Trace minerals, which originate from the earth, ultimately account for a relatively small portion of an animal’s diet, but they represent a critical component in animal nutrition and metabolism. Dietary trace mineral imbalances and deficiencies are commonly corrected by various levels of supplementation from inorganic or organic sources, depending on the animal’s minimum requirement and the trace mineral source bioavailability.

Trace mineral requirement and bioavailability depend on intrinsic factors (e.g., species, genetics, age, sex, criterion of adequacy, metabolic function, nutritional status, intestinal flora and physiological stress) and extrinsic factors (e.g., trace mineral element solubility, binding to other dietary factors, state of oxidation, competitive antagonisms and positive or negative chelation effects).

Trace minerals and poultry nutrition go way back

Trace mineral nutrition discovery and research has a rich history in poultry nutrition. Many of the early nutrient metabolism studies were conducted in chicks during the period between 1960 and 1980, and requirements were established for each poultry species. Based on this research conducted over 40-50 years ago, minimum dietary requirements were established for zinc, manganese, copper, iron, selenium and iodine, and the last official publication of these requirements for poultry was in “Nutrient Requirements of Poultry” (National Research Council, 1994). 

The genetic potential for growth in commercial poultry has changed dramatically during the last five decades, as has the nature and quality of the diet fed to these animals. This is why supplementation of these trace minerals (usually from inorganic sources) in commercial feeds often exceed the National Research Council (NRC) (1994) recommendations by three- or four-fold to compensate for variable bioavailability, yet resulting in public concern about excessive environmental emissions.

Trace mineral programs today

Recent research on organic trace minerals has challenged this paradigm of high dietary inclusion of inorganic trace minerals. Due to their increased bioavailability, organic trace minerals have demonstrated opportunities for improved physiological/metabolic functions and reduced environmental emissions, justifying the establishment of new minimum nutritional requirement recommendations.

Dietary inclusion of organic trace minerals at levels as low as 12.5 percent of typical commercial levels have been shown to result in equal or superior growth performance and tibia ash. Along with phytase supplementation, which is typically used for most commercial poultry, growth performance can be maintained with organic trace minerals at levels well below the NRC recommendations. Future recommendations for dietary trace minerals will depend upon strategic applications in poultry nutrition that affect environmental sustainability, health and welfare, meat and egg quality, and epigenetic programming.

¹NRC = Nutrient Requirements of Poultry, 9^th Revised Edition, 1994. Subcommittee on Poultry Nutrition, Committee on Animal Nutrition Board on Agriculture, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

²FSM = Ferket, P.R., and S.L. Leeson, 2015. Feedstuffs Magazine 2014 Reference Issue and Buyers Guide, pp 42-51, Feedstuffs, St. Charles, IL.

¹Positive control treatment diet was supplemented with a trace mineral premix to contain 80 ppm Zn as ZnSO4, 100 ppm as MnSO₄·2H₂O, 60 ppm Fe as FeSO4·7H2O, and 12 ppm Cu as CuSO₄·5H₂O.

²OTM = Organic trace mineral supplied as a proteinated complex (BioplexÒ Zn, Mn, Fe, and Cu, Alltech Inc., Nicholasville, KY)

^a,bParameter Values within a row having different superscripts are different (P<.05).

Figure 1. Broken-line analysis plot of weight gain in broilers as a function of supplemental zinc as BIOPLEX^Ò Zn with or without phytase (from Ao et al., 2007).

Have a question or comment?

As the distance between farmer and consumer closes around the world, we must continually adapt our methods to meet the ever-growing demand for high-quality, safe food. In the webinar, “The Path of Least Resistance,” we took a dive into the world of antibiotics, specifically how they have impacted and will continue to impact the agriculture industry. The key speaker, Dr. Richard Murphy, explained why we should worry about antibiotic resistance, where we are now with restrictions on antibiotics in livestock health and what opportunities exist for your operations.

