All of your Animal Product Needs in One Place

best-private-label-pet-food-mfgLocated in Milton Vermont, we specialize in producing & packaging premium quality extruded products for dogs and cats. Our Product Development team is available to help you bring your new product ideas to market with an emphasis on safety & quality. We are pleased to offer low minimum order size requirements to facilitate the launch of new products for our customers.

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Green Mountain Animal, LLC is a complete one-stop shop for all your custom formulation needs for companion animal health products and treats. We are experts in innovative formulation and product quality with the ability to manufacture and source a wide variety of delivery options—including extruded chews, extruded sticks, tablets, capsules, powders, gels and liquids—for your unique product.

As a contract manufacturer of animal health products and treats, we pride ourselves on our commitment to quality and safety throughout the manufacturing process. Contact us today to learn how we can help you create your custom animal health product or treat.

 

Why Work with Green Mountain Animal, LLC?

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  • Science-based company led by seasoned industry and technical experts
  • Custom formulations with low minimums and competitive prices
  • Private label manufacturing of innovative, consumer driven products
  • Core leadership in National Animal Supplement Council (NASC)
  • USA-based manufacturer
  • We keep our promises

Product Development

Our experienced product development team can assist you with formulating your custom products to make a product that dogs and cats will crave while working within your budget.

Samples

To ensure that your products meet your standards for flavor and texture, we will make small sample batches for you to review. We know your time is valuable so we pride ourselves on our ability to make samples quickly using our small laboratory equipment and our full size extruders.

Compliance

Dale Metz, CEO of Green Mountain Animal, is the Vice President and a founding member of the National Animal Supplement Council. With his 14 years of experience working with the FDA and Center for Veterinary Medicine, we can help you navigate the confusing world of regulatory compliance.

Palatability

Green Mountain Animal has relationships with many of the animal rescue groups in our area so we have an ample supply of taste-testers to give us feed back on our flavors. The best formula in the world will not do any good if the animals will not eat it!

Flexibility

We know that you have great ideas for your new products so our facilities allow for a variety of packaging options to suit your needs. Our equipment can handle small or large batch sizes so you do not have to make a major volume commitment when launching a new product.

Full Service

From formulation and ingredient sourcing to packaging and shipping, Green Mountain Animal does it all to provide you with a finished product that is ready to put on the store shelf.

 

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Tag Archives: Pet Food Manufacturing

Pet Food Manufacturing: Key Elements

It’s no surprise that pet food manufacturing is a lucrative industry in a country, including over 175 million dogs and cats. Pet food comes in various forms, including kibble, wet, and freeze dried choices, and is designed primarily for home animals. Pet food manufacturing methods are similar to human food, with strict regulations and cleanliness protocols to ensure product safety.

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Pet food manufacturing was never safer or more efficient, thanks to today’s standards in safe handling, safety systems, and traceability practices. Here are the critical elements involved in pet food manufacturing for you to understand the process better:

Common Pet Food Ingredients Used in Manufacturing

Pet food is made to supply maximum nutrition to your pet at any age. This means that pet food must be made with safe and healthy ingredients. Moreover, you should work with reliable suppliers to ensure you get the best raw ingredients. Working with a reliable supplier guarantees traceability and visibility if a raw product fails to meet safety standards.

Most pet foods are made up of a combination of meat breakdown products, vegetables, and grains. Although raw pet ingredients are strictly regulated, pet food frequently contains animal parts unsuitable for humans to consume. The GAPFA defines modern pet food ingredients as “animal parts excess supply to the human food industry requirements.” By-product meals include liver, lung, kidney, and numerous meat by-product meals.”

Designed Facilities for Pet Food Manufacturing

Pet food manufacturers should design their facilities with proper hygiene and sanitary measures, such as hand washing and sanitization features, disinfectants, and healthy airflow, all through the facility to keep pets healthy and workers safe.

Quality Materials – Stainless steel machinery is used in every reliable pet food manufacturing company. This is because stainless steel is simple to clean and sanitize and is long-lasting and rust resistant. Furthermore, stainless steel machinery is frequently customizable, allowing you to ensemble your facility for peak effectiveness and flow.

Hand washing Facilities –Washing hands is essential in any food manufacturing plant. Giving your workers properly marked and accessible stations prevent cross-contamination and keep harmful bacteria at bay.

Protective Coating – It is advisable to install special covering on facility walls that handle raw ingredients, especially raw meat products. This prevents bacteria from concealing in nooks and crannies and makes cleaning easier.

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Monitoring Ingredients throughout the Manufacturing Process

To maintain safe and healthy practices, ingredients must be monitored at every production stage. For proper monitoring, the following aspects should be taken into account:

Arrival: When ingredients start arriving at a facility, double check that all packaging is preserved and that the ingredients are managed to keep at the correct temperature during transportation. You should also ensure that the transport vehicle is washed properly or sanitized before loading ingredients.

During Manufacturing: Once the ingredients arrive at your facility, it is your responsibility to ensure that they are adequately performed to remove dangerous bacteria. This usually includes cooking ingredients at a high enough temperature that harmful bacteria cannot survive. This “kill step” is defined by the Pet Food Institute as “the occasion in the manufacturing process that eradicates potentially deadly pathogens.” Additionally, amenities should be routinely inspected for the presence of specific pathogens as well as metals during the manufacturing process.

