Any cook, whether a professional chef or at-home hobbyist, will tell you that when dealing with raw meat, especially turkey and chicken, food safety is key. From improper food storage to cross contamination on the cutting board, the opportunities to cause sickness and food poisoning are plentiful.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), each year, foodborne illnesses:

• Affect 1 in 10 people.
• Cause 33 million healthy life years to be lost.
• Result in 125,000 deaths of children under five.

When these illnesses are profiled, it becomes apparent that Campylobacter and Salmonella are huge issues, accounting for 38% and 35% of illnesses, respectively, despite there being a plethora of other potential pathogens. They can both be found in multiple species but are commonly discussed in the poultry industry due to how they interact with birds. Consumers are told that thorough cooking of food will stop the transmission of these pathogens, but early steps can also be taken to control Campylobacter and Salmonella in poultry production and processing.

The journey of infection

While they can cause huge human health problems if they invade the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract, these bacterial organisms are normally asymptomatic in the bird. Campylobacter infection reaches a rapid growth phase in the higher body temperature of birds, which is why birds act as a big reservoir for infection. The bacteria are then passed on to humans, where they invade the GI tract. Salmonella is transmitted both horizontally (bird to bird) and vertically (from mother to chick through the egg). Both pathogens bind to attachment sites on the epithelial cells of the gut wall.

Go with the gut

Gut health and the microbiota can have a significant impact on pathogen colonization and, as a result, transmission. The microbiome is a complex subject, but it is well-documented through research that the microbiota and the gut interact with each other. The microbiota affects:

• Nutrition and growth.
• Intestinal morphology.
• Immunity.

Immunity is a hugely important factor when considering animal performance. An immune response is incredibly energetically expensive and detracts energy away from growth or egg production. Of a bird’s immune system, 70% operates through the gut. Ensuring that gut health and the microbiota are working effectively together is crucial to ensuring that immunity is fully functional.

Many factors can influence the microbiota and, hence, the immune status of an animal, including:

• Feed and nutrition.
• The environment.
• Medication.

Commonly, when abiotic or biotic stressors are allowed into the production system — or, for example, if antibiotics are used — the diversity of the microbiota is reduced, which then makes it easier for unfavorable or pathogenic organisms to proliferate and invade. Bacteria produce their own micro-environment, allowing for more of the same species to grow. They can then use quorum sensing in order to communicate with one another and begin their invasion. This is usually to the detriment of beneficial bacteria. When situations like this arise, pathogens like Salmonella and Campylobacter are common invasion species.

So, what does changing the gut microflora have to do with food safety? If we can create a more diverse, balanced microbiota, this shifts the balance of species in the gut, reducing the risk of pathogen colonization.

Recent genetic profiling work has highlighted a reduction in Campylobacter and Helicobacter genus groups, as well as the impact of microbiota modulation on Salmonella. It shows that the modulated microbiota significantly reduces the amount of Salmonella found in the caeca and the ovaries, which will directly reduce the chances of horizontal and vertical transmission. This is particularly important in the laying industry, especially with birds being taken past their vaccination protection frame.

How to change gut microflora

One means of controlling this is through the rehabilitation of the microflora after stress or challenge. This reverses any diversity losses and promotes immunity. Alltech recommends the use of Actigen^® for normalizing microflora and promoting microbiome diversity. The gut is vital, not only for immunity but for general performance, as this is the site of nutrient digestion and absorption. The efficiency of this process will directly influence performance. As a result, Actigen:

• Increases weight gain.
• Improves feed efficiency.
• Improves livability.

Recent research has looked at the impact of Actigen on the caecal microbiota, which directly influences the metabolome and increases the amount of short-chain fatty acids found in the caeca. A changing metabolome creates a better environment for beneficial bacteria to grow, which means that they can outcompete less favorable species. Eventually, this means that the microbiota changes in profile. Early life nutrition is key to influencing the mature microbiome through the impact on succession to climax colonies, although beginning rehabilitation at any age will have an impact. This impact will then start to influence the house microflora, which will then impact the next flock.

Poultry meat and egg consumption is on the rise and is projected to continue growing at over 2%. This growth is a lifeline for farmers. With this increase, it is crucial that we do not allow there to also be an increase in foodborne illness or a food scare, like the Salmonella scare in the U.K. in the 1980s. Events such as these, even if not based solely on facts, can be detrimental to industries. Ensuring our food standards and safety will help us maintain customer trust and allow us to continue driving growth in sales. To do this, we must look within our flocks and focus on maintaining microbiota diversity.

I want to learn more about poultry nutrition.

An international research team at the University of Surrey in the United Kingdom has established a link between the outcome of COVID-19 cases and the regional selenium status of people in China. The data was based on the real-time numbers of confirmed cases, recovery rates and mortality rates in each province or city. When analyzing these populations, researchers observed an association between the population’s selenium status (based on hair samples) and the rates of recovery (Figure 1).

In the Hubei province, whose capital is Wuhan, it was found that Enshi City had recovery rates that were 36.4% higher than other cities within the region, where the overall recovery rate was 13.1%. Enshi City is known for its high selenium status. Outside of Hubei, in the Heilongjian province of north-eastern China, where the selenium status is notoriously low, a 2.4% increase in mortality rates was observed.

China is home to people with both the lowest and highest selenium statuses in the world. Geographical differences across the country result in varied soil compositions, which can alter selenium levels. It is these differences in soil selenium levels that influence how much of the trace mineral enters the food chain from livestock feed, meat, milk and eggs, and the end consumer. Therefore, human selenium intake is very much dependent on the environment in which the crops, plants and livestock are raised.

Figure 1: Correlation between COVID-19 recovery rate in 17 cities outside Hubei, China, on February 18, 2020, and city population selenium status (hair selenium concentration) analyzed using statistical methods (mean ± SD = 35.5 ± 11.1, R2 = 0.72, F test P < 0.0001) Copyright ^© Rayman et al., on behalf of the American Society for Nutrition, 2020.

Selenium and its role in immune defense

Selenium is an essential trace element for both humans and animals and is required in small amounts for normal health, growth, reproduction and immune defense. It also provides a source of antioxidants, which help to address diseases related to oxidative stress.