Our three key takeaways were:

1. Worldwide, scientific evidence indicates an overall decline in the total stock of antibiotic effectiveness; resistance to all first-line and last-resort antibiotics is rising.
2. The livestock and poultry industries are not only facing increasing scrutiny from regulatory bodies such as the FDA and EFSA, but, worldwide, meat processors are starting to demand change.
3. Alternative growth promotion strategies are available that utilize strategic nutritional management practices as part of an antibiotic-free strategy for animal production.

To view the webinar and get the full story behind the takeaways, click on the button below:

There’s been a lot of discussion these days about the qualities of the most marketable eggs. We’ve gone beyond fundamental safety and nutrition to a growing retail movement that seeks cage-free produced eggs and value-added product, such as omega-3 eggs.

Yet we actually do not discuss enough the most basic aspect of quality that matters to everyone: eggshell strength. Simply put, cracked eggs do not sell; without eggshell quality, no other egg characteristic matters.

Similar to prenatal vitamins for a pregnant woman, the quality of an egg can be greatly impacted by the nutrition of the layer hen. By changing a bird’s diet, everything from chick development to shell condition can be affected. For this post, we are going to focus on the effect minerals can have on shell strength, specifically in regard to the form those minerals are given in.

On the farm, up to 90% of total losses can come as a result of poor eggshell quality. Shell strength is important to eggs for withstanding the sometimes turbulent shipping process or to protect developing chicks from external world. A strong shell is the difference in making sure eggs make it safely from the farm to your plate, or your child’s paint brush in the case of Easter painting traditions.

Even though eggshells are composed of 94 percent calcium carbonate and 1.4 percent magnesium carbonate, many new studies are now revealing the critical role of trace minerals in eggshell formation. A 2012 study from the Institute of Biodiversity, Glasgow, United Kingdom, found that strength is reduced by the inclusion of abnormal forms of minerals in the diet. Conversely, in bioplexed form, selenium, manganese, zinc, copper, and iron are absorbed more readily. These elements are essential nutrients to shell strength and are crucial to a number of enzymatic processes that lead to optimal shell formation.

Poultry producers have long added antibiotics to the diet to overcome gut health challenges. However, based both on recent findings that doing so can cause antibiotic resistance and on increasing consumer demand for antibiotic-free poultry, many large producers are no longer using antibiotic growth promoters (AGP). While beneficial in one respect, it may leave the birds more susceptible to feed contaminants such as mycotoxins, resulting in performance losses and producer profitability. 

Mycotoxins in poultry production have been linked with classic clinical signs, such as mouth lesions caused by T-2 toxins, yellow liver from aflatoxins or gizzard erosions from cyclopiazonic acid. Action was only taken if one of those symptoms was clearly diagnosed. Recent studies, however, have indicated  that mycotoxins can directly affect gut integrity, opening the door to secondary infections, even when found in low to moderate levels in feed.

A paper by Antonissen et al. (2014) indicated that vomitoxin (DON) increases the percentage of birds with subclinical necrotic enteritis and causes barrier disruption and epithelial damage to the intestine. The increased permeability of the epithelium and lower protein absorption may stimulate growth of clostridium perfringens. The lower nutrient absorption and the risk of intestinal challenges may lead to performance losses.

Alltech, the global leader in mycotoxin management, has developed several tools to help poultry integrators overcome this problem. Our state-of-the-art Alltech 37+® mycotoxin analysis program is the most advanced system in the industry. Based at the Alltech Analytical Services Laboratory in Winchester, Kentucky, and utilizing LC/MS/MS technology, we conduct surveys worldwide. This enables us to determine the overall risks in feedstuffs and provide customers with species-specific risk assessments.

