Pet food processing
Pets now play an increasingly important role in modern life, driving demand for higher-quality, nutritious food. As a result, dry pet food producers are shifting away from traditional rendered meat toward fresh, chilled meat ingredients. This move aims to boost protein content, improve palatability, and align pet nutrition with human-grade standards - creating new challenges and opportunities for processing efficiency and hygiene.
Reliable, efficient equipment for dry pet food processing.
- Boost protein yield and quality with high-efficiency separation and thermal systems.
- Reduce downtime and maintenance using durable, low-wear decanters and separators.
- Lower energy costs with compact, high-performance heat exchangers.
- Ensure hygienic processing through fully CIP-compatible designs.
- Achieve consistency and throughput across modern dry pet food lines.
Alfa Laval technologies for dry pet food production help optimise yield, energy efficiency and food safety.
Our high-speed separators, Foodec decanters, and heat exchangers are built to handle fresh meat and protein-rich ingredients with exceptional reliability.
From raw material preparation to product refinement, our proven systems deliver consistent quality, lower operational costs and meet strict hygiene standards. Designed for uptime, cleanability and sustainable performance, Alfa Laval equipment keeps your pet food process running efficiently - day after day.
Why pet food producers are upgrading now
Pet owners want high fresh-meat inclusion, human-grade hygiene and clear traceability. Meeting these demands requires precise pre-extrusion preparation, stable moisture and fat control, and repeatable extrusion performance. Alfa Laval technologies help you achieve all three - at scale.
Key outcomes:
- Consistent dough rheology into the extruder
- Higher protein yield and fat recovery
- Hygienic, CIP-friendly operation with less downtime
- Energy- and water-efficient thermal steps
Designed for premium dry pet food
Every detail matters when producing premium dry pet food. From fresh-meat preparation to extrusion and coating, consistency and control define quality. Alfa Laval technologies are designed to help producers achieve superior protein yield, process stability, hygiene, scalability, and sustainability - enabling efficient, high-meat recipes and reliable production of premium kibble at any scale.
Protein yield & quality
Gentle, efficient solids–liquid separation and thermal handling protect functionality.
Process stability
Consistent slurry properties reduce extruder load, improve die-face cut, and tighten size distribution.
Food-grade hygiene
Smooth product-wetted zones, drainage points, and CIP-ready design reduce residues and biofilm risk.
Scalability
From pilot-scale testing to full industrial production of up to 30–40 tonnes per hour per machine, Alfa Laval systems are built for easy capacity expansion and modular upgrades, allowing producers to scale efficiently as demand grows.
Sustainability
Energy-efficient heat transfer, water-lean cleaning, and by-product valorisation help reduce both environmental impact and operating costs. Alfa Laval’s advanced heat exchangers and evaporation systems recover energy across the process, while hygienic designs minimise water consumption during CIP.
Where Alfa Laval fits in your process
We support every step of the dry pet food process - from pre-extrusion preparation and extrusion to drying, cooling, and coating - helping producers achieve consistent quality and higher yield.
Our greatest impact lies in the fresh-meat preparation stage, where Alfa Laval technologies enable efficient separation, precise thermal control, and hygienic handling of high-meat formulations.
1) Fresh-meat preparation (pre-extrusion)
- Foodec decanter centrifuges (Hygiene Plus / Oil Plus): recover protein, separate stick water, and deliver up to 99.5% fat purity for premium coating oils.
- Centriflow™ wet processing: three-phase separation into lean meat solids, stick water, purified fat for tight fat/moisture control.
- AlfaVap: concentrates stick water into functional meat concentrate (binder/palatant).
- Contherm® scraped-surface heat exchangers: cool viscous meat emulsions without oxidation; ideal for sticky, chunky slurries.
- Hygienic pumps, valves & Mixproof CIP: closed, cleanable transfer with verified CIP coverage.
2) Thermal control around extrusion
- Compact plate and fusion-bonded heat exchangers for heating/cooling duties, trimming energy use and footprint.
- Integrated CIP enables quick turnaround between recipes.
3) Coating & fat handling
- Re-use purified, traceable fats recovered upstream for drum or vacuum coating. Stable viscosity and purity improve absorption and palatability while supporting a compelling “freshly prepared oils” story.
Get in touch with our experts today
We’re here to help. If you have an enquiry or want to learn more about Alfa Laval's products, services and solutions, please fill out the form. Our experts are ready to assist you and will get back to you shortly.
