January 17, 2013
Novasilâ„¢ Plus, a feed additive which has been well-established in the feed market for years for achieving better and safer animal nutrition, is directly available from BASF as of January 2013.
Novasil Plus can be used in two ways, depending on its registration status in each country: as an anticaking agent for enhancing the flow properties of feed or feed ingredients, or for specifically binding aflatoxins, which are the deadliest mycotoxins.
Dr Alexandra Brand, who heads BASF's global Animal Nutrition business unit, comments,"Novasil Plus helps feed producers to improve the technical properties of feed while enhancing animals' health by relieving them of the negative effects of poisonous aflatoxins. This delivers major benefits for both farmers and consumers."
If animals ingest grain contaminated with aflatoxins, this can negatively impact their health with effects ranging from a weakened immune system to severe liver damage or even death. Metabolites of aflatoxins can also find their way into the human nutrition chain via milk, eggs, and meat.
Novasil Plus is easy to add to feed and effectively binds aflatoxins during the digestive process, which makes them largely unavailable for absorption by the animal. In contrast to other types of mycotoxin binders, the binding activity of Novasil Plus is reliable and independent of the pH value in the gut. It does not bind valuable nutrients, thus preserving the nutritional value of feed.
Novasil Plus consists of naturally occurring high-purity calcium bentonite clay. Professor Timothy Phillips of Texas A&M University says, "As a clay product, it is absolutely stable during feed production and ingestion. More than 60 scientific publications attest to its safety and efficacy in animals."
The product has been available in the market since the early 1990s. BASF acquired the US production site when it bought Engelhard in 2006. Until the end of 2012, BASF sold Novasil Plus exclusively to one customer only. Novasil Plus is currently registered as a mycotoxin binder in some but not all countries. In the US and EU (27) it is also registered as an anti-caking agent.
Aflatoxins, which are produced by several species of the Aspergillus mold, can occur in all grains under certain temperature, moisture, and nutrient availability conditions both before and after crops are harvested. Contamination of grains with aflatoxins is usually particularly high during warm, humid weather conditions or after drought, as well as in subtropical regions.
