Provimi symposium during Victam well attended

Troost from Provimi Holding opened the symposium by highlighting some issues facing the feed industry. He addresses the importance of local research – different farmers around the world need different research. Provimi currently has 13 research stations worldwide, and with this amount the company tries to cover the need for this local research. Troost mentioned that companies are now working closer on new research. This is particularly seen in new research in finding alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters and finding new solutions to cut down methane emission from agriculture. The real challenge, said Troost, lies in exploring new quality replacements for costly ingredients (such as fish meal). “Finding new replacements and tools are constantly required by the sector, and we as an industry have to live up to these demands,” he concluded.

Alexander Döring, secretary General of the European Feed Manufacturers’ Federation (FEFAC), kicked off the symposiumwith his speech on the current status of the European feed industry. He addressed key topical issues for FEFAC: feed labelling, sustainable feed production, codes of good practice, contaminants, GMOs, animal proteins and other issues (including AGP alternatives, future status of coccidiostats, by products and re-evaluation of additives). FEFAC is currently reviewing the animal by-products legislation, meaning that options are reviewed to reintroduce by-products (such as blood products, and meat and bone meal) in certain animal diets. Regarding the future status of coccidiostats, FEFAC has a clear view. They should be registered as medicines and not as feed additives (which is done at the moment). However, Döring questions whether animal health companies are willing to pay for the registration dossiers needed for this.

Wim van Haeringen from the Dr van Haeringen Laboratory in the Netherlands updated the audience on their work. At the lab, they use the Microbial Community Profiling and Characterisation (MCPC) technique. With this technique they try to find and characterise new bacteria species found in the digestive tract. By typing micro-organisms (MOs), finding correlations between MOs and infections and between MOs and animal diets, the aim is to improve the quality and formulation of the feed for better performance and health.

Paul Gerardy from Research and Technology Centre gave a presentation about the benefits of using near infrared (NIR) in feed analysis. According to Gerardy, NIR has very low costs compared to wet chemistry, can measure several nutrients at the same time, does not need expert skills, has results within minutes, requires no hazardous chemicals, and produces no pollutants. According to calculations done by Gerardy, a customer with 2 silos with 300 million tonnes of soy can save around €2.42 per tonne soy (€0.48 per tonne feed).
Prof Verbeke from the Erasmus University, the Netherlands and Luciano Roppa from Nutron Alimentos in Brazil were also among the speakers.

 

 

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