Previous studies have shown the antiviral effects of selenium and have linked the evolution and spread of viral infectious diseases, such as swine flu and bird flu, to areas where soil selenium levels are lower (Harthill, 2011). Other studies have observed more severe viral symptoms and infection rates when dietary selenium is low (Beck et al., 2001).

Viruses produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) as part of their biological makeup. These ROS are believed to be combated by glutathione peroxidase, an important antioxidant for cellular defense in which selenium plays a major role. As such, it is believed that several cellular and viral mechanisms involving selenium and selenium-containing proteins can influence the outcome of viral infections.

Selenium and functional food: What do these findings mean for human health?

It is important that we consume a well-balanced diet that incorporates adequate amounts of selenium to maintain our antioxidant capacity and immune defense. According to U.S. standards, the recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for selenium in humans is 55 micrograms a day.

Dietary sources of selenium include nuts, grains and vegetables, with Brazil nuts being the richest source of selenium. However, their content is highly variable and can range from 0.03 to 512 micrograms, the latter level being potentially harmful. In vegetables, up to 40% of selenium can be lost through cooking.

Highly bioavailable and organic forms of selenium have kick-started a new era in the availability of selenium-enriched products. Enriched meat, milk and eggs that contain up to 35 micrograms of selenium (more than 50% of the RDA) have been successfully developed and tested using SEL-PLEX^®, Alltech’s proprietary selenium-enriched yeast (Surai et al., 2009). Livestock that are supplemented with selenium-enriched yeast show improved health, disease resistance, fertility and antioxidant capacity. Due to the high bioavailability of organic selenium-enriched yeast, the trace mineral is effectively transferred to subsequent animal products. The result is meat, milk and eggs with consistently higher selenium levels that are available to us for consumption.

As we can see from this population study, organic selenium-enriched yeast could provide a promising development in functional food for human immunity and general health.

References are available upon request.

In the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, many people are understandably concerned about their health and are looking for ways to decrease the likelihood that they will get sick in the future. Fortunately, there are several easy steps we can all take to improve our health right now and protect ourselves from illness down the road.

Amy Goodson, a registered dietician, addressed this subject at the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience with a presentation entitled “Preexisting Conditions: Health and Immunity in a Post-COVID-19 World.” In this presentation, Amy outlined five major preexisting medical conditions that can increase everyone’s risk of disease. However, she also included easy ways to decrease your likelihood of getting sick.

“There are so many things that you can start doing today to lower your risk for any type of disease,” she said.

5 big illnesses to keep an eye on

The five primary diseases and issues that increase everyone’s risk of disease are:

• Obesity
• Heart disease
• Hypertension
• Type 2 diabetes
• Lack of exercise

“All of these things together can really put a person in that vulnerable population or at a greater risk to suffer when it comes to other diseases and health concerns,” said Amy.

Despite how overwhelming it may feel to try to take on these significant issues, Amy assured that there are reasonable and straightforward ways to gradually move toward better health.

“A lot of times, people hear, ‘Oh, you should lower your risk for heart disease or for diabetes,’ and they don't know how to do that,” she acknowledged. “We're going to dial in on some easy, practical tips and help you set an action plan so that you can move forward into the next healthy step for you.”

1. Obesity

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2016, around 650 million people were categorized as obese. Being obese can impact other aspects of human health as well, elevating a person’s risk for heart disease, stroke, insulin resistance and even some kinds of cancers.

So, how can we combat a condition that is so widespread? According to Amy, the upside is that, for most people, obesity is preventable, and weight is something that can be controlled by taking three simple but crucial steps: “Eat healthier, eat less and move more.”

Some of Amy’s recommendations for eating a healthier diet include consuming more nutrient-dense foods, eating a carbohydrate and a protein at every meal and snack and following the “80/20 rule” — that is, sticking to the health guidelines 80% of the time and splurging on higher-calorie foods or sweets 20% of the time. After all, man cannot live on vegetables alone, and even registered dieticians like Amy do not recommend trying to.

“We want you to be on an eating plan that you can really maintain throughout the rest of your life,” she said.

2. Heart disease

The WHO estimates that 17.9 million people die every year from cardiovascular disease, accounting for 31% of all deaths worldwide.

While some people have a higher risk of heart disease based on their family history, there are simple ways we can all keep our hearts healthy. One of the most important things to do, according to Amy, is to “know your numbers” — that is, your cholesterol, your triglycerides and other important measurements you can learn by visiting the doctor’s office. 

“Many people think they're healthy, and they haven't been to the doctor in years, so it's very important that you go see your physician,” said Amy.

Some other ways to improve your heart health are increasing your fiber intake, consuming more “good” unsaturated fats — like those found in olive oil, avocados and nuts — and eating less “bad” trans fats, which are often found in processed and fried foods.

3. Hypertension

In 2015, 1 in 4 men and 1 in 5 women around the world reportedly had hypertension, or high blood pressure — and even more alarmingly, less than 1 in 5 of those people had the problem under control, which explains why hypertension is one of the leading causes of premature death.

Much of the advice for mitigating the risk of obesity and heart disease also rings true for decreasing blood pressure or managing hypertension, including moving more and eating healthier foods, especially those with less sodium. As Amy reinforced, it all comes back to taking the small steps that have a big impact.

“What we want to do today is focus on or change what we can control,” she said.

Some of those changes include taking 10,000 steps every day and reducing your sodium intake, which many doctors recommend keeping under 2,300 milligrams per day.

4. Type 2 diabetes

“There are millions (of people in the world) — more than the whole population of the United States — (who) have diabetes, so this is something that concerns me,” Amy said.  

A person is diagnosed with diabetes when their blood sugar levels are too high. Type 2 diabetes results from the body’s resistance to insulin, a hormone that helps transform sugar into energy. This differs from type 1 diabetes, which is often diagnosed in childhood and is the result of the body not being able to make insulin at all.

Hundreds of millions of people have an elevated risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which is associated with a host of other health problems, including damaged nerves, worsening eyesight, foot sores and kidney failure.

Much like with the other major health risks, the key to avoiding or managing type 2 diabetes is eating more healthy foods. Amy explained the importance of “shaping a healthy plate,” which should include a carbohydrate (e.g., whole grains), a protein (such as lean meats) and a fat (like avocados) at every meal, along with plenty of vegetables.

