Pet Food Processing Equipment for New Zealand: Mixing, Coating, Screening and Freezing

Pet food is one of New Zealand’s quieter export success stories, spanning premium dry kibble, wet food and meat-based treats. Producing it consistently, with even nutrition, reliable coating and no contamination, depends on the processing equipment. Advanced Packaging Systems (APS) supplies and supports much of that equipment through its partner brands, covering the mixing, coating, screening, conveying and freezing stages of pet food processing across New Zealand.

Dinnissen Vacuum Coating System

The Pet Food Processing Chain

A dry pet food line moves from raw material intake and grinding, through mixing and (for kibble) extrusion and drying, to coating, cooling, screening and packing. Wet foods and meat-based treats add cooking and freezing steps. Extrusion and drying aside, most of these stages rely on processing equipment that APS supplies: grinding and mixing of dry ingredients, vacuum coating of finished kibble, screening and metal control, hygienic conveying, and freezing of wet and treat products.

Grinding and Mixing Dry Ingredients

The nutritional consistency of pet food starts with even grinding and blending of meals, powders and other dry ingredients. Dinnissen supplies hammer mills for grinding raw materials to a controlled particle size, and Pegasus® paddle mixers for blending them into a homogeneous recipe. Even distribution of vitamins, minerals and other micro-ingredients through the mix is what ensures every portion delivers the intended nutrition.

Dinnissen Hammer Mill with feed system

Vacuum Coating of Kibble

Coating is where much of a kibble’s palatability and nutrition is added — fats, oils, vitamins and palatants applied after extrusion. The Dinnissen Pegasus® Vacuum Coater applies these liquids under vacuum: releasing the vacuum draws the coating deep into each kibble rather than leaving it on the surface, so more can be added while keeping the product dry and manageable. Vacuum coating improves nutrient uptake and palatability, reduces surface stickiness, and allows quick recipe changes and cleaning between products — useful for producers running several formulations on one line.

Screening and Metal Contamination Control

Screening protects both product quality and the animals that eat the food. Russell Finex vibratory sieves and separators screen incoming powders and check-screen finished product to remove foreign material and oversized particles, while a Russell Easy-Clean Magnetic Separator™ removes ferrous metal picked up during grinding, mixing or conveying. Dinnissen centrifugal sifters handle higher-throughput dry screening where required. For exporters, this layered contamination control is an important part of meeting destination-market standards.

Russell Finex Magnetic Separator

Hygienic Conveying

Kibble and treats are moved between process stages on conveyors that need to be strong, open and easy to clean. Wire Belt stainless steel conveyor belting carries product through coating, cooling and inspection, with an open mesh that drains and cleans readily and a flat surface that handles small and irregular pieces without loss. The range spans light open-mesh belts through to heavy-duty modular belts for higher loads.

Freezing Wet Pet Food and Treats

Meat-based treats and wet or raw pet food often need freezing, and space on a factory floor is limited. Ashworth spiral conveyor systems carry product through a freezer or chiller on a compact spiral, freezing at throughput in a small footprint. The same spiral conveying principle is used for cooling and proving in other food sectors, and suits the continuous, hygienic operation pet food producers need.

Ashworth Spiral Freezer

Packing

Once processed, pet food is filled and sealed into bags, pouches or trays. APS supplies filling and packaging equipment through its partner brands, so the processing and packaging stages of a pet food line can be specified and integrated through a single local supplier.

Pet Food Processing in New Zealand

Advanced Packaging Systems supplies and integrates Dinnissen, Russell Finex, Wire Belt and Ashworth equipment for New Zealand pet food producers, and supports it locally with advice, installation, spare parts and servicing from its Auckland base. Whether the requirement is grinding and mixing, vacuum coating, contamination control, conveying or freezing, the APS technical team can specify the right equipment for the product and integrate it into the food processing line. Contact APS to discuss pet food processing equipment for a new line or an upgrade.