Biomin review volatile organic compound formation in silages

Biomin has put up a review on the topic of volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) reduction in silages. Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s) is a catch-all term for a group of chemicals characterised by a low boiling point. Because they easily evaporate, they are often found in a gaseous state, and in some cases present a danger to human and animal health, given that they can be easily breathed in.

In the feed industry, silage is a major producer of VOC’s, and chief among the scala of chemicals produced, is ethanol, which can influence feed intakes. To inhibit the production of ethanol, heterolactic lactic acid bacteria are added to the silage; they produce acetic acid, which influences the ethnaol-producing yeasts in the silage. Read more ...

Aquafeed use shows continues growth in Indonesia

The rising demands of aquaculture feed ingredients in 2011 indicated that aquaculture production in Indonesia is growing, said Denny Indradjaja, Chairman of Indonesian Feed Mills Association – Aquaculture Division, recently at an aquaculture seminar in Jakarta. By observing the rate of economic growth, buying power and people consumption in 2011, Indradjaja believed that aquaculture feed consumption in Indonesia in 2012 will continue to grow. Read more ...

MRSA strain found in food animals is linked to the Human MRSA

A strain of the antibiotic-resistant bacterium known as MRSA has jumped from food animals to humans, according to a new study led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Phoenix, AZ, USA. The study published last week in the online journal mBio focuses on MRSA CC398, a strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.

The study suggests that MRSA CC398 probably started as a non-resistant (antibiotic-susceptible) strain in humans before it spread to food animals where it subsequently became resistant to several antibiotics. Dr Lance Price, the study’s lead author and director of the TGen’s Center for Food Microbiology and Environmental Health, said “Retracing the evolutionary history of MRSA CC398 is like watching the birth of a superbug -  it’s simultaneously fascinating and disconcerting,” added Dr Price. “MRSA CC398 was discovered less than a decade ago and it appears to be spreading very quickly.” Read more ...

Worlds top corn buyer Japan, buys more US corn

Japan has stepped up its corn purchasing, buying from the US for April-June, following a delay in Ukraine shipments. Japan has purchased 1.8 million tons of US feed-grade corn for April-June shipment stepping up purchases from the world's top exporter after a delay in this quarter's shipments from Ukraine, trading executives said. The country is the world's top importer, buying around 3.3 million tons of feed grade corn alone every quarter. Read more ...

EFSA FEEDAP speaks on phenol derivatives and acetic acid

EFSA's feed safety panel, FEEDAP, has recently published two scientific opinions: one on the use of phenol derivatives in animal feed, and on the use of acetic acid, calcium acetate and sodium diacetate. Phenol derivatives as flavour compounds in animal feed.

Following a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Additives and Products or Substances used in Animal Feed (FEEDAP) was asked to deliver a scientific opinion on safety and efficacy of 16 phenol derivatives containing ring-alkyl, ring-alkoxy and side-chains with an oxygenated functional group (CG 25) when used as flavouring compounds in animal feed. Read more ...

Irish feed factory to sue the state for damages

A feed factory in Ireland owned by ASM Alternative Feeds is set to sue the state for damages, the factory was forced to close after a sample vial mix up lead to the diagnosis of dioxin. Which closed the factory for five months. The Republic of Ireland's department of agriculture suspended ASM Alternative Feeds’ license after a routine sample showed elevated dioxin levels. 

It was later discovered that the original sample vial had been misplaced and a mix up lead to a false assignation of dioxin. The state laboratory carrying out the analysis apologised, but the dioxin result was only part of the grounds for the suspension of the license, namely a consignment of 8.5 tonnes feed delivered to a Northern Ireland address having gone missing. Read more ...

Conference to focus on healthy, sustainable food

Farmers are being encouraged to produce more food to feeding a growing global population. But what role can livestock production play in offering healthy, nutritious and sustainable food? That is this year's theme of the annual BSAS conference.

Held at the University of Nottingham on  April 24-25, 2012, the conference will also consider how to ensure animal health remains at the forefront of any developments in food production. With much debate about the healthiness of food from livestock particularly red meat and dairy it is crucial public health policy is based on factual, up-to-date information. Read more ...

Shree Vijay is planning an automated plant in Andra Pradesh

Shree Vijay, a major aqua feed producer based in Bhimavaram, India, is planning an automated plant in Andra Pradesh for domestic and overseas markets, buying its machines from China’s Muyang Group.

