods are processed/cooked less.
If you feed kibble, consider the processing involved to make it. Please add some real food to their diet each day (replace some kibble with real food). Added meat can be raw or lightly roasted, vegetables lightly cooked.
Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,
Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food
What’s in Your Pet’s Food?
Is your dog or cat eating risk ingredients? Chinese imports? Petsumer Report tells the ‘rest of the story’ on over 4,000 cat foods, dog foods, and pet treats. 30 Day Satisfaction Guarantee. www.PetsumerReport.com
The 2016 List
Susan’s List of trusted pet foods. Click Here
The Other List
The List of pet foods I would not give my own pets. Click Here
Have you read Buyer Beware? Click Here
Cooking pet food made easy, Dinner PAWsible
Find Healthy Pet Foods in Your Area Click Here
Tracey
September 9, 2016 at 2:40 pm
That actually sounds pretty good compared to what is actually going into the blender! I did want to point out that the “peas” in the dog food are most likely “field peas” not green peas that we eat as a veggie. Field peas are used in livestock feed and are higher in protein (5g vs 18g) and carbs (14g vs 40g). than green peas. I’ll bet all vegie matter enters the manufacturing plant dehydrated as it would then absorb the liquid from the meat and lessen the drying time. Good article. Thanks!
Dr Cathy
September 9, 2016 at 2:58 pm
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, every time the food is heated, it adds Heat. The result is it makes the body hot. So if kibble is heated (aggressively) 4 times, it leads to hot dogs and cats – they pant, drink excessive water and are hyperactive. It all ties together.
April
September 10, 2016 at 4:29 pm
That is a good way of looking at it. I have a “hot dog”. A fevering Shar Pei
Jackie
September 9, 2016 at 3:05 pm
Purina is probably the top brand name. People tend to trust what they see advertised. Kibble is a quick and low-cost way to feed the family pet with no thought as to what it took to make meat into something stable. I’ve never fed any of my dogs kibble. My present dog gets a high quality canned dog food with a named meat as the first ingredient (and I’m on Social Security!). His stools are dark and firm, like wild canines who primarily eat meat. My son’s dog gets kibble. Her stools are light brownish-yellow with a mushy center. That’s a very big clue as to the quality of kibble vs canned!
April
September 10, 2016 at 4:31 pm
I’m on SS too and I don’t know how you can afford $3.00 a day for canned. I have two dogs to feed. I could never afford that on Social Security
Christine
September 9, 2016 at 3:25 pm
Of course people from extrusion manufacturers say baked is worse as it is cooked longer at higher heats creating more acrylamide, and baked folks say that extrusion is worse. Each of them may be using pre-processed ingredients like meat meals. Has anyone really looked at which methods thrash the nutrients more? Or which have higher levels of acrylamide?
This is of course a major focus at our store, that all kibble is a highly processed food and that nothing beats whole foods for important nutrients that support health. But I still can’t find info about the nutritional differences between baked and extruded – have you found any?
Cat
September 19, 2016 at 12:24 pm
Both methods of cooking thrash the nutrients. Nutrients degrade with heat, and all enzymes in foods are destroyed when cooked at 117 degrees or higher. Considering kibble is cooked at over 300 degrees, you can pretty much assume all the healthy nutrients are dead. That’s why real, whole foods are so important. Kibble is the worst for our pets, even the “healthy” stuff.
Johanna
September 9, 2016 at 4:25 pm
Thanks for breaking down the process! Not enough people give any consideration to the amount of processing that goes into kibble. All that heat destroys enzymes, denatures proteins, and makes the food carcinogenic (cancer-causing). It’s dead food in every sense of the word. And of course, that’s assuming they’re starting with beautiful, fresh, human-grade foods like those displayed on their packaging (which we all know they’re not). So much cheaper and better to feed real, fresh food instead. Will be sharing this, thanks!
Pacific Sun
September 9, 2016 at 4:30 pm
Well there was a step in between primarily canned food and kibble, and it was introduced by the Gaines-Burger folks. The product was an interesting hamburger looking meal you crumbled into the pets dish. No smell to humans, clean to the touch, kept in the pantry, yet “looked” meaty and seemed more tasty than “cereal” type PF. Quite novel at the time!! The PFI newsletter put out a very concise article on the history of PF. Long time ago it was rumored that canned PF was comprised of horse meat. Also WWII rationing (esp. tin) really pushed wet PF towards kibble.
http://www.petfoodindustry.com/articles/401-learn-from-the-past
Pingback: Pet Food: Processed to Death? | Little Big Cat