Dog food tester Manhattan, Kansas Dog-food testing is not for the squeamish, because the best way to test it, claims Patricia Patterson, is to taste it. At the Sensory Analysis Center on the campus of Kansas State University, she analyses samples of dog food for flavour, of course, but also for texture. Typically, dog owners don’t like dog foods that make lots of crumbs. Patricia may conduct a test in which she compares the hard texture of a mini steak-shaped dog biscuit to seven very different human food samples: cream cheese, hard cheese, egg white, olives, frankfurters, nuts, and candy. Occasionally, she may be called on to test a competitor’s product. If, for example, another dog food manufacturer claims that their product is beefier, Patricia will have the final word on where’s the beef.

Photograph: Nancy Rica Schiff/Caters News Agency