"We have signed a Rs.30 core  €4.5 million euro order, with Muyang group of China to install their high-tech machinery in our upcoming plant in Andhra Pradesh to process aqua feed for fish and shrimp," Shree Vijay managing director B K Murthy said.

Set in the West Godavari district, some 320 km from Hyderabad, the plant will have an automated extruded floating fish feed and pelleted shrimp feed with annual capacity of 180,000 tonnes to meet global demand for aqua feed. Read more ...

Angel Yeast launches Fubon Soluble Yeast Cell Wall in Thailand

Angel Yeast Co launched at VICTAM 2012 a newly developed efficient immunostimulants - Fubon Soluble Yeast Cell Wall. Yeast Cell Wall is a well-known efficient natural immune enhancer. Due to the remarkable effect on immune promotion and the tolerance of extreme processes, such as inflated feed, it has been gaining widespread popularity in in feed industry.

Compared with the normal yeast cell wall, the mannan-oligosaccharides content of Fubon Soluble Yeast Cell Wall is more than 40 percent and the dissolubility up to 95 percent (by a factor of 2). Because of the the significant effect on immune promotion, and also the high dissolubility, which is suitable for more convenient feeding method like drinking, the fields of application are expanding. Read more ...

Cargill announces Manitoba grain elevator and crop input facility to close

Cargill Limited announced Tuesday that it is ceasing production at its Winnipeg East facility.
The Winnipeg East facility is an 8,000-ton elevator with crop inputs and a dry fertiliser plant and shed. According to Cargill, the facility no longer meets the company’s stringent standards for operating safe, cost effective and efficient farm service networks across Canada.

“The facility is outdated and would have required significant and costly upgrades to maintain Cargill’s rigorous standards, said Jody Magotiaux, Cargill Farm Service Group Manager. "While the Winnipeg facility no longer meets our current needs, we remain committed to offering our valued customers with the same level of dedicated service they have come to expect from Cargill,” he said. Read more ...

Biomin produces overview on Organic acid based products and the market

As the world demand increases for safe poultry and pork, and the ban on antibiotics continues, feed additives such as organic acids in their preservative role have increasingly taken centre stage. While the market is saturated and the demand for top quality poultry and pork in industrialised countries is more or less stable, improving living standards in other countries and an increase in the worldwide population results in a steadily increasing demand for poultry and pork meat.

Biomin full article can be read here

This together with the ban of antibiotics to secure the supply of safe food is expected to result in an increased demand for animal feed additives. Especially the ban of antibiotics within the European Union has moved acidifiers in the centre of attention, as they are the next most adequate alternative to the use of antibiotics. Read more ...

European Union ask by French to halt authorisation of GM maize

The French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable development, Transport and Housing released a statement announcing that the French Government has requested that the RU executive body suspend authorisation of Monsanto' GM maize, MON810. The French authorities have, on Monday the 20, asked the European Commission to suspend the authorisation for cultivation of MON810.

The government made public their opposition to the cultivation of MON810 on November 28, 2011 last year, and have asked the European Commission to suspend the authorisation of cultivation of MON 810 maize seeds. Read more ...

The COA claims No evidence that ractopamine in feed kills more pigs

Helena Bottemiller of Food Safety News wrote a report which claimed that ractopamine had "sickened or killed more than 218,000 pigs as of March 2011, more than any other animal drug on the market" since its approval for pigs in 1999 in the US. This led to the Council of Agriculture (COA), stating that it had not found evidence in the US to back up the claim. Ractopamine, is a drug used as a feed additive to promote lean meat in pigs and cattle, and the drug is permitted in about 20 countries globally, including the US. According to statistics from the US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), since ractopamine was first used in the US in 2000, there has been no increase in the death rate of pigs, the COA said.

These figures show pig mortality rate in the US, according to the COA:

•  0.3 percent in 1998
• 0.28 percent in 1999
• 0.29 percent in both 2000 and 2001
• 2002-2008 the rate was between 0.22 and 0.2 percent
• 2010 it was 0.17 percent

Read more ...

GM feed opportunity being missed by the European Union

Due to adverse weather conditions, competition and costs, farmers will continue to struggle to source feed for livestock production at competitive rates. So why are so many countries reluctant to accept GM crops as an alternative. In this context, there are some sections of the industry that believe the introduction of GM crops could significantly help. The EU dependent on 80 percent of vegetable proteins imported, it was recently agreed that new EU rules will allow a low–level presence of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in feed to facilitate imports into the EU.