Alltech 37+® mycotoxin analysis has tested more than 9,000 samples and found one or more mycotoxins in over 98 percent of samples. In North American samples, the DON group and fusaric acid are the most prevalent mycotoxins in feedstuffs. Even when present at low to moderate levels and without classic signs of mycotoxin challenges, poultry are still susceptible to mycotoxin attacks on gut integrity. According to Dr. Johanna Fink-Gremmels of Utrecht University in the Netherlands, roughly 60 to 80 percent of the bird’s immune system is in the intestines. Any challenge could have a direct impact on overall bird health and vaccine response.

While the poultry industry’s positive move to antibiotic-free production is encouraged, implementation of a mycotoxin management program before challenges arise is highly recommended.  Successful antibiotic-free production requires mitigating any potential health threats where possible, and the powerful threat of mycotoxin contamination must not be overlooked.

To celebrate World Egg Day, Alltech went in search of some fascinating egg facts. Here are a dozen “egg”cellent facts:  

• Worldwide, approximately 1.2 trillion eggs are produced for eating every year. The average person consumes 173 eggs a year.

• An average hen lays 300 to 325 eggs a year.

• To produce an egg, it takes a hen 24-26 hours.

• Egg yolks are a good source of natural vitamin D.

• A large egg contains only 70 calories and 5 grams of fat.

• Yolk color purely depends on the diet of the hen.

• Eggs provide the highest quality protein, which is necessary to help maintain muscle function and slow the rate of muscle loss.

• To tell if an egg is raw or hard, spin it! If the egg spins easily, it is cooked. If it wobbles, it is raw.

• Eggs age more in one day at room temperature than in one week in a refrigerator.

• As a hen grows older, it produces larger eggs. 

• Egg protein has the perfect amount of amino acids needed by humans to build tissues. It is second only to mother’s milk for human nutrition.

• Enriched eggs have a higher than normal content of a particular nutrient. For example, hens that consume more omega-3 will produce eggs with higher levels of omega-3. Enriched foods must follow specific guidelines. According to the U.S. Food and Drug Association (FDA), “A food that is labeled as ‘enriched’ with a nutrient must contain at least 10 percent more of the daily value of that nutrient than a food of the same type that is not enriched.”

Be sure to scramble, boil, fry or poach an egg today and join us in celebrating World Egg Day!

Through decades of rapid advancements in agriculture science, Alltech has been on the cutting edge of innovation while keeping its products natural, healthful and environmentally sound. In fact, everything Alltech does is guided by the “ACE” principle, which emphasizes benefits to animals, consumers and the environment.

Because of this, Alltech’s products are excellent choices for farmers and ranchers who want to produce safe, high-quality foods in sustainable ways. Alltech’s in-house standard, known as the Alltech Quality System (AQS), is already recognized throughout the feed industry as a standard to follow. The AQS delivers the exact same level of quality assurance and traceability in each of Alltech’s geographical markets, based on a uniform process designed to meet and exceed other third-party systems of certification. 

However, because there are now so many such third-party programs, each with its own complex and constantly-evolving requirements, food producers have faced an uphill battle in keeping up with which ingredients are acceptable for use in which programs.

Enter Where Food Comes From, Inc. (d.b.a. IMI Global, Inc.), already the most trusted resource for independent, third-party verification of food production practices. Where Food Comes From has just announced the launch of its “Feed Verified” program, which enables livestock producers, feed companies and food brands alike to confirm easily and in real time that a particular product meets a specific verification or certification requirement.

The first resource of its kind, Feed Verified features a constantly updated listing by name of approved feed products and ingredients, while indicating which verification or certification programs approve each product for use. The listing is multi-species and includes direct hyperlinks to individual product websites for easy access to product and purchasing information.

