COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University will host its 4th annual practical short course on extruded pet foods and treats July 8-11, 2019 in College Station, Texas. The main objectives of the three-day course are to provide training to production personnel on the principles and characteristics of extruders and support systems, to review practices for preparing pet foods and treats, and demonstrate extrusion equipment in pet food manufacturing.

Other topics to be covered include meat handling, nutrition, feed formulation, hardware, product analysis, food safety, raw materials, shelf life, preconditioning, troubleshooting and more. Participants will get hands-on experience through discussions and demonstrations of single- and twin-screw extruders. More than 20 lectures will be led by industry professionals, who will be available throughout the course for one-on-one interaction with those who attend.

Pet Food Processing Editor Jennifer Semple attended the practical short course in July 2018.
A handful of Texas A&M faculty and staff members will present topics throughout the course. Other speakers will represent industry leaders such as Wenger, Baker Perkins, Schenck Process and Kemin Nutriscience to name a few. Leah Wilkinson, vice president of public policy and education for the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), will speak on food safety and extrusion systems on the last day of the short course.

The educational event is organized by The Process Engineering Research & Development Center, Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, Extrusion Technologies Program and the Texas A&M University System. It will be held at Rudder Tower on the Texas A&M University campus. Learn more about the practical short course on extrusion.

Find more articles related to pet food processing operations on our Operations page.