Patent ID: 8367144

Claim:
A process for preparing a pet chew comprising: a) preparing a starch-based mixture from a natural starch base, said starch-based mixture comprising: i) 50-80 wt. % of a starch component consisting of native starch or modified starch, or combinations thereof, based on dry solid weight of the mixture, ii) 18-30 wt. % of a plasticizer, based on dry solid weight of the mixture, iii) 5-20 wt. % of a fibrous material consisting of fibers, based on dry solid weight of the mixture, said fibers having a length of 60 to 300 μm, and iv) 7-35 wt. % of water, based on the weight of the mixture, and b) destructurizing the starch component of said mixture to form a thermoplastic starch-based material by subjecting the mixture to an extrusion step wherein the starch component is converted from an ordered structure to an unordered amorphous structure, wherein the pet chew is edible and biodegradable.