Thirteen of Alltech’s products were already listed on Feed Verified at launch time, with more expected as verification procedures continue.  The featured products are:

• BIO-MOS OA
• INTEGRAL OA
• ACTIGEN
• SEL-PLEX 2000
• BIOPLEX COPPER 10% OA
• BIOPLEX COBALT OA
• BIOPLEX ZINC 15% OA
• BIOPLEX MANGANESE OA
• BIOPLEX ZMC 842 OA
• BIOPLEX HI-FOUR OA
• YEA-SACC 1026 OA
• DEMP
• SELECT TC OA

Where Food Comes From, Inc. is known for its expertise in keeping up with the latest in food production science and technology.

“A critical aspect of verifying certain livestock production practices is knowing, tracking and confirming what an animal eats,” explained John Saunders, the company’s chairman and CEO. “It may sound simple, but you have to take a step back and think about the complexity of what we are looking at. Five years ago we were only concerned about animal by-products. Today it is that plus antibiotics, growth promotants, genetically modified organisms, organic ingredients, even the percentage of forage or protein. I could go on, but the reality is that feed is emerging as the new risk in value-added livestock production. It only takes the tiniest of ingredients to disqualify an entire generation of animals from a specific verification program, even when everything else is done exactly right. That is exactly why Feed Verified came to be. We want to do everything in our power to enable farmers and ranchers to be transparent about how they are producing food, and Feed Verified is another tool to help them succeed in that endeavor.”

Alltech looks forward to working further with Where Food Comes From, Inc., as both companies continue in making it easier for food producers to deliver transparency to consumers.

To view a current version of Feed Verified, visit http://www.imiglobal.com/feed-verified.html.

Food Safety: Red Tractor’s Never-ending Pursuit

Where does your food really come from? From farm to processing plant, from supermarket to plate, it’s important to know that your food was handled in a safe and ethical manner at every step of the journey. This episode takes a look at Red Tractor, one of the most trusted food assurance programs. Alltech’s David Butler recently sat down with food industry leader Philip Wilkinson to better understand how Red Tractor provides peace of mind to the consumer. You can listen to the podcast in full or view the transcript below.

I'm David Butler and my guest today is Philip Wilkinson, Executive Director of Two Sisters Food Group. Actually that's just one of many positions that Philip holds. He took some time to talk to us about food safety, traceability and Red Tractor, the United Kingdom's leading farm and quality food assurance program. Their motto is, "we trace it so you can trust it".

So, I’m Philip Wilkinson, Executive Director of Two Sisters Food Group which is the largest poultry producer for broiler meat in Europe. I’m Vice President of AVEC, which is the European Poultry Association, a board member of the British Poultry Council, and on the Board of Assured Foods Standards in the UK.

That is a lot of hats to wear.

Yeah it is, but they are all interconnected so it works very well.

And a lot of what you do is related to messaging to the end consumer is that correct to say?

Yeah. The Assured Foods Standards brand, or mark, you would know as being a Red Tractor which is underpinned by the Union Jack, the Union flag of the UK. And, that is a mark that has been on the go now since the year 2000 when it was launched. In dollar terms the sales value in 2015 will be in the region of $22-23 billion US. So, it has come from zero to hero in that 15 years and would be the mark that the vast majority of citizens and consumers in the UK would recognize in terms of one of quality, traceability, assurance, and would give them trust.

They would know that that kind of symbolizes everything that’s important to them and their food.

We like to think so. But, it’s a little bit like painting a very large bridge. It’s never ending. You get to the end and you got to start at the beginning again. So it’s an evolutionary process. We didn’t put something in place back in the year 2000 and it stayed exactly the same in 2015. It moves with the times. We tweak it here, we tweak it there in order to keep up with what is considered to be important in the minds of consumers. At the time that this was launched, there was no carbon footprint message going around whereas we now know that is a major part of the sustainability debate. So, we are now looking at being true to that objective and G20 leaders have signed up to that agreement to hit benchmarks by 2020 and there are milestones in that process, so we have bought into that as part of our message and that will fall into our activities going forward across all meat proteins and crops, as well, because the Red Tractor does embrace all meat proteins together with combinable crops, so you know it’s a pretty big operation.

