ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE September 2024 99 Palatability is a crucial aspect of pet food: pet parents want their companion animals to enjoy their meals and are more likely to purchase highly palatable pet food, thus enhancing brand loyalty. In this article, we will explain how Free Fatty Acids (FFA) are related to the freshness of certain poultry raw materials used in complete dry kibbles recipes and how FFA influence palatability in pet food. FAT AND FREE FATTY ACIDS IN PET FOOD Fat and Pet Food Fat is largely present in pet food: it is coated onto kibbles to increase caloric intake and enhance palatability (in conjunction with palatability enhancers). Fat is also present in Processed Animal Proteins (PAP or animal meals) included in pet food recipes. PAP and animal fat used in pet food production are mainly produced via rendering, where they are extracted from Category 3 Animal By-Product (ABP) from human food meat production (Viscera, Carcasses, Skin, Heads, legs…)1. Free Fatty Acids and Fat Triglycerides are the primary fat molecules: they are esters made of glycerol molecules and long carbon chain carboxylic acids, the fatty acids. Free Fatty acids (FFAs) are released upon enzymatic or pH-dependent non-enzymatic hydrolysis2. In enzymatic hydrolysis, the bond between fatty acids and glycerol can be broken by lipases, enzymes produced by bacteria naturally present on crude raw materials before fat and PAP production in the rendering process3. The ester bond can also be broken during the rendering process itself. This article will focus on the FFAs produced before the rendering process takes place. It is also worth noting that, once the animal fat is well-separated, purified and stored in good conditions, the content of free fatty acids in fat should remain constant. In addition, FFAs in finished PAP meal are normally stable after rendering processes. Free Fatty Acids Measurement FFAs in fats are measured by titrating the sample with a solution of 0.1N potassium hydroxide in the presence of a phenolphthalein indicator to monitor the endpoint of the volumetric titration. The results are often expressed as % of Oleic acid4, commonly referred to as percentage of acidity. TESTING THE PALATABILITY OF FAT WITH DIFFERENT AMOUNTS OF FFAS Producing Fat with Different Levels of Freshness To test the effect of raw material freshness on palatability, several batches of fat were produced from the same batch of crude raw material but with IMPACT OF INGREDIENTS’ FRESHNESS ON CAT AND DOG DRY PET FOOD PALATABILITY Ivan Marchioni Technical Service Manager Kemin Nutrisurance EMEA
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTUxNjkxNQ==