North American Renderers Association

Abstract Textural and instrumental color quantitative data of consumables is often kept confidential by manufacturers, making it limited and difficult to find. These data are also important for product development and further sensory analysis to understand preferences and acceptability of purchasers. Between January 2019 and September 2020, 7,200 pet food products were launched worldwide. With a wide variety of pet treat brands and product types on the market, differentiation is necessary from a consumer purchase experience and physical characteristic preference perspective. The objective was to collect quantitative data on textural characteristics and instrumental color of whole-muscle jerky treats from 4 commercially available brands. Four whole muscle jerky treat brands were purchased for analyses: brand 1, brand 2, brand 3, and brand 4. Textural analyses included a three-point bend test for hardness (g), the maximum force required to break the sample; flexibility (mm), the displacement of the sample until it fractures; and stiffness (g per mm), resistance to bending; and the Warner-Bratzler test assessed firmness (g), the maximum force needed to shear the sample; and toughness (g per second), the peak positive area under the curve. Instrumental color was measured using a HunterLab MiniScan EZ spectrophotometer in terms CIE color space, L*, representing lightness on a range from black to white; a*, denoting redness ranging from green to red; and b*, representing yellowness ranging from blue to yellow. Data were analyzed as a 1-way ANOVA using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS ver. 9.4, and least square means were separated using the PDIFF option. Brand 2 was significantly harder (P < 0.0001), and stiffer (P < 0.0001) than the rest of the brands, and Brand 4 was the most flexible (P = 0.0006). Brand 4 treats were the darkest, and brands 1 and 3 were among the brightest (P < 0.0001), although brand 3 was still similar to brand 2. Brand 3 expressed the greatest redness values and brand 4 the least (P < 0.0001). Brands 1, 2, and 3 were similar in yellowness and were all more yellow than brand 4 (P < 0.0001). When manufacturing pet treats, the goal is to achieve an appropriate texture, not soft enough to compromise its durability and integrity during manufacturing, packing, transportation, and retail, but soft enough to appeal to pet owners and dogs alike. These data will aid product developers by providing quantitative information that will eventually lead to corollary consumer sensory panel analysis to determine pet owner preferences and acceptability.

Abstract Approximately 31 million tons of animal by-products are generated by livestock and poultry farming, meat processing, and retailing in the U.S. and Canada each year. Utilizing rather than discarding these resources prevents the release of large amounts of GHGs into the atmosphere. Renderers reclaim the carbon from these by-products and transform them into 6.3 million tons of refined animal fats and 8.9 million tons of rendered protein meals for use as animal food ingredients annually. In 2019, 1.5 million tons of rendered protein meals and 289 thousand tons of animal fats were used in pet food, and another 1.83 million tons of fresh and frozen meat and poultry by-products and organ meats were used in pet food without first being rendered. Rendering cookers break down tissues so that fats can be pressed out of muscle, bone, and connective tissues. Rendered products are safe from biological hazards as cooking is done at higher temperatures for longer times than necessary for food safety. The Prioritization of food safety in both rendering and pet food industries in recent years have delayed emphasis on some quality factors. Many citations in literature document that excessive heat damages proteins and decreases their quality and digestibility. Research is planned to provide guidance to renderers on cooking procedures that would meet the needs for processing and food safety without sacrificing quality and digestibility. Other factors that impact the availability and usability of rendered products include parts available for rendering after fresh parts are selected for pet food, upstream human food safety interventions, time and temperature conditions between slaughter and rendering, cooling, drying, storage, transport, and the use of antioxidants, antimicrobials, and other processing aids. Opportunities exist to modernize plants and processes to provide high quality ingredients. Renderers have invested with the pet food sector to collaborate on strategies to improve safety, quality, and sustainability of pet food ingredients.

The rendering industry collects and safely processes approximately 25 million t of animal byproducts each year in the United States. Rendering plants process a variety of raw materials from food animal production, principally offal from slaughterhouses, but include whole animals that die on farms or in transit and other materials such as bone, feathers, and blood. By recycling these byproducts into various protein, fat, and mineral products, including meat and bone meal, hydrolyzed feather meal, blood meal, and various types of animal fats and greases, the sustainability of food animal production is greatly enhanced. The rendering industry is conscious of its role in the prevention of disease and microbiological control and providing safe feed ingredients for livestock, poultry, aquaculture, and pets. The processing of otherwise low-value OM from the livestock production and meat processing industries through rendering drastically reduces the amount of waste. If not rendered, biological materials would be deposited in landfills, burned, buried, or inappropriately dumped with large amounts of carbon dioxide, ammonia, and other compounds polluting air and water. The majority of rendered protein products are used as animal feed. Rendered products are especially valuable to the livestock and pet food industries because of their high protein content, digestible AA levels (especially lysine), mineral availability (especially calcium and phosphorous), and relatively low cost in relation to their nutrient value. The use of these reclaimed and recycled materials in pet food is a much more sustainable model than using human food for pets.