Measure the texture of petfood and animal feed
Learn how a Texture Analyser can be used to measure the textural properties of petfood and animal feed in a range of different ways.
Why measure the texture of petfood and animal feed?
The scientific measurement of texture in pet food and animal feed is pivotal for optimising products and staying competitive in an industry where discerning pet owners seek quality and palatability.
Pet owners prioritise their animals' well-being, spurring investments in pet food and accessories. Meanwhile, animal feed manufacturers face intense competition and financial constraints, making it essential to enhance existing products.
Achieving the right balance of nutritional content, palatability and texture is crucial. Manufacturers already invest in sensory testing, akin to human food production, but supplementing it with objective instrumental analysis provides comprehensive insights into feed palatability and potential commercial success.
How a Texture Analyser can be applied to petfood and animal feed texture measurement?
Texture is essential in both pet food (for acceptability) and animal feed (for digestibility and handling). Here's how a Texture Analyser can be applied:
- Product innovations: As brands innovate with new flavours or formulations for sustainable and alternative ingredients, the Texture Analyser ensures these meet the desired textural standards before market introduction.
- Texture profiling: Whether it's crunchy kibble or moist pâté, different pet foods exhibit unique textural attributes. A Texture Analyser provides objective data on hardness, crunchiness, chewiness, and more.
- Effects of additives and preservatives: Texture analysis ensures that the addition of certain additives for shelf life extension or nutritional enhancement doesn't negatively impact texture.
- Palatability testing correlation: While true palatability tests involve the animal's response, texture analysis can provide data that, when combined with palatability tests, can guide formulation.
- Pellet integrity: In animal feeds, especially aquaculture, it's crucial that the pellets maintain integrity in water. A Texture Analyser can measure the breakdown rate.
- Quality assurance and control: Ensure every batch maintains consistent texture, which can affect palatability in pets and feed efficiency in livestock.
- Optimising formulations: When introducing new ingredients or changing ingredient ratios, understanding the resulting texture changes can be crucial.
- Shelf life assessment: Over time, pet food, especially moist variants, may undergo textural changes, affecting freshness. Regular texture measurements can help predict and improve product shelf life.
- Comparative analysis: Manufacturers can objectively compare their product's texture to competitors', aiding in product differentiation.
- Packaging interactions: Some packaging methods might affect pet food texture over time. Texture analysis aids in selecting the best packaging solution.
- Claims substantiation: If pet food products are marketed with specific textural descriptions like "crunchy treats" or "soft chews," a Texture Analyser provides the necessary empirical evidence.
- Regulatory compliance: In some regions, there may be texture or consistency standards that pet foods must meet. Regular testing ensures adherence to such standards.
In essence, the integration of a Texture Analyser in the pet food and animal feed industry ensures products are not only palatable but also meet quality, safety, and health standards. This boosts brand reputation, trustworthiness, and ultimately market success.
Typical measurements
Here are the primary texture properties a Texture Analyser can measure for pet food and animal feed:
Hardness/compressibility/crush force
Measures the force required to break or compress the product. For dry kibbles or pellets, hardness can influence chewing behaviour in pets and can be adjusted based on the target animal's size and age.
Crunchiness/crispiness
Quantifies the force and sound produced when breaking the product, relevant for certain dry pet foods.
Fracturability/brittleness
Indicates the force or energy needed to shatter or break the feed, which can influence consumption rates, especially in livestock feed.
Springiness/resilience
Measures the rate at which a deformed product returns to its original form, relevant for certain chewy pet treats.
Gel strength
For pet foods with a gel-like consistency, this quantifies the force required to deform the gel to a certain extent.
Break strength/snapping force/flexibility
Measuring the break strength, snapping force, or flexibility of pet food involves evaluating the resistance of the product to breakage, bend or fracture when subjected to mechanical stress.
Cohesiveness
Assesses how well the feed or pet food holds together during the biting or chewing process.
Chewiness
For softer, chewable treats or foods, this evaluates the energy needed to masticate the product to a state suitable for swallowing.
Adhesiveness/stickiness
Evaluates the product's tendency to stick to the mouth, teeth, or mechanical probes, which can influence palatability. Important for pet treats or pastes to see how they'll be accepted and handled by pets. It also measures the product's propensity to adhere to itself, which can be relevant for certain wet pet foods or feed pellets.
Toughness
Measures the energy required to chew through the product, particularly relevant for certain chewy treats or rawhide products.
Tensile strength
Measuring the tensile strength of pet food products e.g. dog chews, pack materials, packaging seals involves subjecting the product to a controlled pulling or stretching force until it reaches the point of fracture or separation.
Consistency
Faecal matter
Utilising a Texture Analyser allows petfood and animal feed manufacturers to capture objective, repeatable measurements of these textural attributes to optimise not only the palatability but also the mechanical functionality during handling, storage, and dispensing.
