November 12, 2009
Our foods are made using a technique called dehydration. This is a slow, gentle method of very minimally processing the food, which removes the moisture from our raw ingredients. Dehydration takes several hours, and uses warm air to ‘blow away’ the moisture. This means that the food in your pet’s bowl is free of artificial preservatives – nutrients and enzymes intact.
Dehydration is much gentler than canning or extrusion, which generally involve very high heat and pressure, which means that many of the natural nutrients in the raw ingredients are actually destroyed, so the manufacturer must replace them with dozens of artificial vitamins and minerals, in order to make the finished product meet the AAFCO nutrient profiles.
How does dehydration work?
Our fresh produce is picked at the peak of its ripeness, washed and trimmed to size. Dehydration takes several hours, and uses a giant, low-temperature ‘convection oven’ with warm air to ‘blow away’ the moisture. The dehydration process for our meats and eggs takes place at temperatures above 120 degrees to ensure that any pathogens present are destroyed, and are not technically considered ‘raw’. All other ingredients are dehydrated below 104 degrees and are still considered raw, after drying, with the exception of our potato flakes; these are dried using a slightly different process at 284°F for 5 seconds, which helps to break down the cellulose and make them more digestible. Our grains undergo ‘flaking’ in which heat (210°F) is applied to soften and stabilize them.