For dogs, the most popular type of pet food is dry and—as
you might expect—each brand tends to vary in moisture and ash content as well
as in ingredient composition. Therefore, to ensure the highest quality product,
commercial pet food manufacturers must carefully monitor the ingredients,
mineral levels and moisture content in their pet foods to maintain a high level
of consistency. Traditionally these measurements have been made using AOAC
approved methods that require ovens or furnaces. Although these methods provide
reliable and accurate results, they also often require long testing times,
which can greatly reduce a manufacturer’s ability to control quality during
production.
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Quality Control
In order to help improve quality and consistency during
production, new rapid loss‐on‐drying and loss-on-ignition instruments such as
the Computrac® MAX® 5000XL Moisture, Solids and Ash analyzer are able to
produce the same consistent results as traditional methods in a fraction of the
test time – 1/10 of the time for moisture testing Computrac MAX 5000XL Moisture
and Ash Analyzerand 1/7 of the time for ash testing. These instruments allow
for linked testing, meaning that you can perform both moisture and ash testing
with just a single sample, and are able to provide measurements while the test
is still running. These intra-test measurements give users the opportunity to
review a complete profile of the product being analyzed while the test is being
performed.
The improvements that rapid loss-on-ignition instruments
have made over legacy methods are particularly valuable. Ash content testing
content has traditionally required high temperature furnaces to burn off the
organic materials present in the sample. However, even the smallest of errors
in sample handling and preparation when performing high temperature testing can
lead to poor analysis. Not only can the
Computrac® MAX® 5000XL provide more accurate measurements than these older
methods, but it is also easier to use and capable of providing in‐situ
measurements of samples.
Testing
For moisture and ash analysis, two different brands of dry
dog food were tested using the Computrac® MAX® 5000XL high temperature ash
analyzer. The instrument has a linked test feature which allows for multiple
testing types to be performed in series using a single sample. This feature was
used to perform both moisture and ash analysis. The reference testing was
conducted using a convection oven for moisture analysis and a muffle furnace
for ash analysis.
Sample Preparation
Each brand of dog food was processed using a coffee grinder
then stored in a mason jar. This was done to increase surface area and prevent
moisture from evaporating, respectively. The sample was evenly transferred to
the sample pan using a metal sampling scoop.
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