March 10, 2011
1st International Acidifier Summit - The time is right to talk about acidsÂ
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When Bernd Kochannek, CEO and owner of the Germany based Addcon Group of companies opened the 1st International Acidifier Summit on March 9, 2011 with the statement that "The time is right to speak about acids", 182 invited industry experts from 22 countries had been eager to know why.Â
"We have entered again a time when prices of feed ingredients are rising steeply on a daily basis. Inflation is driven by agflation. Higher demand for feed ingredients is driven by higher demand for animal protein due to a rising world population with higher disposable income, competition for feed by the biofuel industry and last but not least by investment funds who are stating that agriculture commodities are in a long-term bull market, and definitely have a place in one's portfolios," said Kochannek.
"As such, the feed industry is still in competition with its old rivals but at the same time, the feed industry will have to make sure, that it is getting its share of high quality raw material for its customers." According to Kochannek, neither the feed, nor the bio-energy industry can continue to loose precious nutrients due to microbial and fungal spoilage. Preserving raw material will be crucial in order to meet tomorrow's demand.
"Customers become more and more sensitive on safety and ethical issues," Kochannek continued. "With increasing disposable income, parents are keen to feed their kids good and high quality food. High quality is no longer determined by the nutritive value of a meal only, but food safety has become a major concern globally. Whether justified or not, the ban of antibiotics in feed in Europe is being followed by other countries in Asia too. Also this trend will be a challenge for the industry to meet."
Dr. Xavier Sava from BASFs SE Intermediates Division focused in his presentation on the world market for acidifiers. According to Dr. Sava, the world market for Formic Acid has reached more than 500,000 tonnes per year already, a big part of it is used by the feed industry. The world market for Propionic Acid has become more than 250,000 tonnes, most of it is being used in the feed and food industry as a preservative. Dr. Sava continued that the usage of acids in the feed industry has a long history. In order to utilise the positive effects of organic acids, strict safety measurements needs to be followed. Alternatively, buffered acids and less hazardous derivatives of acids can be used. This topic had been then discussed also by Addcon's Peter Theobald and Dr. Horst Auerbach.
Prof. Duong Duy Dong from the University of Agriculture and Forestry in Viet Nam talked about major challenges for the poultry industry in Asia. In a very interesting presentation, Prof. Duong said that in Asia not only the "western chicken" is of importance, but more traditional "native chicken" is preferred by consumers for its appeal to local taste. However, those breeds show higher demand for feed as to high FCR and longer fattening time. As such, more feed will be needed to feed these local breeds. Of course, feed safety is a major issue for both, native and modern breeds in Asia, said Prof Duong.
Prof. Jürgen Zentek from the Freie Universität in Berlin gave a presentation on the role of Salmonella in poultry. Prof. Zentek, gave an overview on the threat Salmonella poses to the poultry industry. In his presentation, Prof. Zentek showed that there are numerous vectors for Salmonlla to enter the food chain. According to Zentek, the Salmonella challenge in Europe has become lesser of the years, however, the problem cannot be considered solved yet.
Prof. Zentek, whose major research interest lies in the field of nutritional effects on the intestinal microbiota and intestinal function, stated that organic acids can be an effective tool to control Salmonella. However, he said, that some acids such as formic acids will have a good direct effect on the bacteria whereas other, long chained acids like butyric acid have not shown in vivo effects.
"Experience in using organic acids in swine diets in Europe" was the title of the presentation given by Addcon's Dr. Peter Theobald. Dr. Theobald stated that of the worldwide use of organic acids, about 40-50% is used in Europe only, and that organic acids are a standard ingredient in a swine diet. Dr. Theobald stressed also, that acids must not be under-dosed in order to achieve best results.
According to Dr. Theobald, France, Germany and Spain are the leading nations in the use and consumption of acids. Dr. Theobald continued his presentation with the legal status of the various organic acids in the EU. He pointed out, that potassium di formate is the only registered zootechnical feed additive in the EU.
Dr. Theobald continued that he sees still an increase in consumption for acids in Western Europe, but he believes that pig producers in Eastern Europe and Asia are going to use as much more acids in their diets. As such, global demand for acids is rising. He pointed out that users have to take various factors such as animal species, age, farm conditions and farm equipment into consideration when deciding which organic acids shall be used.
Prof. Wing-Keong Ng from the Universiti Sains in Malaysia gave a presentation on the use of organic acids in aquaculture. In his presentation Prof. Ng stated that the ever growing aquaculture industry in Asia has started to look for alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters. "There is plenty of evidence that organic acids work in poultry and swine diets, but there is much less data about aquaculture," said Prof Ng. "We had done a study in Tilapia using various blends of organic acids and tested it against a negative control and a positive control. The positive control was Addcon's potassium di formate, which seems to have the most consistent and reliable data", stated Prof Ng. "What we found was that organic acids can have a very positive effect on health and growth of Tilapia. All tests have shown, that potassium formate was superior to other blends of various acids," concluded Prof. Ng.
Dr. Horst Auerbach, Addcon's Chief R&D Officer, was the final speaker of the summit. In his presentation, Dr. Auerbach took up many points presented by the speakers earlier. He stressed that there is a lot of data on the use of organic acids for feed and silage preservation as well as for growth promotion. Although all this data is conclusive, the industry is still confused about those facts. As such, he invited the audience to go "back to basics" and to look into facts rather than "good stories". "Last but not least, we must not take only effectiveness of acids into account, but we also have to look into the hazards organic acids might pose to man and machine. This is why, salts and double salts of organic acids will play a much bigger role in the years to come," concluded Dr. Auerbach.
The proceedings of the Summit "Standards for acidifiers", which have been edited by Dr. Christian Lückstädt are available from Nottingham University Press or from Addcon directly. For more information on the various presentations and on the summit in general, Addcon can be contacted at info@addcon.com.
The 1st International Acidifier Summit ended with a lively panel discussion, headed by Prof. Bob Swick, Professor of Poultry Nutrition at the University of New England in Armidale Australia.
The panel members agreed that there is plenty of information on the use of organic acids available. If applied in the right dosage, organic acids will be a key ingredient in every feed diet. As such, it is safe to say that organic acids can help the industry to master the challenges the feed industry is going to face in the years to come. At the same time, all panel members stated, that research in organic acids is ongoing in order to support the trust in organic acids by the industry.
Addcon is committed to stay a leader in the innovation concerning the application of organic acids in animal nutrition and feed preservation. As such, Addcon has announced that the next International Acidifier Summit shall be held in 2012 in Germany.
The Germany based ADDCON Group of companies looks back on more than 60 years of experience in the application of organic acids and salts in the feed industry. Over the years, the company grew from a producer of Silage additives to a global player in organic acids and the respective salts. To date, there are ADDCON offices in Germany, Norway, China, the Philippines, Thailand and South Africa as well as a global network of business partners. In its production sites in Bitterfeld/Germany and in Porsgrunn/Norway ADDCON adds value to organic acids and their respective salts. The products are used in the feed and food industry as well as in de-icing of airports and in the oil drilling industry. All products break down by nature and have little impact on the environment.
