Pet food product development

Pet food product development is a growing area. There are 12 million households in the UK that have pets and the pet food market is worth close to £3 billion annually.

We offer support in the consistent supply of safe, nutritious and palatable products for pets. We can help you with the consumer and sensory aspects of pet food, pet food analysis, pet food packaging, pet food processing trials and regulations and regulatory advice.

Pet food - consumer and sensory

An extensive range of sensory testing methods and facilities are available to support NPD, product launches and competitive bench marking, these include:

• Quantitative consumer studies
• Trained descriptive panels and focus groups with observation studios
• In-house testing booths, off site venues or home placements
• Select your target demographic from our large consumer database or general customers
• Substantiation of superiority claims

Pet food analysis and testing

A vast array of pet food testing facilities and expertise are on offer to ensure product quality and safety.

• Analytical components and vitamin testing to support on pack claims
• Microbiological and shelf life testing
• Texture analysis to help achieve optimum palatability by measuring physical products and ensuring batch consistency
• Biochemistry, useful in resolving issues such as product discolouration
• Microscopy, including food structure, foreign body identification and packaging defects
• Rheology often used is often used in conjunction with microscopy to provide a detailed understanding of ingredient interaction and functionality

Pet food packaging

Trends for pet food tend to blur the boundaries with those for humans as more owners demand the best for their pets. Pet food packaging must be fit for purpose whether the product is chilled, frozen or ambient stable, be able to withstand the supply chain and deliver the convenience required by the pet owner.

Our comprehensive range of pet food packaging services includes:

• Product, process and package compatibility
• Barrier properties, leaks and seal integrity
• Strength, tensile strength and compression testing
• Troubleshooting and fault diagnosis
• Biodegradable, light weight and ‘alternative materials

Pet food processing trials

Once the recipes have been established, we can scale up the recipes and manufacture and trial the product in our well-equipped process halls to establish and validate the production process, producing prototype samples to show to customers or for chemical or microbial testing.

Some examples of how we can assist with scale-up and pet food processing trials include:

• Extensive Manufacturing equipment such as bowl cutters, blenders, mills, cooking vessels and depositors.
• Packaging equipment allows pot and tray sealing, vacuum and modified air packing, pouch and bag sealing and canning.
• Packaging options include pouches, sachets, cans, glass, casings and semi-rigid containers.
• Processing facilities enable manufacture of chilled, freeze dried, frozen or heat preserved foods.

Processing trials can also extend to thermal processing and manufacturing support that can help to address all aspects of thermal processing for pet food manufacturers including:

• Retort validation through determining temperature distribution
• Heat penetration of product and cold point determination of product and retorts
• Consultation on process deviations
• Thermal process auditing and consultancy

Pet food regulations and regulatory advice

As pet food is manufactured and distributed in the same way as human food, there are some parallels between legislation governing human food and that govern pet food. The detailed requirements do, however, differ.

We offer an advisory service to provide legislative guidance to ensure your pet products and labels are legally compliant.