ELVEN, FRANCE — Symrise unveiled a new dry pet food pilot production line at its regional headquarters in France on Sept. 13. The line aims to bolster Symrise’s global position in the industry, complementing capabilities within its Symrise Pet Food division.

The pilot line will produce high-value nutritional solutions to help support pet health and wellbeing, as well as meet consumer demand. It is equipped to help meet internal R&D requirements and will assist Symrise’s customers with their own pet food production processes, according to the company.

The line will offer Symrise’s customers comprehensive support, including market insights, R&D, production process, palatability measurement and lab studies. According to Symrise, the line is set up to provide flexibility, allowing for customers to explore a range of production factors. Through the line, customers can study kibble production and matrix, palatability, and the efficiency of Symrise’s formula protection solutions.

“From an R&D perspective, this new facility brings additional possibilities for our teams,” said Alexis Peuto, innovative technology R&D manager at Symrise Pet Food. “They can directly study the kibble matrix and its production process. This way, they get a full understanding of how our palatability, pet nutrition and pet food solutions interact with kibbles of standard to premium to super premium positionings.”

The pilot line integrates the entire supply chain of dry pet food production, from raw material preparation to coating, extrusion and drying. At each stage of the process, Symrise can employ various, cutting-edge equipment solutions to study different factors that affect kibble formulas and the overall production process. The line will be supported by a palatability pilot line and lab studies that will provide additional research into formula palatability and protection.

In addition to its extensive R&D capabilities, the new dry pet food pilot line will also offer capabilities for larger-scale replication, serving as an “invaluable research tool” for pet food processors, according to Symrise. The line will provide processors with insights in the use of new ingredients, recipe changes and processing conditions, enabling them to pursue pet food research projects while also saving time and capacity. Additionally, the pilot line extends to other co-extruded products, like pet treats.

Through the pilot production line, Symrise can also provide customers with a more comprehensive overview of the pet food market, complementing Symrise’s existing capabilities in pet food product development and application, which also includes expertise in pet feeding preferences and behaviors from its Panelis measurement center.

“We now offer the greatest flexibility and instrumentation we know of,” said Bertrand de Launay, president of Symrise Pet Food. “Our dry pet food pilot production line forms the final addition to the set of capabilities we offer pet food manufacturers. We are helping them to design future foods for pets that meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

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