The European market for pet food is booming. According to Statista, the revenue amounted to approximately 37.5 billion euros last year, and it is expected to increase to over 39 billion euros in 2024 and surpass 46 billion euros by 2028.
Pet food must be healthy and, above all, safe. Buyers hold the same standards of quality and safety as they do for their own food – after all, pets are a part of the family for many.
Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection has created an eGuide to assist manufacturers of wet and dry pet food in finding the most suitable product inspection solutions for their applications. The aim is to meet the high-quality requirements of buyers, as well as increasingly stringent legal and industry-specific regulations and compliance standards.
The Mettler-Toledo Product Inspection portfolio covers the entire wet and dry pet food production process. It includes Metal Detection solutions and X-ray Inspection systems for foreign body detection and quality assurance checks, dynamic Checkweighing solutions for fill level and precision weighing, as well as Vision Inspection technologies for label verification. Additionally, the company offers Track & Trace solutions for serialisation and aggregation, data management software, and global service and support.
A notable example of product inspection in action is Earth Animal, a pet food company that for 42 years has pursued the highest product quality when processing and packaging its all-natural chews, treats, dog food and more. In addition to using the best ingredients from reputable suppliers, Earth Animal relies on world-class inspection equipment including a Mettler-Toledo Safeline X33 x-ray inspection system, installed at their facility in Maryland.
“Think of our dog food like a trail mix. It’s made up of dried meats, fruits, veggies and other ingredients, which all have different densities and moistures. That variability would be challenging for most x-ray systems but not the X33. It’s able to adjust for all those tiny differences,” said Claire Farrell, Quality Assurance – Quality Control Manager at Earth Animal. “You can actually see each of the ingredients on the screen as the X33 inspects them. Its accuracy and sensitivity are impressive.”
The product inspection solutions are positioned to help pet food manufacturers increase product safety, boost productivity, and combat rising manufacturing costs. The eGuide is now available for free download here.
