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March 10 2022 - News
Pet parents are increasingly looking for healthy pet food made from pure and high-quality ingredients. Lamb meal is a typical ingredient that is an excellent source of high-quality protein and other essential nutrients. IQI specializes in supplying lamb meal as a high-quality pet food ingredient and offers year-round availability of this seasonal product sourced from Australia and New Zealand.
Our lamb meal is made from side-stream products of the lamb meat processing industry, which are not utilized for human consumption. This makes it a sustainable option by preventing food waste. To ensure the highest quality for use in pet food, the lamb meat products are further processed and dried to remove most of the water. This creates a more nutrient-dense product that is rich in nutrients. The end result is lamb meal that consists of 55-62% proteins, 16-24% minerals, and 10-15% fats.
At IQI, we only supply clean lamb meal of the highest quality. Our lamb meal departments in Coevorden (Europe) and Tracy California (North America) specialize in the screening and cleaning of lamb meal. Before processing the lamb meal, as a safety precaution, we firstly check the quality of the product when ingredients are delivered to our distribution and warehousing facilities. The near infra-red machine checks the protein, fat, ash, and moisture content. If all values are within specification, we start the cleaning process.
The first step in the cleaning process is to remove any large pieces of metal in the lamb meal, using a magnet. In the next step, our new Rotex sieve system efficiently takes out larger plastic, wool, and bone fragments, as well as other foreign bodies, using a large screening surface and Gyratory Reciprocating Motion. Following this, the clean flow magnet uses a strong magnetic force to remove most of the remaining small metal pieces, and the bullet magnet removes most of the fine metal dust. The final step in our cleaning process is the Safeline machine, which removes most non-ferrous and stainless-steel particles.
Our extensive cleaning process ensures better digestibility and improves the handling of the product for our customers. Finally, if the customer requests it, we add a natural antioxidant to the cleaned lamb meal, such as Verdilox or Termox. This is an important step to keep lamb meal peroxide levels low and extend shelf life. The lamb meal is finally stored in bulk in silos or in big bags. The end result of our process is a clean, high-quality lamb meal product, with guaranteed safety and functionality, which can be used directly for pet food applications.
Besides our own quality control and processing, IQI has a strict supplier approval program to ensure that suppliers adhere to our requirements. Important aspects that guarantee quality in the processing of lamb meal include the right grinding sizes for meat meal products, and the correct installation to prevent salmonella contamination. IQI will carry out pre-audits and on-site visits to determine in which areas suppliers need help to develop or improve their quality programs, make recommendations, and show what is needed to deliver the high quality expected by today’s pet food customers.