There is provided a method of manufacturing a dry pet food, comprising receiving (10) unprocessed meat, grinding (11, 14) the unprocessed meat, forming (15) the ground meat into a slab or a plurality of strips, passing (16) the formed meat through a steam cooker and cutting (17) the meat into chunks, and drying out (18, 19) the chunks.

The present application is directed to a system and processing method for fractionating pre-formed forage hay bales into a fractionated leaf portion and a fractionated stem portion. More particularly, the system involves grinding, chopping and shredding bales, and fractionating the chopped and shredded bales using a shaker table and grate assembly, into a fractionated leaf portion and a fractionated stem portion using a shaker table. The resulting fractionated leaf portion and fractionated stem portion can then be further processed into pellets for animal feed products, or the fractionated stem portion can be re-baled. Pelletization includes customizing the size of the pellets and the addition of additives to the pellets according to customers specifications for customized animal feed products. Pellets derived from the fractionated leaf portion and the fractionated stem portion are then packaged, typically in bags, for storage and transport.

High Specific Mechanical Energy extruder screw assemblies (14, 88, 98) and complete extruders (10, 86, 96) are provided, which include wide-flight intermediate screw sections (104) having axial flight widths greater than the flight widths of the inlet and outlet screw sections (102, 106) on opposite sides of the intermediate sections (104). The intermediate sections (104) provide increased friction and shear serving to enhance the SMEs imparted to comestible food materials during processing thereof.

The present invention relates to a method of treating a raw feed material, the method comprising a grinding step, an enzymatic treatment step, and a drying step, wherein the raw feed material is ground to obtain a meal in the grinding step, water is added and mixed into the meal to obtain a mixture, which is then subjected to an enzymatic treatment step with an enzyme preparation, to obtain an enzymatically treated mixture. The enzymatically treated mixture is dried in the drying step. The grinding process is adjusted in such way as to deliver a meal that has a particle size, measured as d50, between ≥100 μm and ≤1000 μm, whereas water is added to achieve a total water content of between ≥15% w/w and ≤40% w/w.

An apparatus and method for processing grain material to generate a consistently high densified grain with a desired length, shape and size. The densified grain processing apparatus comprises a die assembly, a cooling assembly and a break-off assembly. The method includes receiving the grain material by the die assembly and forcing the grain material through an extrusion passageway that evenly distributes the grain material into a plurality of orifices thereby producing a high density shaped grain before the grain material exits the die assembly. A coolant is pumped to a coolant passage by means of an at least one pump and cools the shaped grain by passing the shaped grain through at least one of the cooling tube inside a cooling chamber. The break-off assembly then breaks off a predetermined length of the shaped grain.

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 flighting (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.

A system and method for flaking. The system includes a stationary roller, and moveable roller, and an adjustable fixator applying tension between the stationary and moveable rollers. The fixator includes a pressure transducer and a linear indicator. The transducer and indicator allow the fixator to read pressures and make fine adjustments to the fixator to obtain a desired gap between the two rollers.

A system according to various embodiments can include a source for supplying a material to be treated, an extruder, at least two screws, and a drive coupled to the screws for axially rotating the screws. The extruder includes an inlet for receiving the material, which is fed therein in a controlled manner. The screws are provided within the housing of the extruder. The screws have a plurality of compression and release stages that create mechanical heat which is directly applied to the material to change the mechanical properties of the material thereby facilitating a conversion of a physical state of the material from a non-compactable state to a compactable state as the screws rotate and move the material longitudinally along the screws to produce a final product, for example, a feed tub for use as an animal feed.

A system and method for flaking. The system includes a stationary roller, and moveable roller, and an adjustable fixator applying tension between the stationary and moveable rollers. The fixator includes a pressure transducer and a linear indicator. The transducer and indicator allow the fixator to read pressures and make fine adjustments to the fixator to obtain a desired gap between the two rollers.

A process to remove the glucosinolates of oilseed meals, such as Brassica carinata oilseed meals, is provided. In one embodiment, exogenous myrosinase is used to convert the glucosinolates to volatile isothiocyanate compounds, which can then be removed under conditions of mild heat and negative pressure. In another embodiment, heat and pressure are used to remove glucosinolates from Brassica carinata oilseed. The processed meals may contain less than 80% of their starting levels of glucosinolates and may be suitable for use in various applications, including as animal feeds.