PET Food Processing - September 2022 - 16

PLANT PROFILE
food safety is maintained all the way through the process, "
Heussner said.
Product is usually returned to Petsource in three to
four days following the HPP process and pathogen testing
at Universal Pure. After returning to the plant, the
chubs are placed into staging coolers on the RTE side of
the facility.
When the product reaches the appropriate temperaLab
technicians
help develop new
product recipes and
run test batches
through the scaleddown
laboratory.
our food safety culture, " Heussner said. " A comprehensive
pre-op micro-swab program verifies our sanitation
effectiveness each day prior to production starting. We
have our own sanitation team with seasoned leadership
in the food processing industry that brings a wealth
of knowledge and practical experience to ensure the 8
Steps of Sanitation are completed each day. "
After passing through the ERP system, materials
move on to raw processing for pre-weighing and blending.
Product is then mixed and extruded into 8-lb chub
casings, placed into baskets, palletized and then prepared
for shipment offsite for high pressure processing (HPP) at
Universal Pure just 30 minutes away in Lincoln, Neb.
" With raw product going out, we are mindful that
It takes teamwork
As plans for the new Petsource by Scoular
facility came together in 2019, Scoular
needed to build a leadership team to run
the operation.
The management team at Petsource
includes Amy Patterson, president; Jon
Heussner, vice president of operations;
John Pawlowski, vice president of marketing;
Steven Moore, Ph.D., vice president
of research and development and
food safety and quality; Chad Kucks, vice
president of sales and supply chain; Ryan
Eccleston, vice president of finance; Pedro
DeLaPaz, plant manager; Kody Maricle,
sanitation manager; and Aida Hickman,
director of human resources.
Corporate leaders looked to the human
food side of the processing industry to
find many members of the team to support
the company's vision and successfully
operate the new manufacturing facility.
" We have a leadership team with over
100 years of food processing experience
from Fortune 100 food manufacturing
companies, " Patterson said. " Our key ingredient
for success is the ability to execute
upon that experience in a state-of-the-art
facility. Additionally, the true secret to our
early accomplishments lied with our talented
team members who work tirelessly
to support our customer orders and successfully
tackle production orders each
and every day. In a start-up environment,
our team utilizes two of our core values
each day: curiosity and perseverance. "
Heussner is one of the many Petsource
leaders bringing years of experience in
human food manufacturing to the pet
food operation. He previously held leadership
positions in operations, project
management and engineering for Tyson
Foods, Conagra Brands, Hain Celestial
Seasonings and Dean Foods.
Patterson, Pawlowski, Kucks, Eccleston
and Moore are also Conagra alumni.
" The similarities between human and
pet food manufacturing are numerous and
leveraging that knowledge was important
as we began to build our leadership team
for Petsource, " Patterson said. " The mindset
of creating food we are proud to serve
to our two-legged or four-legged family
members is consistent - we focus each
day to ensure the food we are producing
meets our food safety and quality standards
such that we'd be confident feeding it
to our own family members. "
Amy Tesinsky was brought on board as
the company's new research and innovation
manager. She provided the necessary pet
food R&D experience from her years working
for Oxbow Animal Health as a product
development and nutrition specialist and as
an associate scientist at Kemin Industries,
where she developed antioxidants and specialty
proteins for pet food.
" Understanding the nutritional benefits
of freeze-dried pet food coupled with
the opportunity to work directly with customers
to develop new products was very
appealing to me, " Tesinsky said. " Having
all aspects of freeze-dried processing under
one roof presents both convenient solutions
for our customers and ample opportunities
for research and innovation. "
ture, it's ready for forming. The product is removed from
the casing, conveyed to the grinder and then pumped into
the forming system and dispensed into various shapes.
Next, product is conveyed to the spiral freezer and
discharged into 800-lb totes after the freezing process is
complete. After one to two days in a buffer freezer, the
product moves on to the freeze-drying stage.
The totes are then dumped into hoppers and product
is weighed and discharged onto freeze-dry trays. Each
tray is hand-loaded onto a trolley, attached to an overhead
rail system, then loaded into the freeze drier one
at a time.
Each freeze-dry cycle is unique to the product formula
designed by the research and innovation team,
and creates product that is shelf stable for two years or
more. After freeze-drying is complete, trolleys are re16
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PET Food Processing - September 2022

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