Accurate & Reliable Pet Food Manufacturing Asset Management Solution

With this RFID solution, the asset management of your cat or dog food manufacturing facility can be done simply by having an employee walk through it while holding a handheld computer with an RFID reader, which tracks the tagged assets.

What It Can Track

Our RFID system can track all cat and dog food manufacturing assets including:

• Ingredients such as meat, salt, meat broth, stabilizers and more
• Packaging materials such as lids, cans, containers, boxes and bags
• Producing machines such as blenders, cookers and meat processors
• All sorts of moving supplies such as carts and trolleys
• Office supplies, such as printers, copiers, fax machines, computers, tablets and more
• All other assets your facility may utilize

An RFID tag needs to be attached to each asset, which will then be read by a handheld RFID reader held by an employee within range of the tag.

The Cat and Dog Food Manufacturing Industry

Cat and dog foods are specially produced foods that are suited to the nutritional needs and preferences of these two animals that are commonly kept as pets all over the world. Typically, these foods consist of meat and its by-products, grain, vitamins and minerals, cereals and other necessary ingredients to keep the pets healthy and nourished. The average pet owner has a wide variety of more than 3,000 food products, such as dry, semi-moist or canned types, to choose from. In addition to this, there are also treats including biscuits and kibbles that are produced for the satisfaction of the pet.

The ingredients that go into the foods must respond to the nutritional needs of the pet, therefore there are multiple types and components of these products manufactured in factories and then sold in shops. For instance, byproducts of meat, poultry, seafood, feed grains and soybean meal are the primary ingredients of pet food most of the time. The animal parts that are usually used for cat and dog food products include bones and cheek meat, as well as organs such as intestines, kidneys, liver, lungs, etcetera. There are some ingredients, such as cereal grains, soybean meal, corn meal and cracked wheat, which are mainly used in order to improve the quality of a product, as well as to decrease the cost of raw materials used. Liquid ingredients may include blood, water or meat broth, among other items. Salt, preservatives, stabilizers and gelling agents are generally needed most of the time in order to ensure superior quality and a long shelf-life. The most obvious difference between canned and dry foods is the amount of moisture each of them contains. Canned foods, for example, contain between 70% to 80% moisture, since they are generally made from fresh meat products, whereas dry foods typically contain no more than 10% moisture. Ingredients may vary depending on the type of pet food and the needs of the animal – for example, pet owners may want to invest in foods with specific ingredients and qualities for their pet if it has a health condition, due to which it has certain dietary requirements.

With the exception of ingredients, the general manufacturing process of pet food is similar to that of processed foods. The flesh products used in pet foods must first be rendered or processed in order to separate all of the components they are composed of. Generally, the meat is rendered by different companies and then shipped to pet food manufacturers. The meat products intended for canned food must be delivered fresh and used within three days. Frozen meat products, however, may be used for dry foods. The manufacturing process itself for both dog and cat foods involves grinding and cooking the flesh and the other products. Once this has been done, the meat is mixed with the other ingredients. The finished product is then filled into different types of material for packaging and shipped to retailers and distributors.

The innovations in pet food processing and packaging have led to many improvements in the quality of the food, for example giving it a longer shelf life. Canned pet foods that are vacuously packed have a shelf life of three to five years, with high stability and low to almost no nutritional value. Dry cat and dog food, on the other hand, has a shelf life of only ten to twelve months, despite its inclusion of preservatives.