DuPont, Perdue and other gut health experts discuss why antibiotic growth promoter-free broiler production isn’t a niche market position in the US at IPPE 2015

A few additional seats have become available for an event that will be held by WATT and DuPont during IPPE 2015 on Tuesday, January 27 at 5:30 pm at The Ritz Carlton Downtown Atlanta Grand Ballroom. A distinguished panel of poultry professionals will discuss the factors causing some mass market restaurant chains and major poultry retail brands to go antibiotic-free, and the steps poultry integrators are taking to meet these claims. The panel includes:

Moderated by WATT's content director of agri-business,Terrence O'Keefe, the event is designed to answer burning questions concerning changing consumer attitudes to antibiotic growth promoter free claims and the potential impact of reduced antibiotic-free promoter use. The panel will also discuss whether there are real substitutes for sub-therapeutic antibiotics in development or whether healthy nutrition combined with improved bio-security and complex management is the answer. They will also address when the revisions to the Veterinary Feed Directive are likely to take effect and what impact this might have on how poultry meat birds are raised in the US.

Randolph J. Chick, DVM, Senior Technical Services Manager at DuPont’s animal nutrition division, commented, "One issue currently facing animal agriculture in our society concerns maintenance of production efficiencies while reducing the use of feed-administered antibiotics for growth promotion purposes. Biosecurity practices, cleaning and disinfection, vaccine developments and more effective husbandry practices are part of the emerging equation - advances in gut health management will be recognized and added to the summation in time. For monogastrics, skilled applications of exogenous feed enzymes and direct-fed microbials, along with modulating acidulants and other compositions will eventually become part of the new schematic."
 
To apply for one of the few remaining places at the seminar, fill in this form by close of play Sunday 25 January 2015. The event, which will be in English, will be videoed and will be available for download at the WATT Agnet website after the event.Danisco (UK) Ltd., PO Box 777, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1XN, United Kingdom Scientists from DuPont’s animal nutrition division will also be presenting new research around the company’s novel Buttiauxella phytase and DFM solutions in the Metabolism and Nutrition section of the IPPE affiliated International Poultry Scientific Forum on 26 and 27 January. 

More info about the panel of experts: 

Dr Bruce Stewart-Brown
Senior Vice President of Food Safety & Quality Live Operations, Perdue Farms

Dr Bruce Stewart-Brown is responsible for Perdue’s food safety and quality programs. These responsibilities include oversight of programmes in 14 Processing Plants that produce “Ready to Cook” products, 4 “Ready to Eat” Processing Plants, and 4 Freezer/Storage facilities. He is also in charge of the Food Safety and Quality departments which have over 400 employees working on them in various locations in the United States.

Dr Stewart-Brown is also responsible for oversight of animal health and welfare programmes for Perdue Farms which produce approximately 600 million chickens and 10 million turkeys per year. Health Services has a total staff of 16 in various locations within the United States.

Dr Stewart Brown comes from a family of veterinarians and grew up around farm animals and farm families. He studied first at Arizona State University then completed a BS, DVM, in veterinary medicine and animal science at Iowa State University. He has worked in various positions at Perdue since 1998, prior to which he was Director of Technical Services for Fort Doge Farm’s poultry operation and a Technical Services Manager at Solway Animal Health, again looking after the poultry sector.

Dr Stephen Collett
Clinical Associate Professor, University of Georgia

In his role as clinical associate professor at the Poultry Diagnostic and Research Center (PDRC) in the College of Veterinary Medicine at The University of Georgia, Stephen is primarily responsible for teaching clinical medicine in the Masters in Avian Medicine program and problem solving in the State of Georgia’s enormous poultry industry.

After spending 10 years in private practice he specialized in poultry, receiving his MMed.Vet. in Poultry, from the University of Pretoria and diplomat status with the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. He gained many years of industry experience as, head veterinarian with Rainbow Chicken Farms in South Africa and as Director of Alltech Inc., North American Poultry Division before joining the UGA in 2004.

He has a particular interest in managing the health of the digestive tract to maximize bird welfare, nutrient assimilation and performance and has been invited to provide expert opinion, write, and present, several review papers, and problem solve on the subject, in over 20 countries.

Richard Kottmeyer
Founder and Managing Director, Strategic

Mr Richard Kottmeyer, Founder and Managing Director, Strategic, a consulting firm that acts as "the advisor to advisors" on matters of agriculture, food security, food and beverage and consumerology. He works with major poultry retailers and integrators to provide advice on "Farm to Fork" best practice.

He is also a consultant at Accenture, looking at global agriculture and food production issues, with an emphasis on customer experiences and interaction. At Strategic, he has led five of the largest worldwide food and agriculture mergers and acquisitions, and has acted as a food policy advisor at Wall Street investment banks, global accounting firms and commercial banks. Prior to this, he led Accenture and IBM's global Agriculture & Food Production Practices programme which was focused on meeting the challenges of Food 2040 (population and income growth) through organic and inorganic growth, and he has also worked in senior roles at KPMG and Truman Group.

Mr Kottmeyer is a seasoned keynote presenter on agricultural matters and has also acted as an advisor/editor to media ranging from Farm Journal and Future of Farming Editor through to the Washington Post.

Gregory R Siragusa
Senior Principal Scientist – Microbiology, DuPont

Dr Gregory R Siragusa, Senior Principal Scientist – Microbiology, DuPont, obtained his Ph.D. in 1989 from the University of Arkansas in food microbiology under the professorship of Dr. Michael Johnson. He holds B.S. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology from Louisiana State University.

From 1990 until 2007 he was a research microbiologist and lead scientist with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS-USDA) at Clay Center, Nebraska, with the U.S. Meat Animal Research Center and the Poultry Microbiology Safety Research Unit in Athens, Georgia. He was named Outstanding Lead Scientist for Food Safety Microbiology within the ARS. In 2007 he joined Agtech Products in Waukesha, Wisconsin, as director of R&D for poultry gut microbiology/probiotics and food quality and safety. He specializes in food microbiology and microbial ecology of foods and intestinal or gut microbial ecology and its modulation through probiotics.

Following acquisitions by Danisco and DuPont, Siragusa is currently a senior principal scientist in the Antimicrobials and Antioxidants Research Team conducting research on food microbial ecology (detect and protect) and enzymatic antimicrobial enzyme applications for food preservation. He also directs field work in Kenya at the Egerton University and in developing new food antimicrobials with colleagues in Brabrand, Denmark.