That does seem like a huge operation and it seems like it would be very difficult to create guidelines or best practices across so many different, very diverse industries. How do you do that?

Okay, and that’s a good question. Each sector is a stand-alone. So, each sector has its sector board, it has its own technical advisory committee, and what I need to share with you is that this is not an in-house initiative. This is something that is shared across the whole of the supply chain so that everyone buys into it. So, you’ve got the farming union representing the farmers. You’ve got the likes of the British Poultry Council representing the poultry processors, you’ve then got the British Retail Consortium representing the retailers. Food service representatives and also academics and independents.

And, what we do, is we have a set of standards that are compiled by those people. So they are independent. The technical advisory committees are chaired by independent people. People who have got a wealth of experience in the field but are not directly involved in the supply chain. So they may be university professors who talk about this sort of stuff and I think about ours, is a guy who was a lecturer, very very well respected, at Reading University. He has been the chairman of the technical advisory committee. So that when product, and it always does happen that there will be a food scare, there is always something that is going to happen in the food industry, no matter how hard you try, you can put an independent person to front that, because it gives far more credibility than somebody like me who is an industry person who the consumer would say, “Well, he would say that anyway.” So, it gives it and this technical advisory committee, is meeting on a bi-month basis to review the standards, review the adherence to standards, to then dole out penalties to those who don’t adhere to the standards, so that the standards have integrity. Without the integrity, the consumer wouldn’t trust them and there would be chaos.

Right, so you have input and knowledge and expertise that is coming from the people in the industry that worked in the industry for years and years and they’re contributing that, but you also have independent people on the boards.

Just to show how fair we actually are, we even have on the board of Assured Food Standards, a representative from Compassionate World Farming. It doesn’t get more open than that. These are people who would sometimes march on the Houses of Parliament or march into KFC or into McDonald’s or into Two Sisters Food Group and cry foul. So, this is how open we are and how transparent we are in embracing the thoughts and opinions of everyone before we arrive at a decision.

Wow, that’s pretty impressive. It seems a lot more genuine than, you know, a company that might create their own little kind of premium certified logo that is not backed up by anything in particular.

I think that most companies who do, do that and some decide they’re going to have their own offering underpinned by Red Tractor, but then, let’s say move slightly outside that to create a point of difference for them, they would always use the Red Tractor Assurance to underpin, but then they would also rather than it stay in house, they would also use independent bodies who audit their schemes as well. And, might even help in the compilation of those schemes.

Is there any talk of Red Tractor expanding beyond the United Kingdom?

The Red Tractor Standards are already accepted outside of the United Kingdom because companies such as ours, or some of the retailers, or food service organizations who stand by the Red Tractor mark to the consumer as their offering have product that comes in from other countries. So, even though we produce in the UK, 19 million chickens a week, we actually consume 27 million whole bird equivalents, so those birds come in from Brazil or Thailand or elsewhere in Europe and in order for it to be a level playing field, and in order for the on pack claims to be made, equivalents have to be agreed in those countries. So, if they’re not eligible to carry the Red Tractor and the Union Jack, because obviously the Union Jack is produced in the UK; however, they are audited to those standards in those relevant countries by auditors who have been checked out by the audit bodies and the competent authorities back in the UK. So, the brand doesn’t travel, but the equivalents of it, do and that is the only way we would take product in from those countries outside of the UK.

So that’s having a positive effect on the global food supply really.

Yep, and as I showed in the presentation both yesterday at the food REBELation and at the poultry REBELation, I have shown that other European countries have got their own marks and emblems and logos that are for their countries that may or may not be the same as ours. They may be slightly different, but this is something that has now gone European wide, that’s for sure. And, there’s been a lot of interest as I’ve talked in other countries all over the world either in my own capacity or doing talks for Alltech. There is a massive interest in Red Tractor and the Red Tractor, and I wouldn’t say this but I know that I’m right, the Red Tractor news has traveled globally more than I would say most of the others or any of the others that I’m aware of. The only one that would sort of be internationally recognized would be the RSPCA, the Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty of Animals which obviously goes pretty global anyway. Particularly the commonwealth countries where there would be a connection anyway.

