How do we feed a wealthier and hungrier world population?

Once a question for marketers and trendspotters, it is propelled up the agenda by serious concerns over how to feed a growing world population using limited resources.

The 2nd International Acidifier Summit addressed the way in which ‘Green Chemistry’ can help the world to face these next big challenges.

The International Acidifier Summit, a platform organised by Addcon, gathered more than 70 top industry decision makers for a one-day conference to discuss how the concepts behind ‘Green Chemistry’ can help overcome the challenges of providing safe food, sustainably. This exclusive event was held at the Pico Sands Resort, just a short drive south of Manila, Philippines, on May 25th, 2016.

Opening the meeting, Kurt Wegleitner, MD of Addcon, discussed why an event like the Acidifier Summit is important to all stakeholders in the feed to food value chain. In his presentation, he showed that concerns for feed and food safety generate more than 200 million Google hits in less than a second. There are also millions of searches for ‘GMO’, every second. Such pressing public concerns must be addressed when the feed industry wants to supply enough animal protein to a world population which is growing, but getting older, wealthier and more discerning, by the day. In his opening statement, he encouraged all those attending, to discuss any possible concerns and questions, both during the official discussion rounds as well as in the breaks: “This Summit has been set up to provide real life solutions!”

Dr. Christian Lückstädt, Technical Director, FEED of Addcon, followed with ‘The Power of Green Chemistry’. The global market for products based on organic acids is growing at a rate of up to 6.6% annually. This is especially true in Asia. These products are regarded as the most consistent among the alternatives to antibiotics in animal feed, thus offering many opportunities to develop effective, sustainable feeding strategies. He introduced Addcon’s feed additives and preservative products as well as new developments in the product range. The highly effective double salts (diformates), patented by Addcon, which can be complemented with new molecules, are seen as a promising direction for the coming years. “This will be crucial to make sure that we, as an industry, will be able to waste less – of food and feed ingredients – and to guarantee a healthy and balanced gut microflora”, he concluded.

The Acidifier Summit offers a holistic view of the industry, so Edwin Mapanao, a certified Professional Marketer from the Asia Pacific Marketing Association, talked about ‘Collaborative Marketing’, which will become the ‘new business paradigm in the SEA market’. He stressed that the industry must take a broader view in order to capture a bigger market share. According to Mapanao, ‘big data analysis’ will soon play a major role, also in the feed industry.

‘Feed Mill Hygiene – challenges for the industry’ was the topic of Eng. Conrado Bulanhagui’s presentation. He pointed out that, while the industry has developed steadily over recent years, “the challenges of the industry have changed” and, “while least-cost formulation and automation in feed mills was the topic in the ‘80’s and ‘90’s, the industry is now focusing on feed mill hygiene and feed safety.”

Dr. Chang Ying Kang, Addcon’s manager for South East Asia, addressed this topic by introducing Addcon’s portfolio of liquid and solid mould and bacteria inhibitors and how and when they should be used.

After the discussion on ‘feed safety’, the focus switched to ‘gut health’. Dr. Ruohan Zhang, Director Technical and R&D at Nutreco China, presented ‘First-hand experience with using diformates in swine rations in China’. He gave fascinating insights into how he and his team have been overcoming challenges to produce antibiotic-free pork in China. He demonstrated how this is possible without increasing production costs. FORMI plays a vital role in this achievement. He sees a bright future for the product in the world’s biggest swine market.

The final presentation of the day was given by Ryan Von de Leon, Addcon’s manager for East Asia. He presented in depth the essential role of water, an often overlooked nutrient in animal nutrition and how liquid acidifiers can be used safely and effectively in this medium.

The seminar closed with a panel discussion, which generated a lively debate with all participants.

 

This one day event gave many insights and much food for thought on a wide variety of topics. Antibiotic-free feed and gut health are the overriding issues and must be discussed continually by all industry players.

Addcon will host the next International Acidifier Summit in 2018. The date and venue will be announced in due course. Later this year, Addcon will also be hosting the International Silage Summit at its headquarters in Bonn, Germany, prior to Eurotier.