Heat treatment, drying, milling, packing
Custom Freeze-Drying, from Raw Material to Finished Ingredient.
Heat treatment, drying, milling, and packing all happen in one USDA-inspected plant. Low MOQs: custom runs start at 500 lb.
Why freeze dry?
Sublimation, Not Evaporation.
Dehydration drives water out with heat: the food shrinks, color dulls, and heat-sensitive nutrition goes with it. Freeze-drying freezes the material solid, then draws the ice straight to vapor under vacuum, never passing through liquid.
The structure never collapses, so the piece keeps its shape and rehydrates close to what it started as.
Quality and Certifications
The run
What Happens to Your Material, in Order.
Five stages, all of them inside the same building.
1. Material arrives
Your material, or material we sourced for you, comes in under USDA inspection. Nothing enters the process as pet-downgraded stock.
2. Heat treatment
Commercial ovens raise the temperature gently to a minimum of 145°F for seven minutes. That is the pathogen kill: no high-pressure pasteurization, no chemical bath, no irradiation.
3. Prep to spec
Cutting, grinding, blending, and dicing happen here, so the piece size that goes into the dryer is the piece size your product needs. Quarter, half, and three-quarter inch dice are routine.
4. Freeze-drying
The material is frozen solid, then the ice is drawn off under vacuum by sublimation, leaving structure, color, flavor, and nutrition intact.
5. Milling and packing
Hammer or cryo milling to your mesh and density, then bulk or retail-ready packaging with sealing, lot coding, and labeling.
What we run
Materials and Formats.
Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and lamb, in muscle cuts and organs. If we can source it, we can freeze-dry it.
Organ material
Liver, heart, and kidney are the primary organs. Beyond those: female reproductive tract (FRT, also called uterine or fallopian tubes), testicle, ovary, pancreas, spleen, trachea, and thymus.
Muscle cuts
Ground, diced, shredded, or milled to powder, across beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and lamb. Turkey includes dark meat as well as breast.
Diced product
Diced beef liver and diced chicken are a growing line, particularly for pet brands that want a visible inclusion rather than a powder.
Prepared items
We have run pork sausage crumble and Canadian bacon among others, which is a different problem from drying a raw cut.
Before You Send a Spec.
Four things we will ask you, and it saves a round trip if you have them ready.
The finished spec
Powder or piece. Mesh and density if it is a powder, dice size if it is a piece, and what the material has to do in your formulation.
Volume
Runs start at 500 lb and go to 100,000 lb. Tell us where in that range you are, and where you want to be.
Material source
Are you sending material, or do you want us to source it? Both are normal.
Timing
When you need it in hand, and whether this is a one-off pilot or the start of a repeating program.
FAQ
Freeze-Drying Questions.
What is the difference between freeze-drying and dehydration?
Dehydration drives water off with heat, which shrinks the food, dulls color, and changes flavor. Freeze-drying freezes the material first and then removes the ice under vacuum by sublimation, so the structure stays intact and the piece rehydrates closer to what it started as.
The measurable difference is water activity (aw). Air-drying or dehydration typically finishes material under about 0.70 aw, which is roughly where a jerky lands. Freeze-drying usually finishes under 0.20 aw. That gap is why freeze-dried material holds a very long shelf life without refrigeration.
Can you process the material before it goes in the dryer?
Yes. Heat treating, dicing, grinding, blending, and milling all happen here under USDA inspection, and packaging happens here afterwards. Most co-manufacturers cannot combine USDA meat processing and freeze-drying under one roof, which is what forces customers to coordinate several vendors for one product.
What can you freeze-dry?
Beef, chicken, turkey, pork, and lamb, in muscle cuts and organs, as ground, diced, shredded, or powdered material. If we can source it, we can freeze-dry it.
Send Us the Material and the Spec.
Tell us what the finished ingredient has to be and how much of it you need. You will get a straight answer on whether this plant is the right one for the job.
Runs Start at 500 lb
USDA-inspected, Human-grade
Milling and Packaging in House
Prefer to talk it through? Call (970) 775-8677.