Tuffy’s Pet Foods’ Pet Food Manufacturing Facility, Perham, Minnesota, US

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Tuffy’s Pet Foods commissioned a new pet food manufacturing plant in Perham, Minnesota, in September 2015. Credit: KLN Family Brands. The new manufacturing plant marks Tuffy's expansion in Perham. Credit: Arkyan. The new plant produces dry dog and cat food kibble. Credit: aopsan / Free Digital Photos.net. Tuffy’s Pet Foods, the pet food manufacturing division of KLN Family Brands, opened a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in the city of Perham, Minnesota, in August 2015. The $70m investment, which is an expansion to the existing plant in Perham, is aimed to meet the changing expectations in the pet food industry in terms of food and microbiological safety, by expanding and upgrading the company’s production facilities. The new purpose-built facility provides the safest environment for food safety, efficiency and flexibility, and meets the stringent requirements of the current pet food market. Established in 1964, Tuffy’s Pet Foods produces dry dog and cat food kibble for its own national brands, NutriSource, Pure Vita and Natural Planet as well as for other co-manufactured products. The current plant is the company’s only plant in Perham that produces pet food. Pure Foods announced plans to establish its US headquarters and manufacturing facility in Kingsport city in Tennessee in March 2015. The 130,000ft² state-of-the-art manufacturing facility houses completely segregated processes and is equipped with the latest, technologically advanced equipment. It comprises approximately 180,000ft² of production and warehouse space. The processing and packaging areas in the plant are made of pre-stressed concrete walls with a rubber roof. The plant features four packaging lines with packaging systems designed to be flexible for blending and conveying. Of the four, two lines will be moved from the existing facility and a new high-speed large line and a new small line with a bundler will be installed in future. Three extrusion lines have been installed at the plant initially and enough space is provided to accommodate a fourth extrusion line in future. The plant has the capacity to produce more than 180,000t of product, which is 50% more than the original facility. Once the new plant becomes fully operational, the old plant will be converted into a warehouse and an expansion of soft moist treat capacity. The new facility was designed to keep in view food safety at every step. The layout clearly divides employee traffic flows, air flows, and state-of-the-art cooking, drying, coating, cooling and conveying equipment. While streamlining the processes, the basic plan focuses more on food safety and efficiency. The expansion makes the plant the first pet food plant in the US to greatly reduce or eliminate bio-contamination. It increases the plant’s capacity and efficiency and enables it to meet the increasing demand for both the company-owned brands and other private label products. It also improves the plant’s capability to produce super-premium products that include an expanding range of premium and exotic protein sources. Tuffy’s Pet Foods follows daily practices to reduce, reuse and recycle. It also recycles all the corrugated items that are not used in production. It mostly uses products made of recycled paper, plastic and glass in its offices. Even in the new plant, the company strives to reduce environmental footprint and waste. Tuffy’s Pet Foods has been in the industry for more than four decades. It produces a variety of products including dry dog and cat food and approximately 85,000t of pet foods a year. It creates a positive impact on the economy of Perham by purchasing a number of ingredients used in making pet foods from local growers. It uses state-of-the-art equipment to develop and produce products with nutrition backed by extensive research and quality testing. It employs approximately 100 people at the Perham plant.

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