5. Lack of exercise

“We know that, globally, 1 in 4 adults do not get enough exercise,” said Amy. “We need everyone across the world to get moving more.”

Along with the obvious benefits of exercise, such as developing muscle mass and managing weight, insufficient physical activity is a key risk factor for developing non-communicable diseases, like cancer and diabetes. However, as many people know, starting an exercise routine often feels like a hurdle as tall as Mount Everest.

“If it was easy, everybody would be doing it,” said Amy, “(but) there's a lot of practical ways that you can begin to include activity in your day on a regular basis.”  

To reduce the risk of chronic disease, Amy recommended that adults exercise at a moderate intensity level for at least 30 minutes a day on most days of the week. That doesn’t necessarily mean exercising for 30 minutes in one go; it could mean taking the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away from an entrance and doing sit-ups during commercial breaks while watching TV.

For those who need more motivation to get moving, Amy pointed out that exercise has health benefits that go beyond the physical: it has been scientifically proven to elevate a person’s mood. 

“We live in a world that's stressful, and exercise is a healthy way to really relieve some of that stress and anxiety that many of us experience,” Amy said.

Taking the first step

So, what can you start doing now to decrease your risk for these illnesses and their negative side effects? For Amy, it’s all about starting small.

“I'm a big believer that small changes, made consistently, can add up to big results,” she said.  

Develop a personal action plan that will mesh with your life. Some of your first steps might include:

• Setting one or two small goals and working to make those a habit over the next month
• Going to the doctor
• Aiming to get three planned days of exercise a week

Amy also recommended finding an “accountability partner” or someone who can help motivate you to stay on track as you begin the journey to better health.

“It's hard to choose the best (food) options and exercise, but oftentimes, if you have someone to do it with you, it makes it a little bit easier,” she said.

Just like with COVID-19, protecting yourself from these five major health risks can seem daunting — but starting small can lead to significant changes in the long run.

“I just want to encourage you to take a step -- whatever that step is, and it's going to be different for everybody,” she said. “It doesn't have to be a big step. But small steps really can create healthy habits so that, in the future, you're not in that vulnerable population.”

Visit one.alltech.com for more information.

There is something about the smell of grandma’s cooking, the sound of uncorking a bottle of wine and the look of a perfectly green avocado sliced down the middle. Smell, sound and appearance affect the way we taste our favorite foods. This information is critical to understanding how to solve our current food crisis — a crisis that involves the growing population, heightened instances of disease and the search for an ethical and sustainable food supply.

Dr. Dan Han, Psy.D., CELM, FANA, chief of clinical neuropsychology services at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, presented on this subject during the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience health and wellness session. How we feed the world moving forward is about more than just producing a sustainable food source— it’s about making it desirable. The way our brains analyze food and perceive flavor is known as neurogastronomy. But how can this scientific art help solve the future of food?

Current challenges

With a global food crisis quickly approaching, what specific challenges are humans facing with the current status quo? Dr. Han highlighted three major issues:

1. Population growth.

The U.N. projects that there will be 9 billion people on the planet by 2050, and we need to know how we plan to feed them all.

2. Food insecurity.

Food insecurity is defined as the disruption of food intake or eating patterns because of a lack of money and other resources. And in the U.S. alone, 13% of the population — roughly 40 million people — are experiencing food insecurity.

“As an immigrant myself, when I came to the states in 1987, food insecurity was just not a part of the American dream. It was something that was unthinkable,” Dr. Han reminisced. “For a country that I love, that really hits home for me personally, so I wanted to see what I could do.”  

3. Disease.

Our diets play a heavy role in our health, and it’s no secret that unhealthy food options are cheap and easily accessible. However, they can also cause disease.

“Because of our sedentary lifestyle and cultural changes, in terms of food, exposure and the types of foods (we eat),” explained Dr. Han, “we have, as a species, developed post-industrialization, cultural- and lifestyle-specific diseases that come from readily accessible sweets, unhealthy drinks, fast food and so on.”

Some of those diseases include:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Subtypes of cancer
• Chronic liver disease
• Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• Metabolic syndromes
• Renal failure
• Osteoporosis
• Stroke
• Depression
• Obesity
• Type 2 diabetes
• Heart disease and other vascular diseases

“Now, I am not the type to scold certain types of food industries, because God knows I enjoy a burger every now and then, and I certainly enjoy bourbon, being in Kentucky — all in moderation,” clarified Dr. Han. “The concept here that we need to prioritize is the concept of plenty, but in the right way. But when it’s executed in the wrong way, the consequence and the unseen side effects of certain types of overproduction are going to be affecting our individual health and our global health.”

Experts needed

Dr. Han proposed that what we need is an interdisciplinary solution. We need scientists, clinicians, agriculturalists, chefs, dieticians and specialists in various fields to partner up and use their individual expertise to solve this global crisis.  

“Everybody really needs to come together and bring their contributions and put them on the table so that we can integrate them for a planet of plenty,” explained Dr. Han.

Why is it important for people with different expertise to be involved in this effort? When leaders of different fields analyze their individual data, they tend to be blinded by “confirmatory biases”; there can be a tendency to read only the data that fulfills our narrative and pertains to a specific field. Preferably, various experts could work alongside one another and have a bird’s-eye-view of the full picture to better analyze the data.

Reference:  Cartoon of the blind men and the elephant. G. Renee Guzlas. Source: http://www.nature.com/ki/journal/v62/n5/fig_tab/4493262f1.html

Dr. Han referenced the parable of the blind men and the elephant but used scientists in his example. If one expert is looking at an elephant’s tail, it may seem like a rope. The trunk? A snake. The ear? A fan. However, if they were to take a step back and look at the data they have compiled as a whole, they would see the elephant — meaning their data would feature unobstructed, unbiased results. This teamwork is necessary in order to find the solution to feeding the growing population.

“While I respect all of my colleagues in many different fields, I personally have witnessed magic and beautiful data science illustrations come to light when everybody took off their blindfolds, came together and looked at the overall picture together,” said Dr. Han.

Now that a team of experts has been identified as a solution to our food crisis, how could this solution be implemented?

“A bunch of folks got together representing different fields and coined the term ‘neurogastronomy,’” Dr. Han explained.

