The Pet Food Taste-Tester

How does Simon Allison, a senior food technologist responsible for pet produce for British retailer Marks & Spencer, select food to carry for the store? Why, he taste-tested them, of course:

"You have to chew it a bit.

"I have trained my palate to look for materials that we will not allow in the recipe, such as tripe – pet owners react badly to the smell of tripe. "I’m looking for a patè texture, almost to the point where you could spread it on crusty bread."

His favourite is the organic luxury chicken dinner with vegetables for cats. "It has the taste and aroma of chicken and some of what you call the red flavours – things like heart and liver; gutsy, savoury notes. "Then you get a mealy, green pea, pulse aroma and occasionally a sweeter note from the carrot."

Link – via Wrongorama (a neat new blog "where what shouldn’t be is." It’s like Neatorama but for things that are just … well, wrong.) – Thanks Alex!