METHOD FOR PRODUCING A PREDOMINANTLY MEAT-BASED ANIMAL FEED PRODUCT AND CORRESPONDING ANIMAL FEED PRODUCT FOR CARNIVOROUS ANIMALS

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing a predominantly meat-based animal feed product. The invention also relates to a predominately meat-based animal feed product which can be obtained according to the claimed method, to the use of the claimed predominately meat-based animal product as food for carnivorous animals.

Claims

1. A method for producing a predominantly meat-based animal feed product with a content of at least 20 wt % meat relative to the total weight of the animal feed product, comprising the steps of: a) charging a cutter (5) for producing an animal feed precursor with ingredients comprising at least one meat having a temperature equal to or lower than +25 C., b) mincing the ingredients to form a feed precursor with a moisture content of 30 wt % to 60 wt %, c) optionally, drying the feed precursor until a moisture content of 5 wt % to 40 wt % is reached, d) shaping the optionally dried feed precursor into particles between 0.5 mm and 8 mm in size, e) conching the particles of the optionally dried feed precursor into an animal feed mass, optionally with one or a plurality of components selected from the group consisting of cheese, milk powder, cream powder, liver sausage, and fat, and f) shaping the animal feed mass into a predominantly meat-based animal feed product and optionally cooling said predominantly meat-based animal feed product to a temperature of between 1 C. and 25 C.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the feed precursor according to step b) is shaped.

3. The method according to claims 1, wherein the particles in step d) are obtained by crushing of the feed precursor.

4. The method according to claims 1, wherein after conching, the meat-based animal feed product is shaped by means of a roller former.

5. The method according to claim 1 one of the previous claims, characterized in that wherein the ingredients for producing the feed precursor are used in a completely or partially frozen form.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of vegetables, cereal, potatoes, and glycerol are added to the ingredients for producing the feed precursor before mincing.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein if fat is added in conching, before adding said fat, at least one additive selected from the group consisting of flavoring agents, natural or synthetic dyes, inactivated yeast or yeast extracts, plant extracts and/or concentrates, preservatives, sugars, and functional ingredients is added.

8. A predominantly meat-based animal feed product obtainable by a method according to claim 1.

9. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said meat-based animal feed product has a compressive strength of between 235 kPa and 309 kPa.

10. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claims 8, wherein said product has a fat content between 5 wt % and 70 wt %, a protein content between 10 wt % and 50 wt %, an ash content of between 2 wt % and 20 wt %, and a pH between 5 and 6.5.

11. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product has a moisture content between 2 wt % and 35 wt %.

12. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product is shaped into pieces.

13. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product is shaped into bite-sized pieces.

14. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product is shaped into drops, stars, or hearts.

15. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product is sealed in a foil package.

16. The predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to claim 8, wherein said product is sealed in a tubular bag package, a stand-up pouch, a hollow shell package, or a can.

17. The method according to claim 2, wherein the feed precursor is shaped by extrusion.

Description

[0050] In the following, the invention is described in further detail with respect to an illustrative embodiment that serves only to explain a possible embodiment and by no means limits the scope of the invention.

[0051] FIG. 1, which is the only figure, shows a schematic diagram of the production of a predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to the invention. First, the ingredients of the group meat are placed in the cutter 5. These ingredients are located in containers 2 and optionally 3 (if separate containers, e.g. for meat of different animal species, are provided) and are conveyed from there to the cutter 5. There are also further containers for vegetables 6 or cereal 7 or potatoes 8 or glycerol 9, which can be added to the meat-based ingredients. 4 denotes perforated disks that are upstream from the cutter 5 and are used to crush at least the meat-based ingredients for producing the feed precursor. After mincing in the cutter 5, the feed precursor is conveyed to an extruder 10 for extrusion. From the extruder 10, the shaped feed precursor is fed into a dryer, denoted by 11. A mill 12 is connected thereto, which for example grinds the extruded dried strands of the feed precursor into particles having an average size von 0.5 mm to 8 mm. For example, the particulate dried feed precursor is introduced via a tube into a conching machine 13, wherein further containers are provided, for example for cheese and liver sausage, the contents of which can be supplied via feed lines to the conching machine 13 (the further containers and their feed lines are not shown in FIG. 1). A further feed line is provided for the feeding of fat (also not shown in FIG. 1). A second extruder 14 connected to the conching machine 13 can also be provided. By means of corresponding nozzles, it is possible to produce a shaped, predominantly meat-based animal feed product according to the inventions 1e.g. as drops, hearts, or stars. The size of the predominantly meat-based animal feed product 1 is selected so that it can be optimally consumed by the respective carnivorous animal species; for example, the diameter is approximately 1 cm for cat drops, while it can be approximately to 4 cm for dogs. After leaving the extruder, the final product, i.e. the predominantly meat-based animal feed product 1, is sent on to processing and/or packaging units, denoted here collectively by 15.