Other quick ways to contact us
While this form is the best way to get in touch, you can also speak with a member of our team by phone at 01276 63383 during business hours: Monday - Friday, 08:30 - 17:00.
Fresh meat for pet food
The solution to cool soft meat by-products from slaughtering or fish by-products is the Alfa Laval Contherm cylindrical scraped-surface heat exchanger, which is specially designed for cooling viscous, sticky and chunky products. In Contherm cooling systems, products are chilled without air contact. Its construction is well thought through – Contherm requires little floor space, cuts down on labour and only needs minimum maintenance. The unit is also easy to clean, even though it handles demanding products.
Fresh concentrated meat
The Alfa Laval concentrated meat system, based on the well-known Alfa Laval edible fish and meat systems, to makes it possible to reduce the moisture content, normally by 50%.
Alfa Laval core technologies make it possible to maintain full control of the levels of fat and moisture in all the fresh meat products from slaughtering or fish processing. Alfa Laval concentrated meat technology makes it possible to balance fat levels and reduce moisture, thus ensuring that dry pet food producers can integrate more fresh meat in their products. Consistent moisture and fat output, regardless of fluctuating input composition, also makes it easier to balance the different dry pet food diets.
The system can be implemented by the processor or the pet food processor and can be adapted to virtually any type of fresh meat used in pet food.
The concentrated meat system
The system includes three main process systems
- Raw material grinding and emulsification (max 3 mm particle size) of the fresh or frozen raw material.
- The Alfa Laval Centriflow system, with 3-phase decanter centrifuge technology and fat purification to provide meat solids, stick water and fat.
- The AlfaVap evaporation system concentrates the stick water into a highly functional meat concentrate, which can be used separately as an abider or flavour enhancer in the pellet production stage.
This makes it possible to achieve a meat concentrate with approximately half the moisture, using the well-proven technology already employed in edible meat protein processing.
FAQs about pet food processing & extrusion solutions
1. Can Alfa Laval handle raw materials with high bone content?
Yes. When processing meat with high bone content, materials are first ground to 2–3 mm for optimal flow and separation. For larger bone fractions, the Alfa Laval HyPro thermal processing system pressure-cooks and breaks down bones, releasing collagenous proteins and improving separation efficiency.
2. Does the type of meat affect enzyme choice or hydrolysis time?
Not significantly. The same enzyme types can be used across most meat species, though hydrolysis time may vary slightly to achieve the desired viscosity and pumpability in the final slurry.
3. How does Alfa Laval’s process compare to traditional dry rendering?
Unlike dry rendering, which can cause oxidation and off-flavours, Alfa Laval’s wet and enzymatic processing preserves protein quality, colour, and palatability. The result is a fresher, more digestible ingredient — ideal for premium dry pet food with high fresh-meat inclusion.
4. Will water removal increase viscosity and affect pumpability?
No. Alfa Laval’s Centriflow concentration system is designed to maintain pumpability while reducing moisture. Controlled enzyme treatment and precise temperature management ensure a smooth, fat-reduced, concentrated slurry suitable for continuous transfer and extrusion.
5. What fat content can Alfa Laval achieve with the Centriflow process?
For a protein meal with ~8% moisture, the final fat content typically ranges from 6–9%, depending on the raw material. Proprietary Alfa Laval separation technologies ensure consistent low-fat output and stable product composition.
6. Can over-hydrolyzing negatively affect palatability?
No, when temperature and residence time are properly controlled. Alfa Laval systems are designed for precise enzymatic processing, ensuring consistent hydrolysis without degrading proteins or affecting flavour. Over-hydrolysis is therefore highly unlikely under normal operation.
7. What is the typical capacity of a three-phase decanter centrifuge?
Capacity depends on raw material and configuration, but Alfa Laval systems operate from 100 kg/h to 30–40 tonnes per hour per machine, offering flexible scalability from pilot testing to full industrial production.
8. Does Alfa Laval offer pilot testing and process trials?
Yes. Alfa Laval provides pilot-scale testing and process validation to help customers optimize parameters like separation efficiency, evaporation, and drying performance before full-scale implementation.
9. Do Alfa Laval systems handle alternative proteins like insects?
Yes. Processing insects mainly requires adjustments in pre-treatment, as chitin replaces bone as the structural component. Alfa Laval systems can be customized to handle this efficiently after pilot testing.
10. Are antioxidants needed in the Centriflow process?
The process operates under air-restricted conditions to minimize oxidation. However, adding antioxidants can further enhance stability during downstream handling and storage.
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