Traceability:  protocols are the most efficient way to ensure stable food safety. These practices include checking product shields, performing merchandise quality checks, testing product PH, running tests for bacteria, and guaranteeing that ingredient sources deliver high-quality raw materials. Implementing traceability practices enables you to discuss challenges that come during manufacturing more quickly.

Pet Food Manufacturing: Conclusion

Pet food manufacturing is a long process that entails a lot of procedures and security protocols that should be taken care of at every cost. If you are looking for the most reliable pet food manufacturers, get in touch with our experts at Green Mountain Animal, as we provide pet food manufacturing in small and bulk quantities.

Contact us today, we would love to hear from you!

GREEN MOUNTAIN ANIMAL LLC
75 Catamount Drive
Milton, Vermont 05468
802-752-4738

Pet Food Manufacturing for Pet Stores

Want to know more about pet food manufacturing for pet stores? According to the Pet Products Association in the USA, pet owners spent a staggering sum of $72 billion on their pets last year. $30.32 billion from that amount was spent on pet food. According to forecasts given by the 360 market study, there will be an increase of 3.1% in the pet food market by 2024. According to several other reports, it is stated that pet owners are less concerned with the expenses they incur on pet foods and are more concerned with the quality of the food they purchase. Meanwhile, another analysis proved that a quarter of the sales industry is occupied by natural pet foods.

The picture is very clear over here. There is a massive amount of investment in keeping our dear pets healthy and well-fed.

Pet Food for Pet Stores – Healthy Pet Food

If we observe closely, you’ll see that pet stores are quick to discover to which side the natural food and human specialty trends are leaning. We all want clean, healthy and qualitative food not just for ourselves but for our pets well. Just like our personal preferences have shifted towards natural, organic ingredients, pet owners also have firmly embraced the trend of clean, fresh ingredients for their animals in the same way.

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These are the trends that are the key factors in driving success for small businesses. The trend surge of health consciousness in pet owners has now opened up great opportunities in the market for all small but aspiring business owners.

Pet Food Manufacturing for Pet Stores

Years ago, pet food was created from scraps that were gathered from the floors, but the times have changed. Thanks to today’s pet food manufacturers, a lot of thought and care is put into sourcing premium quality vegetables, grains, and meats and a number of other ingredients that are required for producing pet food. The process is as precise and thorough as it is when leading producers create foods for our consumption.

Automation is another key factor that matches the sophistication of the leading plants producing human foods in modern pet food facilities. But the similarities don’t end here. Pet foods ditto human foods in the way that they are susceptible to revisions arising from faulty labeling, contamination, food fraud and several such hazards. According to a nonprofit, Wisconsin-based agricultural organization, the quality of pet foods can significantly vary in brands and also normally contain unnecessary additives.

Whereas false health claims and cheap food substitutes are concerned, there really is no great difference between the leading world markets for human foods and the industry for pet foods. However, according to a renowned institute for pet food, we are given the assurance that member companies of the PFI have a series of rigorous quality assurance reviews to undergo. These start off with the raw ingredients and end with the finished, shelved products being tested.

Among the key factors for operation include how raw materials are utilized and how cost efficiency is formulated. For a processor, it is very challenging to be able to alter the conditions of processing and formulate the raw materials so as to maintain as a minimum a cost as possible. It is also important to maintain the high quality of standards at the same time as keeping the costs minimum.

The selection of ingredients heavily impacts the texture of the final product, the nutritional quality, economic viability, extrudability, and uniformity.

Pet Food Ingredients

Starch

This is the primary component of carbohydrates in pet foods. Starch levels can range from a mere 5 percent to as much 60 percent in the formulation. One of the most important energy sources in pet foods is starch.

Protein

An important thing to remember during extrusion in pet food formulation and processing is that cereal grains alone are insufficient in providing the amino acid balance required for body maintenance and proper growth. Thus, to ensure a diet complete with nutrition, proteinaceous ingredients are essential. These ingredients often comprise of 25 to 70 percent of the entire formulation. Proteins are categorized into animal and plant resources often.

Fat

Lipids and fats are two more wonderful energy sources in pet foods. There can be an increase of 30 percent in fat levels but they usually stay less than 20 percent of the entire recipe’s composition. If the extrusion process is conducted at 20 percent low moistures and 150 degree C high temperatures, there is a possibility that lipid-protein and lipid starch complexes will take shape.

Fiber

Another common feature in the markets these days is pet foods with reduced calories for inactive and obese pets. There are significant levels of hemicelluloses and cellulose included in these diets. Extrusion conditions usually fall short in affecting the obvious digestibility factor of dietary fiber. However, there are hydration properties and bulk densities included in the fibrous ingredients that are quite unlike traditional ingredients. They require alternative processing conditions and extruder configurations.

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Minor Pet Food Ingredients

Among the most important elements in the minor category are vitamins. Every vitamin possesses its individual characteristic behavior during the thermal process and some lack of stability in storage. The stability of vitamins is affected by pressure, moisture, temperature and shear during the extrusion cooking process. The fairly stables ones are vitamins A, D and E in the fat-soluble vitamins, although there have been experiences of around 15 to 20 percent losses. The single greatest effect comes from the moisture level of extrusion of the vitamins retained. So the general rule here is that higher concentrations of vitamins are retained by higher levels of moisture.

Contact us to meet all your needs for animal products in one place.

GREEN MOUNTAIN ANIMAL LLC
75 Catamount Drive
Milton, Vermont 05468

802-752-4738
drmetz@grnmtnanimal.com
​ctomat@grnmtnanimal.com