The path to sustainable, safe animal protein

The demand for animal and fish protein alone will increase by an estimated 44 percent by 2030 and 50 percent by 2050, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). The livestock and aquaculture value chains are under pressure to meet the growing appetite for animal protein by delivering safer, higher quality food more efficiently.

Pressure to optimise

The use of compound feed production is an important way in which animal protein farmers can decrease their operational costs while increasing the sustainability of their industry. Compound feed can be manufactured from a wide array of ingredients, including feed cereals and by-products from the food, beverage and biofuel industries. The manufactured feed industry contributes to an efficient use of the world's resources by transforming un-useable cereals and by-products of the food and biofuel industries into feed that enables the raising of healthy animals.

Specialists in animal nutrition prepare formulas that include the ideal mix of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and essential nutrients for specific animal species, suited to both its stage of growth and its position in the production cycle.

Members of the feed industry are dedicated to decreasing this feed to protein conversion ratio. For example, in the 1950s five kilograms of feed were required to produce one kilogram of pig live weight and today this ratio has been reduced to three kilograms of feed to one kilogram of pig live weight.

Customers increasingly understand that what they eat directly impacts their health. Food scares worldwide, such as the melamine milk crisis in China this year, have sensitised consumers, legislators, and the food and feed industries to the fact that every step of the value chain, from farm to fork, is critical in assuring food safety.

Quality and safety through processing

While around 40 percent of the success of pelleting depends on the recipe developed by the animal nutrition specialist and the ingredients, 18 percent depends on the preparation of the feed mix, 18 percent on the conditioning of the product, 18 percent on the pelleting mill and 6 percent on the cooling of the pellets. Technology partners, such as Bühler, possess the deep process knowledge and innovative machinery required to enable feed millers to supply high quality, safe feed to the industry.

Unlike raw agricultural products, industrial feed goes through added-value processes that increase the cleanliness and safety of the end feed product. In the first step in a feed mill, the feed ingredients are all passed through the cleaning sections, where impurities such as iron, straw, paper, pieces of wood and leaves are separated from the pure product.

After weighing the product, the feed ingredients are ground to a specific particle size by a hammer mill and then mixed to uniformity by a mixer. The hygienising and compacting technology from Bühler's HYSYS plays a central role in enabling a feed mill to produce safe feed. Pathogenic micro-organisms, salmonella species and moulds can be present in untreated raw feed materials; this contaminated feed can lead to unsafe food.

Bühler's HYSYS has a "first-in, first-out" principle guaranteeing almost identical retention time for each product batch and a high-temperature heating of the product to 90 degrees Celsius to kill micro-organisms and salmonella. A coating of liquids and fine powders can be applied to the pellets using the coating drum to increase the energy and improve the nutrition of the feed product, after which the pellets are cooled. The result: feed pellets providing higher energy, better digestibility and better nutrition for the animal, as well as higher safety than other feed alternatives. 

Each shift forward in consumer demand for safer animal protein is pushing the feed industry forward at different rates, depending on the region of the world. But with time, the efficiency, safety and quality standards for animal protein will move towards an international standard.

BIO

Luis Hernandez (44) is Bühler's Feed & Biomass Managing Director since 2006. Prior to his current position he held various international management positions in the building infrastructure, industrial automation and steel manufacturing business. Luis holds a BSc Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Zurich University of Applied Sciences and an MBA from London Business School.