Despite this small step, resistance against GM technology in the EU from consumers, farmers and politicians continues. German chemical company, BASF, has said that this resistance has forced it to pull out of GM crop trials in Europe. The company has said that it will continue its activities in the GM–friendlier markets of North and South America. In January, France announced its intention to uphold a ban on the cultivation of GM approved Monsanto maize. Five other EU countries, Germany, Greece, Austria, Luxemburg and Hungary also ban its cultivation. Read more ...

Texas A&M and Bayer sign agreement on wheat breeding

Texas AgriLife Research part of the Texas A&M University System and Bayer CropScience have signed a multi year agreement to develop and commercialise improved wheat varieties. Utilising Texas AgriLife Research’s extensive collection of wheat cultivars and germplasm and Bayer’s expertise in both classical and molecular plant breeding, the collaboration aims to bolster current development efforts and expedite the delivery of higher yielding wheat varieties to market.

“Wheat productivity has not kept pace with the advancement in other crops like corn, but Bayer is determined to see that trend reversed,” said Dr Mathias Kremer, Head of the BioScience business unit at Bayer CropScience. “By working together with the many wheat experts in the Texas A&M University System to harness the tools of modern plant breeding and biotechnology, we are convinced we can help make wheat farmers in Texas and beyond more productive and sustainable by delivering new high-yielding varieties that are more resilient against pests, disease and environmental stresses like drought.”. Read more ...

Fifty percent of the grain in the Ukraine will be lost due to frost

In the Ukraine this winter about 50 percent of the winter crops will perish, this is due to the severe weather conditions they have suffered. This has been estimated by experts of the Ukrainian club of agrarian business."Under such circumstances our farmers will lose about a thousand of Hryvnias (US$250) €188.47 per one hectare. They will compensate the losses through the rise of the cost.

So we can expect a significant jump in prices for grain and flour in the coming agricultural season," an expert said. According to preliminary estimates due to deficit of the main grain crops, the cost of feed in Ukraine during the next season could rise by 25 percent, which would lead to a serious crisis in the entire livestock industry, as most manufacturers will not be able to afford feed at such prices. Read more ...

FOSS wins the Asian GRAPAS Award for 2012

January 15, 2012 – Bangkok, Thailand: The winner of the 2012 GRAPAS Innovation Award has gone to the Foss company from Denmark at the Victam Asia exhibition held this week at the BITEC centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Darren Robey, represented FOSS at the award ceremony receiving his award from Mr Roger  Gilbert

The ProFoss Online Analysis has true in-line capability has very great potential, said the judging panel. It was the product that swept the pool of innovations coming from the grain milling industry and on display at the exhibition.

GRAPAS is the name given to an exhibition within an exhibition on flour, grain, rice and pasta milling. The judges said the application of effective on-line instrumentation linked to control systems can make a very large contribution to the profitability of a continuous process industry.

“Most cereal-related industries for both human food and animal feed milling are continuous processes.

“The ProFoss appears to offer a significant improvement on previous online instrumentation. Although it uses well-proven NIR technology it offers great practical and functional advantages by virtue of its ability to continuously measure parameters of cereal grains and ground products without interruption to the product flow. This true in-line capability has very great potential.”

The award was presented by Roger Gilbert Perendale Publishers Limited.

The runner up was Buhler AG of Switzerland with its Dolomit rollermill.

“The rollermill is the basic principles of the four and eight rollermill have been established for over a century. Nevertheless, the incremental improvements in design, materials and manufacture have resulted in enormous gains in efficiency,” added the judges.

Runner Up Buhler AG

“The Dolomit rollermill offered provides a ‘state of the art’ product which can be applied across a broad spectrum of the milling of cereals for both human food and, to a lesser extent, animal feed.

“In addition to its claimed practical merits the Dolomit rollermill has good aesthetic design which will suit it for modern food manufacture.”

Overall the judges acknowledged the “interesting selection of products has been submitted for judging this year.

“Although each of the products offered for judging provide clear benefits and advantages to one or more milling processes, they are generally the result of evolutionary improvements and are not in themselves truly revolutionary.

“It is our recommendation therefore that in judging, weighting is also given to the breadth of fields in which they can be applied. The recommended winner and runner-up are both products that can be applied to a wide range of milling sectors and thus they will thereby contribute more to the industry as a whole.” The panel stated.