The combination of culinary arts and sciences

Neurogastronomy is the pre-olfaction state visual data encoding, perceptual proliferation and episodic memory recall, followed by orthonasal and restronasal olfactory neural circuits interfacing gustatory experiential reward systems.

Need a translation? Here’s how Dr. Han defines it:

“What is neurogastronomy? It’s about food!” he said. “It’s about delicious food. It’s about food that’s in demand. It’s about creating supply scientifically and correctly and ethically so that we could address health and sustainability.”

If we better understand how people experience food, we can better create a healthy and sustainable supply.

Neurogastronomy is a combination of science and the culinary arts. By combining these different areas of expertise, there is a new ability to dissect the different flavors and appetites that contribute to clinical disease. On a macro level, this helps us focus on sustainability issues by “introducing this interdisciplinary concept by using what we know about flavor, smell, taste and the individual appetite,” explained Dr. Han.

While it’s easy to claim that we need to introduce healthier, more sustainable ingredients into our diets, people still won’t respond to these ingredients if they don’t taste good. Stimuli such as “colors, ambiance, lighting, the sound a chip makes when you bite into a crisp potato chip” all effect how we experience food. There various stimuli can help achieve the goal of an ethical and sustainable food supply:

1. Smell. “Taste is conceptualized as flavor,” explained Dr. Han. “Taste is formed by smell. That is why, when you have allergies, you can’t taste anything.” Therefore, the way food smells will amplify taste and elevate an individual’s experience with food.

2. Visuals. The food industry needs to prioritize visual stimuli when presenting food. But this is about much more than just presenting food in an aesthetically pleasing fashion.

For example, Dr. Han explains how people associate certain colors with certain tastes:

• White: Salty
• Brown: Bitter
• Green: Sour
• Red: Sweet

However, while we associate specific tastes with colors, the visual stimuli of how food is served requires a different set of rules. Dr. Han explained how a study in Great Britain showed that even though red food is associated with a sweet taste, a red plate is associated with danger. When food was served on a blue plate, on the other hand, consumption increased from 114 g to 152 g.

3. The brain: Structural, systemic and mechanical issues in the brain help us gain knowledge to create healthier ingredients, a better supply and the ethical distribution of ingredients that are more carbon-neutral and good for the environment “while satiating the demand of the human species,” said Dr. Han. Hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and feeling (or touch) are all intertwined as a network in the brain. If we know how the brain responds to those variables, Dr. Han says that we can manipulate them for a more ethical and higher-yield gain.

Wrapping it up

The task at hand is daunting: creating enough food to feed our growing population while ensuring that it is healthy, sustainable and appetizing. Through neurogastronomy, experts can examine how our brains perceive flavor and, ultimately, help reshape the future of food.

Visit one.alltech.com for more information.

When growing soy, the ultimate goal is to maximize crop yield while maintaining crop and soil health in order to continue using that land for soy production or as part of a crop rotation schedule. Each step in the life cycle of the plant has its particular needs, but when focusing on the soybean flowering phase, some special care can result in greater yields when the time for harvest arrives. 

Flowering and fighting stress

The flowering phase is an integral phase for soy plants. What happens during this time and how many flowers the plant is able to produce and maintain will determine the ultimate yield of each plant. Much like humans, plants are also affected by and suffer from stress caused by external factors. A lack of rain and excessive heat are formidable enemies for soy and can severely impact the plants’ development and productivity. In order to minimize the damage that can be induced by these stressors, producers should ensure that the crop is in optimal health and is able to remain in good condition. 

Feed the plant

To improve a plant’s stamina and increase its chances of surviving and even thriving, the grower should ensure that the plant is able to receive and use the appropriate nutrients during periods of stress. Luiz Gustavo Floss, a grains consultant for Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina, notes that some practices are indispensable for improving plant development and flower retention — factors that impact profitability. 

“The plant needs to be well-nourished at the moment of flowering to form as great a number of pods as possible, resulting in an increase in production and greater grain weight,” Floss explained. 

Solutions to protect against stress

Providing nutrients and other stress-reducing substances to the plants prior to and during times of stress will help producers reduce their risks during flowering. Agronomist Vinícius Abe, an Alltech Crop Science technical manager specializing in grains, says that these compounds will allow the plant to be better prepared to resist external factors.

“These elements are fundamental for the development of the plant,” Abe explained. “Zinc is a good example of one of these essential elements. It’s an enzymatic cofactor that aids in protein synthesis and in the photosynthetic process. But there are also other important nutrients, such as copper, boron, calcium, nitrogen and potassium. These nutrients are fundamental for the proper formation of the reproductive organs, filling of the grains and productivity.”

When a plant receives the essential amount of the nutrients, these stress-reducing substances begin to work quickly to stimulate the plant so that it will reach a balanced state and have the ability to perform the necessary functions, especially in the production of amino acids and hormones. 

“When we apply an amino acid externally, we stimulate internal production so that the soy plant can pass through this phase more balanced,” said Abe. “Some stressful situations, for example, can make these functions become unregulated and will result in the plant having its productivity compromised.”   

The Alltech Crop Science solutions based on plant extracts and nutrients complexed with amino acids also have a beneficial impact on the quality of soy plants. With the demands for particular protein levels in the international market, the use of these solutions will translate directly to increased profitability for producers. 

“The improved development of the plant becomes possible when care is taken in the materials that are used, promoting improved genetic expression and productive potential, as well as decreasing the impact of stress factors on the plant,” Abe said.

Did you know?

The average soy plant will usually have between 300 to 450 flowers, but more than 80% of them are lost due to various factors that create stress in the plant. There are several steps that growers can take in order to help reduce the loss of flowers. These steps include implementing appropriate crop management techniques, like proper fertilizing, spacing, stands, irrigation and the delivery of nutrients such as calcium and boron, which will increase the probability that flowers will remain on the plant and lead to increased pod production.

Roles of certain nutrients in soy production

• Zinc: Important during the formation of chlorophyll; influences protein level.
• Copper: Involved in the ability of the plant to synthesize lignin.
• Boron: Integral to the formation of nodes and nitrogen fixation.
• Potassium: Plays a role in photosynthesis.

I want to learn more about crop science.