Typical graphs indicating relevant texture parameters
Typical product test and graph
Case studies
Whether its providing the solution for Royal Canin to characterise their wet petfood texture, allowing Nestle to measure their animal litter clumping or offering a method for the University of Zagreb to measure the biomechanical properties of animal bones, a Texture Analyser is adaptable and flexible in its application to measure the bespoke texture of your product and then enable its quality to be controlled in your manufacturing to guarantee consistency and customer satisfaction.
You might also be interested in:
- How does Mars Petcare measure the textural characteristics of dental products? Watch this amazing video of their chewing robot on a TA.HDplus Texture Analyser in action
- Watch how Eurofins use their Texture Analyser and explain 'The strategic importance of texture analysis in petfood development and testing'.
With deep expertise in petfood and animal feed texture analysis, we’re well equipped to support innovation in this sector – just ask our customers.
Probes and attachments for measuring the texture of petfood and animal feed products
A wide range of probes and attachments can be integrated with our instruments, allowing testing to be precisely adapted to the material or product under evaluation. Applications include compression tests to compare kibble firmness, bending tests to assess dog biscuit fracturability or an Ottawa Cell to measure the textural properties of wet catfood.
Over the years, we have collaborated with leading scientists and organisations across diverse industries to design and refine attachments that meet highly specific testing requirements. When a suitable solution does not already exist, we develop one – expanding our portfolio of Community Registered Designs and reinforcing our commitment to innovation in solving complex testing challenges.
The examples provided illustrate a selection of specialised attachments and commonly performed measurements within this application area. This list is not exhaustive; a wide range of additional options are available for the testing of petfood and animal feed products. All instruments in the Texture Analyser range can be used to perform the tests described.
Ottawa Cell
Used for determining the compressibility, and therefore the ease of chewing, of dry petfood in a bulk compression test.
Multiple Puncture Probe
This probe has an averaging effect on products of variable particulate size or texture without the need for very high forces to be applied.
Three Point Bend Rig
This rig reveals the break point, demonstrating hardness and brittleness or flexibility of dog biscuits or snack sticks.
Kramer Shear Cell – 5 Bladed
Multiple shearing tests overcome sample variability in meat based products. Available with 5 or 10 blades.
Tensile Grips
Used for the assessment of seal strength (to ensure sterile integrity of packaging).
Self-tightening Roller Grips
To measure tensile strength of packaging where slippage at the grip face is a problem.
Cylinder Probes and Compression Platens
Compression of cat food or fish pellets tests for product hardness or softness which may be vital to palatability.
Back Extrusion Rig
This test makes unpleasant manual assessments obsolete by providing an objective imitative assessment of faecal consistency.
Test methods
Exponent Connect software includes a comprehensive range of test methods for petfood products, all instantly accessible at the click of a button. We streamline your texture testing process, ensuring faster access to methods and ready-to-use analysis files for your product properties.
Using the Texture Analyser for new petfood and animal feed ingredient and product ideas
The pet food and animal feed industry is experiencing rapid innovation, largely driven by pet owners' increased attention to their pets' health and welfare and the need for sustainable and efficient livestock farming practices. Here are some of the newer ingredient and product ideas in petfood and animal feed research, development, and production and a typical academic reference to show how the Texture Analyser has already being applied:
Alternative proteins
There's a growing interest in sustainable protein sources for pet food, such as insect-based proteins, fungi-based proteins, and plant-based proteins. These sources are seen as environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional meat.
Grain-free and limited ingredient diets
Many pet owners are looking for grain-free options or foods with limited ingredients to address allergy concerns or dietary sensitivities.
Clean label movement
Just as in human foods, there's a trend toward simpler ingredient lists and avoiding synthetic additives in pet foods.
Aquaculture feeds
With the growth of the fish farming industry, there's research into more sustainable and efficient feed for farmed fish.
Human-grade and premium ingredients
As pet owners increasingly view pets as family members, there's a demand for high-quality, human-grade ingredients in pet food.
Functional ingredients
Incorporating health-beneficial ingredients into pet food, such as probiotics, prebiotics, antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids, and joint supplements.
Sustainability
Sustainable sourcing of ingredients, upcycling ingredients (using food by-products), and eco-friendly packaging.
Alternative animal feed additives
Use of seaweeds or specific botanicals that can reduce methane emissions from ruminants, helping to combat climate change. Use of novel petfood supplementary ingredients can add beneficial nutrients to existing compositions.
Fermented and processed feeds
Fermentation or specific processing techniques can improve the digestibility and nutrient availability of animal feeds.
Customisable pet foods
Offering tailor-made pet food blends based on the specific needs, age, breed, or health concerns of individual pets.
