Minimal Processing in Freshpet Cat and Dog Food

Freshpet uses simple, all natural ingredients that have never been cooked or modified beforehand in any way to create healthy pet food. The ingredients in most conventional dry and wet pet foods go through considerable processing before they even arrive at the pet food factory. Most dry pet foods begin with grains or meat meals, which have already been dehydrated. These ingredients are extruded at high temperatures with high pressure and finally dried to high temperatures.

Not only do we use unprocessed ingredients, but we also take great care in gently cooking our natural dog and natural cat food. Our cooking method ensures our products are safe, but with the least amount of processing. The key is to heat the ingredients to the minimum temperature required to control spoilage and then quickly cool them.

Gentle cooking is particularly important in meat-based foods, because many amino acids break down quickly when overheated. Our healthy, all-natural pet food recipes are subject to one third less processing than conventional pet foods. This maintains the nutritional integrity of the ingredients, so the essential vitamins and minerals are retained in the food.

Here’s a behind the scenes look at how one of our newest recipes, Freshpet Select Roasted Meals for Dogs, is created.