As humans, we like to celebrate our individuality. Whether we do this through the clothes we wear, the cars we drive or the pastimes we pursue, we make a point of filling our lives with things that complement and accentuate our personalities.

However, there are certain times in life that we favor the generic over the unique, especially when it comes to our health and well-being. From popular diets to prescription medicine, we are usually pointed in the direction of treatments that work best for the majority, with the assumption that they will work for us too. In reality, this is not always the case, as Dr. Matt Dawson, founder and CEO of Wild Health, explained during his presentation at the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience.

“You are not a statistic, and medicine shouldn't treat you like you're a statistic,” Matt said. “We really should not be giving you medications or treatments based on epidemiology and population studies.”

This ideology creates the foundational ethos of Wild Health, which endeavors to deliver personalized and precision medicine based on an individual’s genetic makeup and lifestyle. In order to formulate this bespoke medical care, there are certain fundamental aspects that Matt and his team look at.

1. DNA

The idea for Wild Health came when Matt’s cofounder, Dr. Mike Mallin, learned that his cholesterol numbers were less than ideal. Matt found this shocking and worrisome, mainly because he could not understand why.

“At the time, we were in our mid-30s, we were eating what we thought was a perfect diet, we were doing ultra-marathons, and this just didn’t make sense,” explained Matt. “We thought we were doing all the right things.”

To combat the problem, Mike went down the typical treatment route. Matt advised a well-researched and supported diet, and his doctor prescribed him the same medication he would for any patient with high cholesterol. However, Mike’s situation got worse, so the pair started investigating other options. This was when they came to realize that, by looking at a patient’s DNA, it was possible to tailor personalized treatments. Looking at Mike’s genetics, they were able to pinpoint the exact strands of DNA that were inhibiting his recovery, and they altered his diet in order to work around those issues. From this initial success, they furthered their research, developed their process and finally established the business they run today.

According to Matt, genomics can tell us a lot about what our body needs and wants. Beyond nutrition and diet, studying our DNA can show us what types of exercise we are most suited to and much more. This information is key to developing tailor-made and personalized treatments.

2. The overall picture

While genomics plays a huge part in your overall health and is the first thing that Matt looks at when developing treatments, he admits that it is not the only factor taken into consideration.

“Looking at your DNA is really important; it's like your human operating system,” explained Matt. “But it's not the whole picture. Health and wellness, and your longevity, is about 20% genetics, but most of it is actually epigenetics too.”

This is because our lifestyle affects how our genetics operate, and if they do not support one another, we cannot achieve optimal health. Matt reckons that there are four foundational needs to be accounted for:

• Exercise
• Nutrition
• Sleep
• Stress and relationships

This means that when creating the ideal treatment, Matt needs to look at the patient’s current state of well-being, too, through both medical tests and by simply having a conversation about their lifestyle. By doing this, he can see how a person is already addressing, or neglecting, the strengths and weaknesses in their genetic makeup.

“As much as we like to talk about peptides and all these small molecules and other medications that can make a big difference,” admitted Matt, “they really dwarf in comparison to the basics.”

For example, a person’s DNA may show that they require more than the average dose of vitamin D — but if they spend a lot of time outdoors, they could already be taking in the necessary amount.

By combining these results with the genomic profile, Matt can begin to set a person on the right path to optimized health.

3. Personal preference

The final consideration for the perfect, personalized health plan is the most subjective of them all: personal preference. After all, as Matt reasons, the perfect treatment is the one that appeals most to the patient.

“That’s critically important,” stated Matt. “If we give you the perfect diet for you, but it’s not things you’re going to eat, then we’ve wasted our time.”

By combining all of these factors, Wild Health is at the forefront of a new way of approaching medicine. Matt’s work shows and continues to build on the fact that by taking our individual quirks and traits into consideration, we can find medical care that not only optimizes our health but appeals to us too.

Visit one.alltech.com for more information.

Let's face it: raising profitable pigs is hard work. Optimizing your bottom line while staying competitive is a challenge on its own. But add fluctuating feed costs, new regulations and an unpredictable market to the mix, and the task can feel daunting. In addition, supply chain disruptions have further exacerbated the need for producers to minimize losses, with many hoping just to break even to keep their farms afloat.

Whether we are in challenging or prosperous times, lowering the cost of production is essential because every pig producer is looking for ways to maintain their farm’s profitability and ensure its future for years to come.

Three strategies for reducing your pig cost of production

Feed costs represent the biggest input for producers, often accounting for up to 70% of production costs. Pig producers must adapt their feed strategy to maximize feed efficiency. Here are three ways to reduce production costs without impacting your herd’s performance.

1. Reducing feed costs for pigs

The biggest challenges the livestock industry currently faces are the pressure to reduce feed costs and the continuous effort to gain a better understanding of available feed ingredients. The animal cannot fully utilize around 25% of the available nutrients in feed ingredients due to anti-nutritional factors in feed. Keeping that in mind, producers worldwide are making a concerted effort to lower the cost of production and maximize feed efficiency based on nutritional and economic factors (which often vary) while maintaining animal welfare and using sustainable approaches to meet demands.

Pig producers look to increase feed digestibility to manage the short-term risks associated with reduced market prices.

Increasing feed digestibility helps:

• Make more nutrients available for the pig to absorb.
• Improve performance, allowing producers to send animals to market faster.
• Lower feed costs.

Enzyme technologies, such as Allzyme^® Spectrum Swine, help pigs optimize the nutritional values in feed, allowing for improved dietary efficiency while supporting sustainable swine production. The unique combination of enzymes in Allzyme Spectrum Swine increases cost-efficiency by maximizing the diet’s potential at every growth stage. Developed through solid state fermentation (SSF), Allzyme Spectrum Swine produces a multi-enzyme solution that works in synergy with the complete pig diet, optimizing nutrients — including amino acids, calcium and phosphorus — while enhancing the use of raw materials (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Solid state fermentation (SSF) process

As a result, a complete dual action matrix is produced. This matrix gives nutritionists flexibility in formulating diets and, in turn, the release of more nutrients for the pig, which leads to cost savings for the producer. Figure 2 shows an example of a finishing diet that utilized Alltech’s enzyme technologies to improve digestibility and lower the cost per ton of feed. This example is representative of a typical diet in the eastern corn belt of the United States.