Right, that makes sense. So how is all of this activity funded?

The Red Tractor is funded through usage of the mark on pack, so it’s fractions and fractions of pennies on a pack.

So a licensing fee?

Yes, a licensing fee which then everyone in that supply chain pays a price for. So just to give you a feel. It won’t be an exact number and I’m going to try to convert to US dollars for you, but for a poultry farm, a broiler farm in the UK to be signed up Red Tractor, it would cost circa $75-$80 a year; well in the big picture that doesn’t really even cover the auditor traveling and coming to the farm to do the audit, but because it’s funded across the whole of the supply chain, and everybody can afford to be in. If you’re a big dairy company, that’s going out on milk bottles that sit on tables, well then that’s easy, but if you are the dairy farmer you have to pay the same sort of money as they have to pay, you would never sign up in the first place. The reason why it’s been so successful is that the farm to fork supply chain has bought into it and are all doing their bit and paying for it.

The cost is shared?

People stand shoulder to shoulder.

Yeah, yeah. It benefits everybody.

Sure it does.

One last question. I assume you don’t have full traceability for everything under Red Tractor yet? Do you? Traceability is so difficult.

Well, I cited this morning in the poultry session that this is an example. We have got a slaughterhouse for chickens close to a 24 hour TESCO store that also stocks our chicken. The Tesco technical team will maybe totally unannounced arrive at their store at 7:30 – 8:00 o’clock in the morning, and they will pick a whole bird off the shelf, they will pick a packet of wings off the shelf, and they will pick some breast meat off the shelf jump in their car, drive two miles up to the road to our factory, knock on the door, technical manager plunk those on his desk and say, “I want traceability, full traceability down the production line back to the breeder farm where the eggs came from and I want you to do that in 4 hours on all of those products” We normally turn it around in somewhere between 2.25 – 2.50 hours. So the answer to your question, yes we can and I can even take it one step further in terms of supply chain for the feed that goes into the birds, whether it be the wheat or the soya I can do all that as well. So, in the poultry sector, I can’t speak on behalf of the other sectors because I’m not as close, but I would imagine it’s pretty much the same there. I sit very very comfortably on traceability.

That’s impressive!

How about that?

That’s a lot of work that goes into that.

But, it’s a great story to tell. You know when you get a TV scare and people are talking about horse meat and stuff like that, we had a minister for Food get on the prime time television BBC news when we had these issues and he said, “Obviously you can’t guarantee it because in the horsemeat scandal there’s a criminal element involved and the law enforcement authorities are dealing with that right now, but when asked the question by the interviewer, much the same as you are now, the interviewer said, “What would you do in a situation like this right now if you were a consumer?” And, the minister said, “look for a Red Tractor on the pack and that’s as safe as it’s gonna get.” So there’s no better endorsement on the BBC News program with ten million plus viewers watching. I’ll tell you that anytime.

Yeah, and you’re not going to have, you know a government Minister going out on a limb very often if that’s not a pretty safe statement.

He’s gotta be pretty cool with what he’s saying, he’s gotta be comfortable with it.

Well, thank you very much Philip.

Pleasure.

I really appreciate it. I hope you’re enjoying your time here.

Always do, I’m delighted to be back here. Always enjoy it.

I want to thank Philip for spending some time with us. You can find out more about Red Tractor at redtractor.org.uk and you can find out more about Two Sisters Food Group at 2sfg.com.

Thanks so much for listening to the AgFuture podcast and thanks to our producer Robbie Gay. If you like the podcast please share it with your friends or give us a rating on iTunes. We'd love to hear from you too. Send your comments or suggestions to AgFuture@alltech.com.