ARTICLE FEED & ADDITIVE MAGAZINE March 2025 95 THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE PROTEIN MEALS IN ANIMAL AGRICULTURE Circular feed focuses on reducing nutrient loss and improving sustainability in animal agriculture by recycling nutrients through animal feed. This enhances efficiency by utilizing ingredients unsuitable for human consumption, ensuring valuable nutrients are not wasted. The proximity of raw material sources to feed mills and livestock operations minimizes transportation emissions and costs, making the system more sustainable. Co-products from agricultural processing reduce the need for additional land use, lowering the overall carbon footprint of animal feed production. By optimizing digestibility and nutrient absorption, circular feed principles ensure minimal waste while maximizing animal health. Sustainable protein meals from rendering contribute to this cycle, improving feed efficiency and reducing environmental impact. RENDERING AND FOOD SAFETY Processed animal proteins and fats undergo heat treatment that eliminates harmful bacteria and pathogens, making them safe for use in livestock and pet feed. The efficacy of this process is well-documented in the scientific literature. For instance, research by Laban and Anwer (2014) demonstrated impressive microbial reductions: 99.96% decrease in total bacterial load, 99.99% reduction in coliforms, complete elimination of Campylobacter species and a substantial reduction in Salmonella prevalence from 70% to merely 10%. Controlling and neutralizing bacteria such as Salmonella is a crucial aspect of rendering for food safety. Thermal processing effectively neutralizes bacteria at that moment in time. However, strict sanitation practices are essential if producers are to ensure that rendered ingredients remain contaminant-free up until the point of use. It is this requirement that results in producer use of chemical mitigants such as organic acids. They add another layer of protection to support their biosecurity initiatives but are themselves limited because they may not be 100% effective, and crucially, do not give residual protection to the treated product, and thus prevent recontamination post-application. Feed Sanitizers, on the other hand, such as Termin-8 and Finio have been shown to effectively control Salmonella and provide long-term protection against recontamination for at least 14 days. When tested against an organic acid blend under a challenge model in rendered matrices, feed sanitation demonstrated a higher level of Salmonella control at considerably lower inclusion rates (Jones et al., 2015). As the global population grows, ensuring sustainable food production becomes increasingly important. Livestock requires high-quality protein sources for optimal growth, and sustainable protein meals help meet this demand. These meals, derived from rendering and plant-based sources such as soybean or canola meal, maximize nutrient utilization while minimizing waste. Rendering is an important component of sustainable animal agriculture – but maintaining biosecurity of rendered matrices up until the point of use is critical. Figure 1. Effectiveness of Feed Additives in Mitigating Post-Rendering Salmonella Typhimurium Contamination in Rendered Protein Meals (Finio versus an Organic Acid blend)
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