Figure 2: Feed cost savings with Alltech’s enzyme technologies

2. Improving pig efficiency, starting with the sow

In recent years, genetics has played a major role in improving sow efficiency by increasing the number of pigs produced per sow per year. As litter size increases, piglet birth weight decreases and litter variability increases. Low birth weight is a major predisposing factor for pre-weaning mortality (Figure 3), and lower weaning weights often result in slower growth and fatter carcasses.

Figure 3: Effects of piglet birth weight on pre-weaning mortality

(Feldpausch, et al., 2019)

Increasing birth weight can:

• Improve piglet variability.
• Help reduce the number of pigs that require special attention.
• Decrease pre-weaning mortality rates.
• Improve piglet weaning weight.

Everything you want the piglet to receive comes through the sow until weaning, so it is crucial that the sow’s nutrition program is fully implemented as planned and that she can transfer vital trace elements, such as those found in Bioplex^® and Sel-Plex^®  trace minerals, to the piglet.

Some technologies on the market today are being utilized differently now than they have been at any time to improve sow reproductive performance. Alltech’s Mineral Management program has been shown to:

• Increase the number of piglets born alive.
• Increase the birth weight of smaller pigs in the litter without affecting larger pigs (Kalaw et al., 2009).
• Reduce variation within the litter at weaning and slaughter (Ma et al., 2020).

Figure 4: Litter birth weights from sows fed inorganic or organic trace mineral sources

(Bertechini et al., 2012)

Reducing weaning variation allows pig producers to market pigs in a much tighter window and reduce variation heading into slaughter. Reducing variation at slaughter can also reduce sort losses at the processing facility and lead to increased revenue per pig (Cheng, Claudy, Que and Schinckel, 2019).

Bioplex minerals have also demonstrated that there is less degradation of vitamins as well as enzymes. A reduction in enzyme effectiveness or vitamin activity can lead to an increase in cost or a less favorable production response. Research has shown that several enzymes are heavily reduced in the presence of inorganic minerals and less damaged when exposed to their organic counterparts in the form of Bioplex (Santos, Connolly and Murphy, 2014).

3. Improving water consumption

Does the water your pigs drink impact their performance and productivity, thereby reducing production costs? A pig’s water consumption is just as important as their feed intake because pigs that do not drink enough water will not consume enough feed. Pigs tend to drink around 10% of their body weight per day or roughly two times the amount of feed they eat.

Keeping the pH in a lower range for a longer period reduces the conditions that allow harmful bacteria to grow and flourish. Adding acidifiers, such as Acid-Pak 4-Way^®, to drinking water is an effective approach to acidification, especially when intake is low or variable, because it:

• Reduces water pH and keeps it in a more favorable range (<5 pH).
• Sweetens the taste of water, helping make young pigs more inclined to drink water.
• Improves water intake, which, in turn, improves the pig's ability to digest feed.
• Leads to better enzymatic activity.

Acid-Pak 4-Way is typically used following weaning or during stressful times in the pig's life.

The cost of pig production

While numerous variables can affect production costs, understanding the factors that affect feed quality and implementing a quality-assurance program will help ensure that the best possible nutrition is delivered to your pigs and help pig producers save more money in the long run. Use our pig profit calculator at Alltech.com/every-cent-matters to see how much you can save with Alltech nutritional technologies.

References:

Bertechini, A. G., Fassani, E. J., Brito, J. Á. G. D., & Barrios, P. R. (2012). Effects of dietary mineral Bioplex in pregnant and lactating sow diets on piglet performance and physiological characteristics. Revista Brasileira De Zootecnia, 41(3), 624–629. doi: 10.1590/s1516-35982012000300022

Cheng, J., Claudy, J., Que, Y., & Schinckel, A. P. (2019). PSII-21 Evaluation of the impact of the magnitude of errors in the sorting of pigs and market price for market on the optimal market weight. Journal of Animal Science, 97(Supplement_2), 231–232. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz122.407

Feldpausch, J. A., Jourquin, J., Bergstrom, J. R., Bargen, J. L., Bokenkroger, C. D., Davis, D. L., … Ritter, M. J. (2019). Birth weight threshold for identifying piglets at risk for preweaning mortality. Translational Animal Science, 3(2), 633–640. doi: 10.1093/tas/txz076

Johnson, R. J., & Campbell, R. G. (1991). Rhone-Poulenc Animal Nutrition and Bunge Meat Industries, Australia. In: Manipulating Pig Production III. Proceedings of the Third Biennial Conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association (pp. 138–138).

Kalaw, P.R., Yatco, J.T., Yatco, G.B., et al., The incidence of small piglets at birth and at weaning can be reduced by Bioplex Sow Pak (poster).  Alltech’s 25th Symposium.  

Ma, L., He, J., Lu, X., Qiu, J., Hou, C., Liu, B., … Yu, D. (2020). Effects of low-dose organic trace minerals on performance, mineral status, and fecal mineral excretion of sows. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences, 33(1), 132–138. doi: 10.5713/ajas.18.0861

Santos, T., Connolly, C., & Murphy, R. (2014). Trace Element Inhibition of Phytase Activity. Biological Trace Element Research, 163(1-2), 255–265. doi: 10.1007/s12011-014-0161-y

I want to learn more about nutrition for my pig herd.

The way the public and the media perceive animal agriculture’s environmental impact can, and should, change. New research from Oxford University and the University of California, Davis have recently debunked some of the most critical and long-standing myths surrounding animal agriculture. But can this breakthrough overcome animal agriculture’s bad reputation?

The current narrative about animal agriculture says that ruminant livestock animals (e.g., beef cattle, dairy cattle, etc.) produce methane. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas. Thus, animal agriculture is bad for the environment.

During a keynote presentation for the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience, Dr. Frank Mitloehner, professor at the University of California, Davis and air quality specialist, boldly proclaimed a path for animal agriculture to become climate-neutral.

Yes, “you heard me right — climate-neutral,” said Dr. Mitloehner. He said he would like to, “get us to a place where we have the impacts of animal agriculture that are not detrimental to our climate.”

