A Family Business protecting the family

By Uncle Ted's Organics

The origins of UTO Ltd go back over 20 years, when Ted Dickin the Founder and Director started working with prominent Vets on feed supplements, firstly racing pigeons and then working dogs. This became the blueprint for today’s company. Pigeons led into Poultry and a study of mineral supplements, with the vet David Spackman. The product Orgamin™ was created. This remains at the centre of today’s activity and UTO Ltd’s philosophy which is: ‘To develop, promote and sell environmentally friendly products which will benefit people, plants, animals and the food chain’

(1) Case Study – Orgamin™ Feed supplementation in Poultry diets

Background
The Broiler Chicken Industry has enjoyed prolific growth over the past 50 years and in many countries, most notably the USA, chicken is the largest source of human protein. The modern hybrid chicken is a distant relative of brightly coloured jungle fowl, which like most avian species are omnivorous.

The ‘BSE’ crisis in the UK in 1996 resulted in a fundamental rethink of livestock diets, particularly the removal of ‘derivatives’, such as animal proteins, meat, bone and fishmeal.

Food and Agriculture in general was put under the microscope, ‘traceability’ became the new buzzword. The diet and health of Poultry was however compromised by this action.

The development of Orgamin™
A high level of dietary deficiency was confirmed in different flocks through chemical analyses of carcass, eggs, bone and feather, which in turn resulted in poor health, aggressive behaviour, under performance and poor yield. Orgamin ™ was subsequently developed, using protected minerals including Calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, manganese and zinc. Field trials involved different parts of the industry, layers, breeders, broilers, chicken and turkeys. Over 40 farms were involved, millions of birds, countless samples and a development cost in excess of £1m. The fundamental link was established between dietary balance, key metabolic indicators of health status and different outputs. These range from improvements in live chick numbers, to food conversion, to carcass yield.

The range now includes Orgamin™ (3 lines) and Herban ™ (2 lines)

There are many testimonials subscribing to improved performance, the following are a small selection.

Client Testimonials
Broiler breeder Northern Ireland ‘At the 53 week stage, Orgamin™ supplementation to my Ross 308 diets, gave an additional 8.6 chicks per hen and after all costs a ROI of 917%’

Turkey farmer Yorkshire ‘Herban tested on a trial group of 4,000 young turkeys halved mortality levels and after six crops, yields are consistently plus 10-15% ahead of the control group’.

Broiler grower UK ‘End of crop birds are yielding plus 6.98% at EV on the Orgamin™ programme, plus mortalities are down by a third.’

(2) Chemicals in the Environment

Hot Topic Opinion
A.J. Speight BSc Hons, CSci, FIFST, formerly H.J.Heinz Ltd, M&S plc & Advisor Food Standards Agency

Our domestic life is becoming increasingly ‘greener’. Clearly the Environment is the most complex scientific challenge of today and we are being encouraged to do more within the home. The number of domestic ecological cleaning products are indicative of this trend, supermarkets now offering a wide choice, with some ‘old wives’ favourites such as vinegar reappearing. The key issue, is whatever the merits, these products do not impact on the environment, are biodegradable and do not accumulate further down the chain, including within man.

The EU Biocide Product Directive, which is still being phased in, seeks to create a narrower list of cleaning active ingredients for the Food and Agricultural sectors, eliminating bio-cumulative chemicals from entering the environment and the Food Chain. If the Environment is our greatest challenge, why does the Agri -food sector still use ‘old technology’ to clean the farming and manufacturing process, such as with chlorine, formaldehyde and phenol; not only dangerous to life but accumulative?’

This has not been helped by the fact that ‘green technologies’ such as with ozone, hydrogen peroxide, UV light, steam, have been slow to develop. Even the Organic producers are still using chlorine, which seems incompatible with the notion of no chemicals, pesticides etc. Where are the barriers? Is it cost? Is it prohibitive development budgets? Is it the regulatory process? Or a combination?

It does not seem to have stopped the commercial development of the domestic market, obviously higher margins do help. Is there not a danger of double standards?

A new generation?
The time is right!

The Envirocyte™ cleaning range of plant extract based cleaning products of UTO meets the need for a strong anti-microbial which is biodegradable. The products are friendly to food, people, animals and the environment. They are not friendly to ‘bugs’!

The time is right for a new generation of cleaning products which are kinder to the environment and food chain.

The Envirocyte™ range consists of the following 3 lines:

EnviroCyte™… creates a healthier environment for all avian species and pigs by reducing pathogens and airborne toxins

EnviroSan… a hand sanitiser for use in all situations

EnviroFoam… a foaming wash for spraying and decontamination

Coming soon new to the UK and European markets tested in US, Canada and Turkey:

Fuel Saver… a fuel additive to make fuel go further by burning more efficiently, cutting fuel emissions, helping the environment