Have You Considered… What Freeze-Drying Preserves

There are two common methods for removing moisture from a food ingredient to create a shelf-stable product: freeze-drying and dehydration. They are not the same process. They do not produce the same result. Most pet food packaging does not tell you which method was used — and in many cases, the distinction matters more than the ingredient itself.

What each process does

Dehydration applies heat — typically between 130°F and 160°F — to evaporate moisture from the ingredient. It is effective. It extends shelf life. It is also a process that degrades heat-sensitive nutrients, including certain amino acids, enzymes, and omega-3 fatty acids. The ingredient that enters a dehydrator and the ingredient that emerges from it are nutritionally different.

Freeze-drying removes moisture through a different mechanism entirely. The ingredient is frozen, then placed in a vacuum chamber where the frozen water sublimes — converting directly from ice to vapour without passing through a liquid state. The process occurs at low temperature, which means heat-sensitive nutrients are not exposed to the conditions that degrade them.

What enters a freeze-dryer and what emerges from it are nutritionally far closer to the same thing.

Why it matters for salmon specifically

Wild-caught sockeye salmon is valued nutritionally for its omega-3 fatty acid content — specifically EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), both of which are associated with skin health and coat condition in dogs. These fatty acids are heat-sensitive. Dehydration degrades them. Freeze-drying preserves them.

A dehydrated salmon treat and a freeze-dried salmon treat may contain the same ingredient. They do not contain the same nutrition.

The shelf-life trade-off

Freeze-drying is more expensive than dehydration and produces a shorter shelf life than some heat-processed alternatives. Les Friandises has a shelf life of six months unopened and thirty days once opened. This is not a manufacturing limitation. It is the consequence of a processing decision made in favour of nutritional integrity over extended storage.

The treat you are buying was made to preserve what was in the ingredient. Not to outlast it.

The label question

When a pet food label says “freeze-dried,” confirm that is what it means — not “freeze-dried coating” over a dehydrated base, which is a common formulation in the category.

The full process matters, not the marketing term applied to part of it.

Les Friandises is freeze-dried in full. Wild-caught sockeye salmon, processed once, by one method, to preserve one thing: the ingredient as it was found.