The GRAPAS Award made this week in Bangkok

Van Aarsen receiving their award

The GRAPAS Award made this week in Bangkok, Thailand at the Victam Asia Exhibition acknowledged the contributions in innovation made by four companies submitting products for consideration; two were ‘highly commended’ and two ‘commended’.

Dutch equipment manufacturer, Van Aarsen received a ‘highly commented’ award for its ‘Automatic Screen Exchange for GD Hammer Mills.

“Automatic screen exchange on a hammer mill is a distinct advance on normal operating practice and which will improve overall feed milling plant operating efficiency and safety. Screen changing is typically a laborious procedure which this innovation will address. The animal feed industry can achieve improvements in its utilisation of plant by applying this device,” the judges stated in their summing up.

Alco coming ‘highly commented’ was the Batch Call Optimiser from Norvidan Overseas A/S of Denmark.

“Plant control systems which optimise the utilisation of the plant are of ever increasing significance. Norvidan are offering an impressive facility to ensure the optimum use of  parallel lines of a process to ensure maximum output and thus best economic return,” the judges said.

Commended
The two companies receiving a commendation for their submissions were the Morillon company of France for its All-in-one Hydrascrew and the Queue-plus Software for Feed Plants by the Thai company Agentis Innovation. The hydraulic drive for the HydraScrew discharge screw is advantageous due to its good torque characteristics – “a commendable innovation with fairly wide opportunities for application as flat-bottomed storage grows in importance.,” said the judges.

“Queue-plus, as described, is an innovative software development which will provide material benefits for the feed miller and his customers of bagged products. A reduction in traffic congestion and turnaround time resulting from the improvements in scheduling is a major objective for a plant operator, concluded the judges.

The Milling awards at Victam 2012 images

The winner of the Victam ‘Award for Milling’ GRAPAS Asia 2012 went to FOSS presented by Roger Gilbert of Perendale Publishers Ltd


Victam ‘Award for Milling’ GRAPAS Asia 2012 Runner-up Buhler AG, Switzerland
Dolomit Rollermill

Victam ‘Award for Milling’GRAPAS Asia 2012 Highly Commended Van Aarsen International, The Netherlands Automatic Screen Exchange for GD Hammermill

Runner up: TAT Energy And Engineering Co,Ltd.

Mr Roger Gilbert from Perendale Publishers Ltd, presented the awards to the, winners FOSS, second place to Bulher AG, he also presented Van Aarsen International with the highly commended award, and runners up TAT Energy And Engineering Co,Ltd.

Victam Asia 2012 get off to a promising start

Victam Managing Director Henk van de Bunt

 

Victam Asia, Fiaap Asia and Grapas Asia saw a promising start unaffected by bombing accidents as was seen elsewhere in Bangkok on Tuesday before the show started. More than 2,800 visitors entered the BITEC exhibition centre on the first day of Victam, Fiaap and Grapas Asia in Bangkok, Thailand.

 

More than a third of the visitors came from outside Thailand and from 66 countries in total, said Victam Managing Director Henk van de Bunt. In total 166 exhibitors from 29 countries, of which 12 from Asia, welcomed the visitors. All together they acquired 30 percent more space individually and built larger stands.
 Read more ...

Grass pea variety enhances nitrogen/potassium uptake in wheat crops

Australian researchers have discovered that an Australian bred and less toxic grass pea variety enhances nitrogen (N) and potassium (K) uptake in wheat crops. Grass pea is a hardy annual legume with a growth habit similar to field pea, characterised by resistance to both drought and water logging. Its low cost, low input nature makes it a prime feed crop.

cultivar Ceora (Lathyrus sativus)

It has been restricted in use, however, due to the presence of neurotoxin ODAP, which causes paralysis of the lower limbs (lathyrism). Ethiopia, for one, has been subject to several lathyrism epidemics, when hunger overruled the risks attendent upon grass pea consumption. Read more ...

Cargill closes crop input facility in Saskatchewan

Cargill has announced that it is closing its Saskatchewan crop input facility, effective February 15, 2012. The reason behind the closure is that the facility due to its age no long effectively meets the needs of the company and its customers. Sheldon Spearman, Cargill Farm Service Group Manager said “Cargill is committed to operating safe, efficient and cost-effective networks of farm service centers across Canada”.

