Quality Standards for Pet Food

Pet food standards cover aspects such as moisture, protein, crude fat, crude ash, crude fiber, nitrogen-free extract, minerals, trace elements, amino acids, and vitamins.

What is Pet Food

Pet food is specifically designed for pets and small animals, serving as an intermediate product between human food and traditional livestock feed. It is categorized into dry pet food, such as fish food, dog food, cat food, and treats; semi-moist pet food, such as canned pet food and homemade dog or cat food; and liquid pet food, such as pet meat paste and nutritional porridge.

Moisture Standards for Pet Food

Dry pet food is characterized by containing 80% to 90% dry matter and is typically packaged in paper, plastic bags, or cartons. It is primarily made from animal meat, wheat, corn, legumes, cheese, dried brewer's yeast, and a certain amount of vitamins and minerals, which are uniformly expanded and dried. Based on moisture content, it can be further classified into dry expanded food (moisture content generally 10%~12%), semi-moist food (moisture content generally 25%~32%), and soft expanded (soft-dry) food (moisture content generally 27%~32%). Currently, most commercially available dry pet foods are dry expanded products produced through extrusion, commonly referred to as dry kibble. Canned pet food generally contains 74%~78% moisture and is mainly composed of fresh meat, frozen meat, or animal by-products, accounting for 25%~75% of the content. Although canned pet food is designed as a complete daily diet that can be fed alone, it is often used in practice to enhance the palatability of dry food.

How to Test Moisture Content in Pet Food

The traditional method for testing moisture content in pet food involves oven drying and weighing calculations. However, due to the complexity of the operation, long processing time, and low efficiency, this method has gradually been replaced by more efficient, faster, and convenient halogen moisture analyzers in recent years. The new pet food moisture analyzer uses a high-power ring halogen lamp to heat samples, enabling uniform and rapid drying. Combined with high-precision weighing sensors and imported high-speed processors, it can quickly and accurately determine the moisture content of pet food and directly display the moisture value without manual calculation.

How to Use a Pet Food Moisture Analyzer

Testing the moisture content of pet food is very simple. First, in the 0.000 state, take 3-5g of the sample and spread it evenly in the sample pan. Then, cover the heating chamber and press the start button to begin heating. At the end of the test, the instrument will automatically display the moisture percentage.

Technical Parameters

Economy Model: XFSFY-60A, Weighing Accuracy: 0.01g, Moisture Readability: 0.1%

Standard Model: XFSFY-50A, Weighing Accuracy: 0.005g, Moisture Readability: 0.01%

High-Precision Model: XFSFY-120B, Weighing Accuracy: 0.002g, Moisture Readability: 0.01%

Weighing Sensor: Imported HBM from Germany   Data Processor: Imported ARM High-Speed Processor from the UK

Sample Pan Diameter: 110MM

Heating Temperature Range: Room Temperature - 180°C

Heating Source: High-Power Ring Halogen Lamp

Heating Modes: Standard Heating, Rapid Heating, Gentle Heating

Application Range

Pet Food Moisture Analyzers are easy to operate, convenient to use, and offer high measurement accuracy and effectiveness. They are widely used in all industries that require testing of product moisture content. Examples include grains: corn, wheat, peanuts, soybeans, sorghum, sunflower seeds, camellia seeds, rapeseeds, barley, rice, etc.; pet food: biscuits, meat sticks, dried meat strips, sausages, milk bones, chew toys, etc.; meat products: beef jerky, beef cubes, surimi, dried fish, pork jerky, pork granules, sausages, cured meats, etc.; as well as chemical materials with low moisture content, such as rubber, plastics, glass, ceramics, battery powder, and powder metallurgy materials. For samples with low moisture content, a higher-precision moisture analyzer is required to ensure the accuracy of the measurement results.