Dry Pet Food Manufacturing Process: Step-by-Step Guide to Making Dog Food with Extruder

 The first step in making dog food with an automatic dog food machine is raw material pretreatment, which is fundamental to ensuring the uniformity of the finished product.

First, core raw materials such as corn, soybean meal, and meat meal need to be screened to remove impurities and spoiled particles. Then, the raw materials are pulverized to 80-120 mesh using an ultra-fine grinder. The moisture content of the pulverized raw materials must be controlled between 10% and 15%, a core requirement of the dry process-if the moisture content is too high, it will cause the raw materials to stick together and clog the small pet feed extruder machine; if the moisture content is too low, it will not generate enough frictional heat, affecting the cooking effect. During the pretreatment stage, a magnetic separator is also used to remove metal impurities from the raw materials to prevent wear on the extruder screw and die.

The second step is precise mixing. According to the formula, the pulverized grain powder, meat meal, vegetable powder, and vitamin and mineral premix are poured into a twin-shaft paddle mixer and stirred for 5-10 minutes to ensure a mixing uniformity of over 95%. Uneven mixing will result in the loss of some nutrients in the dog food, affecting the dog's health. After mixing, the raw materials enter the pet food processing machine's feed inlet through a sealed conveyor pipe to avoid secondary contamination.

The third step is the core extrusion and maturation process, the soul of the dry process. The dry extruder requires no additional water or steam; it relies entirely on the high-speed rotation of the screw (300-600 rpm) and the intense friction between the screw and the extrusion chamber to generate high temperature and pressure, allowing the raw materials to mature at 120-160℃ and 3-8 MPa. The high temperature kills over 99% of harmful bacteria such as Salmonella, while the high pressure fully gelatinizes the starch (gelatinization rate over 85%) and moderately denatures the protein, improving the dog food's digestibility and absorption rate. Simultaneously, the raw materials are ejected from the small holes of the Dog Food Extruder die, instantly releasing pressure to form porous, crisp granules. The die hole diameter can be adjusted according to needs (2-8mm) to produce dog food suitable for dogs of different sizes.

The fourth step is drying and cooling. The extruded dog food granules have a moisture content of approximately 20%-25%, and need to enter a mesh belt dryer. They are dried in a hot air environment of 80-100℃ for 15-20 minutes to reduce the moisture content to below 12%, extending shelf life. The high-temperature granules (above 60℃) after drying must immediately enter a cooling machine, where forced air circulation cools them to room temperature to prevent residual heat from causing the granules to become damp and moldy. The final step is screening, grading, and packaging. Unqualified broken granules and oversized granules are removed, and qualified dog food is packaged into sealed bags, completing the entire dry production process.

Throughout the process, the performance of the Pet food making machine for home directly determines the quality of the finished product. A high-quality dry extruder has multi-zone temperature control, which can precisely adjust the temperature of the extrusion chamber to avoid scorching or undercooking of raw materials; the wear-resistant alloy screw ensures long-term stable operation and reduces equipment maintenance costs.

 

 

 

MIKIM's fish feed pellet production lines and supporting machinery offer excellent value for money. Not only are they affordable, eliminating middlemen markups and allowing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and fish farmers to purchase complete sets of equipment at reasonable costs, but they also boast exceptional efficiency. The fully automated process, from raw material crushing and precise ingredient mixing to extrusion pelleting and maturation, is completed in one continuous flow. This results in high starch gelatinization rates and uniform pellet formation, significantly improving production efficiency and feed quality, truly achieving "low cost, high output." Choosing a MIKIM fish feed pellet production line means enjoying comprehensive pre-sales and after-sales service, including 24-hour online customer support, a one-year warranty on the entire machine, professional on-site installation, commissioning, and maintenance, and a stable supply of spare parts. Customers can buy with confidence and use with peace of mind, with both excellent value and service quality!!!

 

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1. What is the price of the pet pellet extrusion equipment?

The price ranges from approximately $1,500-$55,000

2. Do you provide maintenance services for your customers?
Yes, we offer comprehensive after-sales maintenance services to our customers.

 

If you would like to learn more about MIKIM machinery, please contact us. We offer one-stop service and welcome your inquiries!!!

 

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