Processing
Polishing cereals to eliminate mycotoxin contamination
Rice milling is the process of removing the husk and park of the bran in order to produce edible rice from the paddy. This mechanical technique has now been improved by Amandus Kahl to decontaminate cereals from mycotoxins, which usually are found on the outside of the kernel.

Market
Price risk management for feedstuffs
Prices of raw materials fluctuate under the influence of factual, speculative or more indefinable reasons. Traders want to eliminate this price risk as much as possible, because they buy or sell the feedstuffs often a long time before the actual harvest has taken place. One way to minimise these risks is to trade on the so-called futures market.

Processing
The better the pellet, the better the performance
Good quality pellets have several benefits: reduced waste, less segregation in the feed, improved palatability and shorter eating periods. Also animal performance and feed efficiency can benefit from pelleting the feed. But it is not always easy to make a good quality pellet.

Market
EU compound feed production still in downward spiral
The European feed compounders organisation Fefac released its production statistics for 2003 at their general meeting in Venice in June. For the third consecutive year feed production is down and this downward spiral has not ended yet, Fefac predicts.

Processing
Coating helps to keep enzymes 'cold'
The most simple and effective way to mix enzymes in feed is in the dry form, but high processing temperatures are detrimental to the effectiveness of these catalysts. The opportunity to continue using a dry application approach is significantly increased by selecting granular product forms that have been specifically designed to withstand higher processing conditions.

Aquaculture
How feed fumigation affects shrimp performance
In tropical conditions it is very difficult to keep feed pest-free. One solution is to fumigate feed with aluminium phosphide. Until now I was not clear whether fumigation residues in shrimp feed were detrimental to the shrimp or not.

Research
Pig feed reviews
In this column, swine nutritionist Dr Ioannis Mavromichalis reviews recent research on pig nutrition and feed technology of practical importance to the global feed industry: Salmonella at the plant – Particle size and salmonella – Optimised pelleted diet

 
August 12, 2004