Interview with Andrea Piva, Vetagro's President.

Vetagro’s president, Andrea Piva, is the third generation of animal nutritionist in his family. After a PhD in molecular biotechnology focused on intestinal microbiology conducted in Italy and Ireland, he was hired by the Veterinary School of the University of Bologna, Italy in 1992, where he covered all the ranks of the Academic career up to Full Professor of Animal Nutrition in 2004.

Vetagro’s president, Andrea Piva, talks to aviNews Latin America magazine and explains how the microencapsulation technology has evolved in order to meet the digestive capacity and transit time of poultry.

"The encapsulation technology of Vetagro evolved to tailor to match the digestive capacity and transit time of poultry and pigs and to slowly-release organic acids and nature identical compounds along the entire GI tract"

Why Vetagro decided to use the microencapsulation technology with its products?

A significant amount of key nutrients used in the nutrition of dairy cows like amino acids, choline and vitamins are degraded at ruminal level by the bacterial population.

Our microencapsulation allows the protection of these nutrients in the rumen and the subsequent release at intestinal level to match the dietary requirements of the modern dairy cow.

In particular, Vetagro prides herself on being the only company that can manufacture two microencapsulated non-antibiotic zootechnical feed additives, Aviplus for poultry and Aviplus for swine, to improve growth rate and feed efficiency as per the European Food Safety Authority approval and EU Commission authorization.

Which is Vetagro’s current distribution network worldwide?

Vetagro was originally established in 1982 in Reggio Emilia near Bologna, in the heart of the Italian food valley.

In 2008, Vetagro Eastern Europe, KFT is established in Budapest, Hungary to cater for the Eastern Europe countries and, in 2011, Vetagro, Inc. in Chicago, USA. Today, the Vetagro Group sells directly in Italy, France, Hungary, UK, and USA, and we enjoy commercial partnerships in 52 countries.

Which are Vetagro’s commercial expectations regarding the LatinAmerican market?

Although Vetagro Latam is a newly formed division, we have made strong in roads in the LatinAmerican Markets. Currently, we have successfully implemented distribution network spanning the whole continent. Vetagro Latam is now poised and ready to expand our presence and market share in Latin-American in the months ahead.

Which are the benefits for the LatinAmerican producers, when using products with microencapsulation technology?

Production efficiency and food safety are the unavoidable challenges of the feed and food industry in order to feed the world growing population in a safe and sustainable way. LatinAmerican producers face the difficult challenge of continuously staying on top of the world efficiency of production.We strongly believe that our EFSA-approved additives and our state-ofthe-art encapsulation technology will prove economically rewarding for our Latin-American partners, as they successfully improved our customers production targets around the globe.

How does Aviplus® work in the bird’s gut and what benefits can the bird obtain from the product?

Aviplus® thanks to the synergy of organic acids and nature identical compounds modulates the intestinal microflora and acts reducing the inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. This translates in increased growth performance and better animal health.

Why is it so important that a microencapsulated product is released slowly into the animal’s gut?

Thanks to specific matrix and particle size of Aviplus®, we are able to make the active compounds available throughout the intestinal tract even in the more distal part ensuring the modulation of the undesired microflora.

"Latin-American producers face the difficult challenge of continuously staying on top of the world efficiency of production"

Which are the certifications that the Vetagro products have?

Vetagro holds European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and EU Commission authorization as a nonantibiotic microencapsulated zootechnical feed additive to improve growth performance in feed efficiency in healthy pigs and poultry.

"Our technology and feed additives enjoy patent protection in the United States, in the European Union, in Russia, in Canada with more patent pending"

Vetagro production plant over the years has implemented high quality control standards for quality, safety, environmental management system with following certifications UNI EN ISO 9001:2008, UNI EN ISO 22000:2005, BS OHSAS 18001:2007, UNI EN ISO 14001:2004, FAMI-QS, CODEX ASSALZOO.

Moreover, for its commitment in quality and environmental management, in 2014 Vetagro obtained the Excellence Award from Certiquality

In which stages of the animal’s growth can the Vetagro products be used?

Since the Aviplus® is intended to improve gut health; it’s really important that the product is applied in the first phases of growth, since the action will benefit the entire life span of the animal.

In pigs, Aviplus® is used primarily from weaning until 40 kg of body weight, whereas in broilers, Aviplus® is used throughout the entire cycle.

Do you currently have any R&D projects regarding poultry health and nutrition?

At Vetagro, we consider ourselves to be a sciencedriven company where the continuous investment in R&D is the key to our future and to the advancement of our customers.

The gut wall acts as a first line defense in animal nutrition. The integrity of the intestinal border, separating the outside from the inside, is the final frontier for intestinal immunity and animal health. Intestinal nutrition is a key concept for the animal nutrition in the years to come.

"Thanks to the microencapsulation technology, we have the possibility of targeting the delivery of specific compounds in the intestinal tract, improving intestinal health of food animals, increasing their growth response and reducing the load of the undesired microbes"