How Is Dog Food Made? Inside the Kibble Process

Most dog owners have never seen how the food in their dog's bowl is actually produced. The short version: the majority of dry dog food sold in the UK is made by extrusion—a high-pressure, high-temperature process that turns a ground mixture into finished kibble in a matter of seconds.

Understanding how it's made explains a lot of things that confuse owners on the shelf: why kibble is shelf-stable for a year, why "fresh chicken" at the top of an ingredients list can be misleading, and why almost every kibble is sprayed with something after it's cooked.

Quick Answer

Most dry dog food is made by extrusion: ingredients are ground into a flour-like mix, combined with water and steam, then forced through a screw-driven extruder under high pressure and heat. The mixture expands as it exits, is cut into kibble shapes, dried, and then coated with fats and palatants to make it appealing. Heat-sensitive vitamins are added after cooking, since the extrusion stage would destroy them. In the UK, this process and the resulting nutrition claims are governed by FEDIAF guidelines and enforced through Trading Standards.

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The 7 stages of making kibble
Kibble isn't the only method
Why kibble is sprayed after cooking
What the ingredients list really tells you
How UK dog food is regulated
How to judge quality for yourself
FAQs

The 7 Stages of Making Kibble

Stage	What Happens
1. Formulation	A nutritionist sets the recipe to hit specific protein, fat, fibre, vitamin and mineral targets for the intended life stage.
2. Grinding	Dry ingredients (meat meals, grains, pulses) are milled into a fine, flour-like consistency so they cook evenly.
3. Mixing	The dry mix is blended with water, steam and any wet ingredients into a dough.
4. Extrusion	The dough is forced through a heated screw barrel under high pressure. Starches gelatinise, proteins denature, and harmful bacteria are killed.
5. Shaping & cutting	The mixture expands rapidly as it exits the die and is cut to size by rotating blades — this is where kibble gets its shape and its airy texture.
6. Drying	Moisture is reduced to roughly 8–10% so the food is shelf-stable and resists mould.
7. Coating & packing	Fats, oils, palatants and heat-sensitive vitamins are applied to the outside, then the food is bagged and sealed.

🟦 Did You Know?

The extrusion stage itself is remarkably fast—the dough is typically inside the extruder for well under a minute. The high temperature and pressure serve two purposes at once: cooking the starches so they're digestible, and acting as a kill step for pathogens like salmonella.

Kibble Isn't the Only Method

Extruded kibble dominates the market because it's cost-effective and shelf-stable, but it's one of several manufacturing routes.

Method	How It's Made	Trade-Off
Extruded kibble	High-heat, high-pressure extrusion	Affordable and shelf-stable; highest heat exposure
Cold-pressed	Compressed at much lower temperatures	Gentler on nutrients; breaks down differently in the stomach
Baked	Oven-baked in sheets, then broken up	Denser, less airy kibble; typically smaller production runs
Wet / canned	Sealed in the can, then heat-sterilised	High moisture, very palatable; higher cost per calorie
Air-dried / freeze-dried	Moisture removed slowly at low temperature	Minimal heat damage; significantly more expensive
Raw (frozen)	Minimally processed, frozen rather than cooked	No heat processing; requires strict handling and hygiene

The UK raw pet food sector has its own dedicated manufacturing guidelines, developed alongside Defra, the Animal and Plant Health Agency and the Food Standards Agency, precisely because raw production carries different handling risks to cooked food.

Why Kibble Is Sprayed After Cooking

This is the part most brands don't advertise. Extruded kibble on its own is fairly bland and unappealing to dogs. After drying, manufacturers apply a coating of fats, oils and palatants—flavour enhancers, often derived from animal digest—to the outside of each piece.

There are two reasons this happens at the end rather than in the mix:

Palatability. The coating is what makes kibble smell and taste appealing. It's applied last so the flavour sits on the surface, where the dog encounters it immediately.
Nutrient protection. Several vitamins are heat-sensitive and would be degraded by extrusion temperatures. Adding them after cooking means the finished food still meets its declared nutritional levels.

🟨 Myth vs Reality

Myth: "My dog loves this food, so it must be high quality."
Reality: Palatability is engineered at the coating stage and is largely independent of ingredient quality. A dog enthusiastically eating a food tells you the palatant works—it doesn't tell you much about what's underneath it.

What the Ingredients List Really Tells You

UK ingredient lists are ordered by weight at the time of processing—and that single detail is responsible for a lot of confusion.