Important Greenhouse Gases to Know

3 myths about animal agriculture’s environmental impact debunked

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Post-COVID, there will not be a “return to normal.” According to Dr. Mark Lyons, president and CEO of Alltech, now, more than ever, we must take a leap of faith and recognize that it is up to us to make positive changes in our “new normal.” COVID-19 presents monumental challenges, but also innovative opportunities, particularly in agriculture.

“We can see that ag is not a problem to be solved, but is a potential solution,” said Dr. Lyons, “and we’ve heard so many examples and so many ideas this week of ways that we can do just that.”

In his closing keynote presentation, Dr. Lyons shared his key takeaways from the launch week of the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience, which features on-demand insights from leading experts in agriculture and beyond. Many of the highlights illustrated Alltech’s Planet of Plenty™ vision of promise, possibility and positivity for the future, which centers on the belief that a world of abundance is achievable, but it will take all of us working together.

Leadership is not a title — it is action

Now is a time for leadership, both at individual companies and in the agriculture industry as a whole. However, we may need to tweak our idea of what makes a great leader.

“Leadership is not a title,” said Dr. Lyons. “Leadership, to me, is an action. You aren’t a leader because you hold a certain position or a certain role. Much as we’ve heard that love is a verb, something active, so is leadership.”

He noted that in a crisis, a leader must exemplify three traits:

1. Decision-making

2. Confidence

3. Trust in their people

There is, however, one important thing that can undermine leadership: ego.

“In a crisis, a leader must put their ego aside,” said Dr. Lyons. “We as leaders must realize that the decisions we are making are impacting so many more people and in much more profound ways during a crisis. In that regard, our personal well-being and our interests must be subjugated to the importance of others’.”

Already, we are seeing many examples of people setting aside their differences, coming together and thinking through challenges creatively. These, Dr. Lyons said, are the teams that will win in a crisis.

We must listen to the experts

An important component of Alltech’s Planet of Plenty vision is the need to listen to our experts, from farmers to scientists to economists, as well as those from many other professions. Even when we do not like the ideas that experts present, it is important that we acknowledge them.

“We need to take the time and energy to understand them and, if we agree, put a little more energy in and make sure we can communicate these ideas to a broader audience,” said Dr. Lyons. “Their insights and their ideas often hold the key to not only those new innovations, but the mere survival, at times, of our industry and our society. Making sure that we are giving time to those experts, I hope, will be a legacy of this time.”

We could be seeing a resurgence in the public’s openness to listening to experts. Their insights could make all the difference in helping us achieve a more abundant world for everyone.

Telling your story, and the story of agriculture, is critical

Trust has become the new currency of our time. Consumers are voting for brands that they trust with their money and their loyalty. Brands that showed up during COVID-19 with a strong focus on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of their businesses, from treating their employees well to sustainability, will come out ahead.

It is important to tell these often hidden and unrecognized stories of agriculture and to celebrate the unsung heroes who put food on the table for families every day — from dairy operations harnessing cow manure to generate electricity to using insects as a sustainable protein source or farming cattle and trees together.

“You, and the stories you tell, are important,” said Dr. Lyons. “Your legacy is part of this whole story, and part of what is at stake. How and why the world is different because of what you do is an important aspect of that story, and it’s possibly one of the most important things you can do.

“Sharing your story of purpose is such a powerful thing,” he continued, “not simply because it builds the understanding of others, but it also gives them the right to do the same, and to feel empowered and make a change.”

We must unify and take action, today, for the future of agriculture and our planet

“We are on a journey, a journey of sustainability, and we’ve learned this week that this is never a destination,” said Dr. Lyons. “It’s something that we will be constantly changing, as we always have.”

On this journey, the only way that we can move forward is together. Luckily, at this moment of widespread virtual networking, Dr. Lyons believes a democracy has been created and has fostered an ability to connect across all levels and positions, increasing the spread of information and ideas.

The Alltech ONE Virtual Experience illustrates this perfectly, bringing more than 23,000 attendees from 118 countries together, which is roughly seven times the number of attendees previously seen at Alltech’s annual, in-person conference in Lexington, Kentucky.

Coming together as ONE team with many ideas represents the best chance we have to make positive change.

“If we unify and we take action, we can connect with leaders, we can bring about change,” said Dr. Lyons. “If we don’t, we will look at ourselves at this time next year and say that we missed that golden opportunity. What we need right now is that unified action to make sure that we make this difference and provide for this planet in an even better way than we have in the past, and truly create that Planet of Plenty.”

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“We can't say that there's any kind of normalized patterns that we can run by anymore,” said Lynda McDonald, dairy development project manager of Tetra Laval in Africa, in a discussion about the dairy industry in the time of COVID-19 at the Alltech ONE Virtual Experience.

McDonald was the first panelist to speak at “The Next Normal for Agri-Food,” a keynote session moderated by Professor Damien McLoughlin, Anthony C. Cunningham Professor of Marketing at the University College Dublin (UCD) Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School.

McLoughlin capitalized on the panel members’ expertise in different sectors, namely dairy, swine and poultry, to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on global agribusiness and future implications. Joining the discussion were industry leaders Dr. Gordon Spronk, a vet by training and co-founder of the Pipestone System for pig production in the U.S., and Philip Wilkinson, a senior leader of several global poultry businesses and vice president of the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU (AVEC).

The panelists each used one word to describe the state of their industry right now; McDonald said “chaos” when talking about the dairy industry, Spronk chose “unprecedented” for the pork industry and Wilkinson used “alarming” when citing the figures in the poultry industry.

Key takeaways

1. There are similar challenges across agri-food industries due to COVID-19 regarding:

- A change in foodservice demand and consumption habits: A significant volume of out-of-home consumption was lost.

“When restaurants were closed, along with other foodservice entities, due to COVID-19 interventions, that decreased our demand,” said Spronk. According to him, restaurants and foodservice account for about 25% of the demand in the pork industry in the U.S.

Wilkinson estimated that for the poultry industry in northern Europe, that number would be about 20%.

McDonald shared that foodservice and restaurant sales are down 50% for dairy. Remarkably, however, during lockdown and panic-buying, dairy sales have gone up between 50–100%.

“So, it’s a chaotic jump, in terms of the switch from restaurants and foodservice to retail,” she said.

- The level of precision in the food supply chain: Restaurant shutdowns and plant closures due to government interventions created an issue of packaging in dairy, and an issue of weight in swine.  

