Why pressed pellets?

As you probably know there are two different production methods of dry dogfood. Expanding/extruding and pressing/pelleting. The biggest difference between these two forms is the absolute temperature during the production. During expanding/extruding the temperature rises to far above 100° Celsius thanks to the pressure and added heat. Because of that the food is so to speak "baked" and the hard crispy pellets arise. During pressing/pelleting the temperature does not rise above 75° Celsius.

Pressed dogfood pellets In the early days of expanding the motivation to do so was to increase the digestibility of the carbohydrates (grains). But nowadays it is possible to pre-cook the grains in advance and because the digestibility of the other raw material (proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and trace elements) will not be increased by expanding or extruding, this production method has become unnecessary and can even be judged negatively!

As mentioned above the temperature rises enormously during expanding/extruding. It is well-known out of human food, this has negative consequences to certain raw materials. The fats are especially sensitive of heating over 100° Celsius, as well as certain vitamins (like B complex). When fats are being baked (above 100° Celsius) many free fatty acids arise whom have a negative influence on the metabolism (liver). This is the cause of many skin and coat problems. This fat alteration does not occur as a result of pressing.

In addition to the above there are also other important reasons why we as Farm Food prefer pressing above expanding/extruding. Like the fact that with a good, pressed pellet the nutrients are being released more evenly. This is because the pellet dissolves slowly from the outside inwards. An expanded or extruded pellet on the other hand will absorb gastric juice and fall apart after a certain time at once. Next to the fact that a pressed pellet will not ‘float' that much, this slow dissolving is also an important reason why a good pressed dogfood reduces the chance of a bloat (Gastric Dilation-volvulus syndrome).

To illustrate the above mentioned, we encourage you to do the next amusing and clarifying experiment:

  1. Take an amount of Farm Food HE and an equal amount (in weight) of an expanded/extruded dogfood
  2. Put each food into a different glass
  3. Fill each glass with hand warm water
  4. Add a splash of vinegar to imitate the hydrochloric acid
  5. Wait a while and you will see what can happen in the dogs stomach

Now you know one of the reasons why we press our dogfood instead of expanding or extruding it!