What You See	What It Actually Means
"Fresh chicken" listed first	Weighed before cooking, when it's roughly 70% water. After processing, far less of it remains in the finished food than its position suggests.
"Chicken meal" listed first	Already rendered and dried before weighing, so its listed position more honestly reflects its share of the final product.
Several similar ingredients listed separately	Splitting one ingredient type across multiple entries can push each individual entry further down the list, even if the combined total is substantial.
"Meat and animal derivatives"	A permitted generic category term. It isn't automatically low quality, but it tells you nothing about the species or the cut used.
"With chicken"	Descriptive wording is governed by minimum-percentage rules, and "with" typically signals a much smaller inclusion than the wording implies.

For a deeper look at specific ingredients worth avoiding, see our guide on dog food ingredients to avoid.

How UK Dog Food Is Regulated

UK pet food manufacturing sits under a substantial regulatory framework—the industry is governed by dozens of separate pieces of legislation covering ingredients, additives, hygiene and labelling.

The key bodies and standards:

FEDIAF — the European Pet Food Industry Federation, whose Nutritional Guidelines set the nutrient levels UK manufacturers formulate against, and whose Guide to Good Practice covers safe manufacturing. These are peer-reviewed by independent veterinary nutritionists.
UK Pet Food (formerly the PFMA) — the UK trade body, which publishes sector codes of practice including dedicated guidelines for raw pet food production.
Trading Standards — responsible for enforcement, with the Advertising Standards Authority handling misleading marketing claims.

Legally, a food labelled "complete" must supply all the energy and essential nutrients a dog needs, in the correct amounts. That's a meaningful guarantee—but it's worth knowing that compliance isn't universal.

🟥 Worth Knowing

A 2017 UK study analysing the mineral content of foods labelled "complete" found that only a small minority of wet foods, and well under half of dry foods, fully complied with FEDIAF guidelines across the minerals tested. Enforcement relies on Trading Standards, which is not resourced to monitor the sector closely. This is one study rather than a definitive verdict on the whole market—but it's a reasonable argument for choosing brands that publish full analytical data and use fixed formulas.

How to Judge Quality for Yourself

Green Flag	Red Flag
Named protein sources ("chicken meal", "salmon")	Vague terms only ("meat and animal derivatives") with no further detail
Declares a fixed formula rather than variable recipes	Recipe changes batch to batch depending on ingredient prices
Clear life-stage statement (puppy, adult, senior)	No life-stage guidance at all
Full analytical constituents published openly	Marketing claims with little supporting nutritional data
Labelled "complete" for the relevant life stage	"Complementary" food fed as if it were a complete diet

Life stage matters as much as brand: see our guides on transitioning a puppy to adult food and when to switch to senior food.

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Frequently Asked Questions

How is dry dog food actually made?

Ingredients are ground into a fine mix, blended with water and steam into a dough, then forced through a heated extruder under pressure. The mixture expands and is cut into kibble, dried to around 8–10% moisture, then coated with fats, palatants and heat-sensitive vitamins before packing.

What is extrusion in dog food?

Extrusion is a high-temperature, high-pressure cooking process where dough is forced through a screw-driven barrel and out through a shaped die. It cooks the starches, makes them digestible, and kills harmful bacteria in one step.

Why is kibble sprayed with fat?

Extruded kibble is bland on its own. Fats, oils and palatants are applied after drying to make the food appealing, and heat-sensitive vitamins are added at the same stage because extrusion temperatures would otherwise degrade them.

Does "fresh chicken" first on the label mean more meat?

Not necessarily. Ingredients are listed by weight before processing, and fresh meat is mostly water. Once cooked, far less remains than its top position suggests—whereas "chicken meal" is already dried before weighing.

Who regulates dog food in the UK?

UK manufacturers formulate against FEDIAF nutritional guidelines, follow codes of practice published by UK Pet Food, and are enforced by Trading Standards, with the ASA handling misleading advertising claims.

Does "complete" dog food legally mean it has everything?

Yes—a food labelled "complete" must legally provide all essential nutrients in the correct amounts for its target life stage. Research has found compliance isn't universal, so brands publishing full analytical data are a safer bet.

Is cold-pressed or raw food better than kibble?

Not automatically. Each method trades off differently between heat exposure, cost, convenience and handling risk. What matters most is that the food is complete for your dog's life stage and suits them individually—your vet is the right person to advise on that.

How Dog Food Is Made