Most owners are not sure what kind of dog food to buy. Some rely on hearsay, some look at the margin of preference. In short, there is a lack of judgment criteria with scientific basis. What we can say is that in addition to whether dogs like to eat or not, there are other factors that must be investigated. It is important to learn to peel off the skin of dog food and measure its internal quality.
1、 Understand the production process and select high-quality dog food
Grinding raw materials into powder
Grind the raw materials into fine particles in proportion for further processing. The function is to grind and mix the raw materials evenly, so that dogs can absorb balanced nutrition.
Add water to agglomerate the powder
By adding water, various nutrients are tightly agglomerated together, and high temperature makes nutrients turn dark brown. After fully locking the nutrients, it is extruded and cut into small particles.
Cut into granules and puff
Through the expansion process, dog food particles are formed, so that dog food becomes crisp, nutrients can be preserved, and full expansion is more conducive to the absorption and utilization of nutrients by dogs.
2、 What color is it?
Have you paid attention to the color of the dog food you bought? The normal color of dog food is dark brown, similar to the color of soil. If you buy colorful dog food, it may be added with pigment. Which color of dog food is better?
3、 Experts uncover secrets
A uniform color is more ideal
Look carefully at the surface of dog food for color difference or spots? The first step in the production of dog food is to grind all kinds of raw materials into powder and then process them. The single grain dog food itself will be mixed with raw material powder particles of different colors. If there is no color difference on the surface of single grain dog food, it may be the result of adding artificial pigment.
Overall, the color of dog food surface is relatively consistent. In terms of production process, the color of dog food surface is uniform, indicating that the equipment for producing dog food is more advanced and the process is more optimized.
B colorful is meaningless
In the second step of producing dog food mentioned above, it can be seen that normal dog food should be dark brown.
Colorful dog food shows that pigment is added to the raw materials. It should be noted that if edible pigment is used, it will not harm the health of dogs. If artificial color is used in the production of dog food, the safety of dog food cannot be guaranteed.
Color is meaningless to the dog's appetite, as long as it meets the owner's preferences and increases the cost of dog food (cats have a preference for color, so adding safe pigment is meaningful to cats).
C the darker the color, the better
Generally, the darker the color of dog food, the more animal raw materials. Therefore, dark dog food "material" is more sufficient.
4、 Is the surface smooth?
Observing the surface of dog food, experts tend to prefer slightly coarse and dry particles. The fine particles on the surface of dog food are the original ground raw material powder. In order to hide the true face of inferior raw materials, grinding raw materials into very fine powder in the initial stage of production is a common means used by manufacturers.
5、 Is it oily?
Touch the surface of dog food with your hand, you should be able to feel the oil. Many owners will believe that the more oil on the surface of dog food, the more material the dog food, and the better the quality of dog food. This is not the case.
For real good dog food, the amount of oil on the surface should not be too much. The oil in dog food is evenly distributed in dog particles. If there is too much surface oil, there may be problems in the production process.
6、 Convenient detection method
Use oil absorbent paper to absorb the oil on the surface of the dog food, and then put the dog food on the paper without oil and let it stand for 1 hour. If the oil is precipitated on the surface of the dog food again, it shows that the fat is not only distributed on the surface of the dog food, but also exists in the interior of the particles.
7、 Is the smell attractive?
It is a common way to choose dog food by personally smelling the smell of dog food.
Quite different from what most owners think. If you find that the smell of dog food smells good and feels delicious, this dog food may actually add too many artificial fragrances on the surface of the spray, so that the owner (rather than the dog) thinks the taste of dog food is alluring.
8、 The most important process in expansion and production
Puffing is the most fundamental process in the production of dog food. Puffing can not only vaporize the water in the raw materials, so as to prolong the preservation time, but also increase the taste. More importantly, the nutrients in the dog food with better puffing degree will be more conducive to the digestion and absorption of dogs. Therefore, the level of expansion process is very important for dog food.