In dairy, pack sizes and the types of dairy people are consuming are changing across the world. This leads to processors not being able to pack what is needed in time. In pig production, the fixed structure cannot handle a certain amount of weight or volume, which can become a safety issue. These issues have led to situations in the U.S. where milk is being dumped and pigs are being gassed or shot, while at the same time, there may be dairy and meat shortages in grocery stores.

This has happened because the system cannot support the demand in terms of market access. Spronk called this an “odd situation,” while McDonald said this is “heartbreaking,” especially considering the food insecurity many people face.

- Storage: Wilkinson mentioned that there are over half a million tons of chicken meat in freezers across Europe right now, and McDonald commented that the number is similar in dairy. She said that there will be about 500,000 tons of dairy going to storage by the end of May, which is comparable to what happened during the last economic shock. These products would typically have gone to foodservice and restaurants.

“At some stage, when we come out of lockdown and get back the new norm, it's still going to take some time for that volume to filter out in the market,” asserted Wilkinson. “This is going to be an 18-month issue, not an 18-week issue. That’s 18 months of price pressure.”

- Export: From a demand-and-supply point of view, McDonald suggested that three risks on the supply side are:

1. Farmers producing less: This can be the result of losing market access, losing credit to purchase feed, labor issues or immigration issues.

2. Governments losing their calm: Some governments are placing export bans on produce.

3. Stockpiling: This risk, when taken into consideration through the lens of exports, impacts traded calories around the world.

Referring to the U.S. swine industry, Spronk explained that 30% of the product is exported. With this in mind, he raised a question: “Do we really want to depend on exports?” He argued that, while the world of globalization says we should, if there is geopolitics at play, that is something producers need to consider.

Wilkinson claimed that, in Europe, there are some businesses and countries whose export policies have been to supply out-of-home consumption, and that is where the problem lies.

2. The moment of truth

Each expert offered their view of what can be learned from what we are seeing during the time of COVID-19. Their insights were that:

- A crisis highlights preexisting problems: “If there's any kind of fragility in the system, any kind of cracks or fissures that were already there previously, a crisis serves to highlight those,” said McDonald. “Many of the dairy systems are robust, functioning well and will continue to function well during this crisis and following.”

- This is an opportunity to learn your strengths and weaknesses: “Mike Tyson once said, ‘Everybody's got a plan until you get punched in the mouth,’” said Spronk. “And so, I'd recommend to any leader in agriculture and in foodservice to lead carefully every day. Never waste a good crisis. Learn what really are the weak and strong points of your team, and build on that.”

- It is harder to adapt when you are overly focused: “Those who are geared up purely to supply out-of-home companies aren’t able to capitalize on the upsurge in consumption from retail,” said Wilkinson. “So, if we find that this is going to be the new norm, countries that are producing high volumes of product are going to have to think again about where their market is or seriously consider looking at another way to utilize their agricultural land.”

3. Challenges present opportunities

- The overall demand for dairy is growing: McDonald argued that, as more people move from subsistence poverty into the middle class in the coming years, one of the first things that they will spend more on is better-quality proteins, including dairy, chicken, pork and beef.

- The poultry sector sees strong growth: “Every problem is an opportunity,” said Wilkinson. He affirmed that the poultry sector could respond quickly because of the short production cycle and because it is a massively consumed meat protein. “We’ve got a meat protein that is an amazing food converter,” he said. “We've got a meat protein that is amazing in terms of water consumption. It doesn't need a lot of space. You can turn it round in six, seven weeks. It is undoubtedly going to be up there in feeding 9–10 billion people going forward.”

- Appetite for local food: In Australia, there is a massive push for local food that is welfare-friendly, traceable and safe. “Australia is starting to move out of lockdown, and out-of-home consumption is starting to pick up there,” said Wilkinson. McDonald also shared that throughout the Muslim world, dairy demand has increased because they are currently in Ramadan. This means that there is a lot more local milk going into informal milk supplies.

- People are starting to return to plants and food services: Even though it will take time to reach full capacity, Spronk’s plants have all reopened. Restaurants that have been closed since the beginning of March are starting to open again as well.

- More testing and the appropriate interventions: Drawing from his veterinarian background and training, Spronk pointed out that swine veterinarians deal with viruses all the time, and it is necessary to run tests. “(Tests) also need to be applied to the communities in general,” he said. “We need to understand who is immune, where’s the virus. Then you can impose the appropriate interventions and let life go on as we know it.”

- A different way of organizing businesses: In China, nearly all production facilities have a dormitory on-site for the staff. Therefore, it is not unusual for staff to stay there for a period of time, which could last for weeks. “In this case, once COVID-19 was announced in China, we still have some farms where the staff has been there since January, before Chinese New Year,” said Spronk.

4. The future is bright for agri-food

Although COVID-19 has exposed problems in the food supply chain, there is hope for the future.

“Nothing's ever hopeless,” assured McDonald. “But it would take strong leadership and strong vision and commitment — commitment to really think about this in a long-term, systematically focused way.”

This means that global collaboration is needed to solve a complex problem with a systematic approach.

“If we just give food aid when these countries (in Africa) are going hungry, we risk disturbing the development of local agriculture,” said McDonald. “So, we're having a negative impact long-term. And we need to be very outcome-focused rather than consequentially focused.”

From a poultry-sector perspective, Wilkinson believes the future is bright for chicken when we get through this, and the industry has got to be better and stronger as a result.

“We will have no doubt whatsoever in feeding 10 billion people,” he said. “It's doable. And we can do it. There are going to be lots of opportunities to grow efficient businesses. There will be further consolidations of the industry. There will be fewer but bigger players. This is going to be an opportunistic time for the lean and the mean to get a bigger presence, particularly in the emerging markets.”

On that note, McLoughlin thanked the panelists for their extraordinary global insights.

“We went from the chaos and destruction of COVID-19 is wreaking in the food supply chain around the world to, I think, a very hopeful message that, in these three supply chains, there is resilience. There is strength,” he concluded. “Whether it's the structure of the European Union business, the character of the U.S. swine industry, the structure and resilience of the global poultry business, this too will pass. There are opportunities for those businesses which are led properly.”

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