Systems and methods for processing cattle ears into pet treats by high-pressure processing are provided. The cattle ears are covered with a liquid, such as water, and exposed to high hydrostatic pressures for about one minute. The high hydrostatic pressures remove hair and implants from the cattle ears while preserving the texture and consistency of the ears, which are appealing to dogs and other pets.

Foamed meat or fish products and methods of producing the same are provided. The methods comprise feeding a raw material comprising comminuted meat or fish and connective tissue to a dispersing apparatus. A gas is also provided to the dispersing apparatus and the dispersing apparatus operated to provide the foamed meat or fish product. The foamed meat or fish products so produced include gas bubbles having an average size of 0.1 to 7 mm.

A method of producing a jerky dog treat, comprising, tumbling, under vacuum, a mixture comprising diced chicken, salt, and water for about 5 minutes, tumbling, under vacuum, the mixture further comprising one or more additional ingredients for about 15 minutes, molding the mixture into one or more strips comprising the jerky dog treat that are placed on a screen, and cooking the one or more strips in an oven.

A pet food cooker and mixer includes a housing within which is enclosed a motor and a removable mixing pot where the mixing pot is configured with curved walls and an open top, a longitudinal axis, and an outlet at one end. A mixer blade is driven by the motor and is configured with a shaft extending along the longitudinal axis within the mixing pot, the mixer blade comprising plurality of paddles extending radially from the shaft and configured to force food material toward the outlet and a scraper arm extending outward from the shaft, the scraper arm having a scraper paddle in contact with the curved walls. An extrusion auger is also driven by the motor and is configured to force food material through the outlet. The device is also configured with a heating element for heating the mixing pot.

Apparatus and methods for food production including a food preconditioner (228) operable to heat and partially pre-cook food ingredients, and a twin screw extruder (20) operable to further cook the preconditioned ingredients to create final food products. The extruder (20) includes a pair of hollow core extrusion screws (50, 52, 124, 126, 190) having elongated hollow core shafts (54, 128, 130, 192) equipped with helical fighting (56, 132, 134, 194) along the lengths thereof. The fighting (132, 134, 194) is also of hollow construction which communicates with the hollow core shafts (54, 128, 130, 192). The fighting (56, 132, 134, 194) also includes forward, reverse pitch sections (64, 162, 216). The extrusion screws (50, 52, 124, 126, 190) are designed to impart high levels of thermal energy into materials being processed in the extruders (20), without adding additional moisture.

Disclosed herein is a process for producing an animal feed having a defined nutritional profile from food waste. The process comprises accumulating successive batches of a plurality of food wastes that have been macerated and dehydrated, every batch of each of the plurality of food wastes having been sourced from the same one of a plurality of categorized producers of food waste and maintained separately at all times from others of the plurality of food wastes; independently mixing each of the accumulated batches of the macerated and dehydrated food wastes to produce a plurality of homogenized ingredients for an animal feed; analysing each of the homogenized ingredients to determine one or more nutritional parameters of the ingredient; and blending two or more of the homogenized ingredients to produce the animal feed having a defined nutritional profile.

A pet food cooker and mixer includes a housing within which is enclosed a motor and a removable mixing pot where the mixing pot is configured with curved walls and an open top, a longitudinal axis, and an outlet at one end. A mixer blade is driven by the motor and is configured with a shaft extending along the longitudinal axis within the mixing pot, the mixer blade comprising plurality of paddles extending radially from the shaft and configured to force food material toward the outlet and a scraper arm extending outward from the shaft, the scraper arm having a scraper paddle in contact with the curved walls. An extrusion auger is also driven by the motor and is configured to force food material through the outlet. The device is also configured with a heating element for heating the mixing pot.