December 29, 2005
Japanese liquor dreg possible ingredient in pig feed
Dregs of shochu, a Japanese liquor, may have found a new lease of life - as an ingredient for pig feed.
As output for shochu has increased, so too has the volume of the residue dreg, which reached 480,000 cubic metres from July 2004 to June 2005. Disposing of this huge residual volume has become a headache of shochu manufacturers.
Shochu is spirit distilled from the sweet potato root.
Research at an agricultural centre in Kagoshima prefecture, where the shochu drink is especially popular, has found that adding shochu dregs to pig feed helped the animals sleep well. A likely reason for the sound sleep, say researchers, could be in the slightly alcoholic content of the remnant by-product.
It was also ascertained that the rich vitamin E content of the dregs could help maintain the freshness of pork.
The prefecture's authorities have taken the lead in promoting the recycling of dregs for animal feed, by handing out subsidies for related research and offering technological support.