“While the Langbank facility no longer meets our current needs, we will continue to offer our valued customers the exceptional direct-to-farm service approach that they have come to expect from Cargill. Our customers will not be impacted by this change,” he said. Read more ...

South Africa: A workshop in extrusion

A workshop on the basic principles, technology and job creation opportunities of extrusion technology in the manufacturing of food, feed and plastic products, will be presented by the Department of Trade and Industry’s (dti) Centre of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing (CoE) at the North-West University (NWU) in Potchefstroom on the of March 7, 2012.

“Extrusion is particularly suitable for Africa, as it is a relatively inexpensive, energy-efficient and easily operated method to produce a wide range of animal feeds, ready-to-eat foods or plastic composites. It is also environmentally friendly, as it produces minimal waste products,” says Prof LJ Grobler of the NWU. Read more ...

Amrit Banaspati acquisition by Bunge will help expand distribution in India

Bunge India and Amrit Banaspati announced that Bunge has completed acquisition of the edible oils and fats business of Amrit Banaspati. Bunge, a global agribusiness and food company that (among a plethora of other activities) processes oilseeds to make protein meal for animal feed has acquired Amrit Banaspati.

Amrit Banaspati is based in the north of India, operating a manufacturing plant in the state of Punjab that includes equipment and facilities for refining crude edible oils, palm oil fractionation, hydrogenation, margarine production and packaging. Read more ...

Nutriad opens new production facilities in Antwerp

Nutriad has officially opened its new production plant in Kallo (Antwerp port area). “Producing our feed additives in this state of the art facility in Belgium enables us to further extend the quality of our products and services,” said Nutriad CEO Erik Visser. Nutriad is a major producer of feed additives, preservatives and flavouring substances for the animal feed industry worldwide.

“We offer innovative solutions that meet the current and future needs of our industry, allowing livestock agriculture and aquaculture to improve productivity in a sustainable and profitable way”, says Visser. “Manufacturing our specialty products in this new facility underlines our ambition to maintain our position as a technology leader in the industry through a high quality and innovative product range. Read more ...

Tunisian feed testing laboratory is well underway

The US Grains Council and Ministry of Agriculture cooperative program to establish a Tunisian central laboratory for feed analysis is well underway, reported Cary Sifferath, USGC regional director. Since moving into their building last September, the laboratory staff has grown to 13, including two technical engineers and five specialised technicians trained in grain inspection, minerals, crude fat and fiber analysis using atomic absorption spectrometry.

“Tunisia’s Ministry of Agriculture has recently issued a decree requesting that feed grains importers and feed millers present samples of imported ingredients for quality control analysis,” Sifferath said. Read more ...

The GRAPAS Theme, "Guaranteeing food and feed safety"

"Guaranteeing food and feed safety through greater use of technology in the control of product quality at each step of the milling process, from raw material collection-through processing-to-product dispatch." The GRAPAS Conference starts at 09:30 on February 15, 2012 and is part of the GRAPAS Exhibition, hosted and co-located with Victam Asia 2012. The Conference will be in English and translated simultaneously into Thai and is free to register. Please register here.

7 Days to go

Join the Revolution at GRAPAS "Guaranteeing food and feed safety"

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Free your mind - Be part of the GRAPAS experience

If you're in Bangkok next week be sure not to miss the one-day GRAPAS Conference - which will be held above the Victam Asia 2012 exhibition area (in Meeting Room 222-223 on the second floor) of BITEC.This event looks at milling in general and rice milling developments in particular. Specialists will be sharing their knowledge and insight in rice and milling technology. The GRAPAS Conference starts at 09:30 on February 15, 2012 and is part of the GRAPAS Exhibition, co-located with Victam.

Get to the BITEC on Bangkok's (Rapid Transit Systems) Skytrain – to Bang Na Station - on the E line to E13.

                                                         Eight days to GRAPAS

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Alltech prepares for 26th European Lecture Tour

Alltech's based in Dunboyne, Ireland is preparing to start its 26 European Lecture tour visiting 26 cities in three weeks with 16 speakers and one goal: Mapping the path to a profitable future. In addition, the company will consider the use of social media tools, such as Alltech’s Ag Network, to communicate the message to consumers.

 “Change is upon us and it is not slowing down. Global demand for fuel, food and other commodities will only continue to increase as the world's population and wealth rise. We must embrace revolutions in the industry if we want to stay competitive,” said Dr. Pearse Lyons, president and founder of Alltech. Read more ...