Every manufacturer has been there, and the pet food industry is no different. A line gets clogged, a part breaks, or something gets stuck somewhere along the way and before you know it, you’re shutting down the line to identify and fix the problem. It’s frustrating, but it’s also costly. Estimates vary widely, but with a low starting point at $10,000 per hour, it can eat into your profits pretty quickly.
The great news for pet food manufacturers is that there is one avoidable cause of shutdowns: standard chicken fat. In this blog, we’ll outline why a switch to Gold Shield® Refined Chicken fat can minimize shutdowns and the high costs associated with them.
Why Standard Chicken Fat Can Cause a Production Shutdown
Standard chicken fat is composed of materials that have been gathered from a poultry processing facility. And that gathering process is relatively indiscriminate. The material can contain both natural and external impurities or foreign materials. (We’ve even seen gloves and other pieces of clothing in customers’ standard chicken fat deliveries.)
Now, imagine all those things traveling through the pipes and hoses on your production line. If you’re lucky, the impurities are small and can pass through. But in many cases, it can become lodged somewhere along the way, clogging your machines and ultimately shutting down your production line. Here’s what typically happens next:
- Employees spend valuable production time trying to trace the clog
- Once the clog is located, parts are dismantled, cleaned and put back together so the line can be fired back up
- Meanwhile, pet food that was in some stage in the manufacturing process may be at risk of completion, causing excess waste and additional monetary loss
Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat to the Rescue
The story we’ve written above isn’t a hypothetical tale. We’ve seen it happen. But to take a step back, we’ve also seen the gunk and impurities that cause it. Standard chicken fat is visibly cloudy, with a glob-like consistency. Bottom line, you can see the impurities, so it’s easy to understand how this type of material could cause a challenge on your pet food production lines.
When it comes to Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat, we approach things quite differently:
- We start with premium product. We source our standard chicken fat from a select group of suppliers who provide us with a higher quality that is less likely to contain significant impurities or contamination from Salmonella and Bird Flu.
- The Gold Shield® refining process not only removes impurities, it also removes the non-fat components in standard chicken fat which removes the nutrients necessary for Salmonella growth.
- We deliver a clean, clear product to your facility. You experience the double benefit of production efficiency resulting from minimized shutdowns, and also the safety associated with the elimination of Salmonella growth.
You’ll often hear us say “the difference is clear.” This applies to:
- The product itself. Take a look at Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat versus standard chicken fat. You’ll see it right away.
- The ease at which it travels through your production lines.
- The purity that you’ll apply at the end of the high temperature kill step in the extrusion process.
Gain Efficiency in your Pet Food Manufacturing with Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat
With Gold Shield® on your production lines, you’ll minimize costly shutdowns when machines clog due to the gunk (and junk) in standard chicken fat and eliminate the wasted product and lost sales opportunity that results when production stops. This can lead to long-term cost-savings, less wear and tear on your equipment leading to longer equipment life, and a smoother process for your employees working the lines. You can do better for your brand – and your production efficiency – with Gold Shield® Refined Chicken Fat.
