Since the discovery of the vitamins and its utilization in animal feed, their stability remained to be the main concern of research and developments due to their high nutritional importance and high cost. The storage of the vitamins involves different processes where it might be damaged easily. Therefore, it is crucial to know the different factors affecting the stability of the vitamins during the process, highlight the different solutions to conserve it, and consequently save money and achieve the desired quality.
Global Solution Application Manager
Adisseo
FACTORS AFFECTING STABILITY OF VITAMINS
In addition to storage time, the stability of vitamins can be affected by chemical and physical factors. Generally, chemical factors affecting the stability of the vitamins are coming from their reaction with water and other ingredients which cause redox reactions. Water used to accelerate redox activity by transferring the ions involved in this reaction is originated either from the relative humidity of the air absorbed by hygroscopic ingredients or from the free water of the high-water activity raw materials. Otherwise, the water comes from the process itself such as steam, condensation, etc.
Other factors also accelerating the redox reactions are:
• The pH of the premix: Since all vitamins and other ingredients have different pH range, each vitamin has a resistance zone and another sensitive one leading to degradation, dominancy of the carrier and the presence of acidifiers with different pH range can accelerate the quality deterioration of the vitamins by speeding up the dissociation of cations and anions from soluble components when the water amount is favorable for this reaction.
• Presence of catalyst: Such minerals and trace minerals in the mixture can favorize vitamins degradation due to their chemical behavior, bioavailability and hygroscopicity.
• Presence of light: It promotes the oxidation of the vitamins.
The physical factors which promote the vitamin degradation are the forms of vitamins. The larger the size of the vitamins the more they are exposed to redox reactions and stressing forces. The coating of the vitamins can protect them from these unwanted reactions, controls their release and improves their handling.
Stress forces applied during the handling, storage and processing like shearing, friction and pressure may change the form of the vitamin particles, which consequently promote redox reactions. Temperatures above 20 °C affect the kinetics of the particles which will accelerate their movements. As a result, more particles will expose to abrasion and therefore promote the redox reactions.
HOW TO RECEIVE YOUR VITAMINS PROPERLY?
The procedure of the receipt of vitamins is very important to their future utilization and stability, it starts by:
• Training the staff about the importance of vitamins in feed formula, highlighting their high-cost and sensitivity to the storage conditions to identify any abnormalities or failures.
• Identify the bags received, check their conditions, number of bags, net weight per bag and the total weight of the delivery.
• Issue an identification number to the received lot linked to each bag.
• Store the received bags at the appropriate area with the appropriate labelling.
• Update complete details into the ERP system and keep raw material quality records for better traceability.
In this way, feed manufacturers can easily discover the majority of the quality issues originated from the supplier and avoid issues caused by shipping or poor warehouse management in the meantime.
DIFFERENT CHALLENGES OF VITAMIN STORAGE
• Infestation by insects
• Deterioration in quality
• Rats and birds propagation
• Weight losses due to bags damages or moisture loss
• Fire hazards
• Product expiration
• Product consumption variations due to the sales demand changes.
• Packaging damages caused by handling, poor bags staking policy or vehicle movement.
• Cross contamination with other ingredients
• Human errors while handling, transporting, and storing.
HOW TO STORE YOUR VITAMINS?
Vitamins store facility requirements:
• Storage facility should have a restricted access to authorized personnel only, equipped with temperature controlling and monitoring system.
• Avoid storing in multipurpose storage facility or old buildings as it is favorable for rodent, insects, and birds breeding.
• For hygienic reasons, keep floors surface smooth, seal roofs and walls properly to avoid the infiltration of water.
• Keeping distance between pallets for better aeration, easy access, and better pest control management.
• Keep rejected or in hold material separated from the used vitamins in a well identified area to avoid misunderstandings.
• Warehouse should be well marked with vehicles pathway and safety signs.
• Vitamin silos are preferred to be made from stainless steel as it has a smooth surface which has lower electrostatic activity than plastic, making it easy to clean and resist to corrosion.
• Bin filling system should be dust free to minimize contamination risks.
• Silo inlet should be closed properly and preferably have the access to barcode system.
• In hot areas, an air-conditioned premix plant is recommended to avoid heat affecting raw materials handling and quality.
• Preparation room should be cool, dry and equipped with ventilation system, thermometer and hygrometer.
Vitamins storage recommendations:
• Always store vitamins in cold store with a temperature below 20 °C.
• Always store vitamins in a dry area below 60% RH condition.
• Always store in a well aerated location.
• Keep the vitamin bags closed after use.
• Always use the original bags as vitamin bags are designed to protect the vitamins from interaction with external factors.
• In case of bag damage, keep the damaged sack inside another bag to prevent containment loss and use it in priority after investigating the causes of the damage.
• Do not stack bags on the pallets more than it is recommended by the supplier to avoid bag damage and minimize lumps formation.
• Always keep the vitamin bags elevated from the ground by using pallets.
• Always use good quality pallets to store the vitamins to minimize bags damage or pest propagation.
• Bags should be stored in a bird-free and rodent-free area.
• Newly received material should be kept in quarantine until the quality is approved.
• Rejected materials must be stored separately to prevent any confusion
• Always maintain the identity of the stored vitamins (labels, quantity, FIFO…).
• Silo content should be labeled and recorded properly for traceability.
• Stock taking and visual inspection of the silo at the end of each shift is highly recommended to monitor the consumption and to confirm silo content.
• Utilization of a cleanout procedure for product changeover is highly recommended.
Stock management:
• Always use FIFO (First in first out) for the produced products to prevent vitamins from losing their activity due to aging or other factors.
• Always keep in your mind; “Do not produce more than what you require”.
• While storing different vitamins batches, ensure that always present the near to expire vitamins in front and give it an easy access to be taken first by the operators.
• Train your team about the importance of stock rotation system and how it works.
• Plan periodic Inventory Replenishment to control the stocks and the consumptions.
• Plan to empty frequently vitamin micro bins after the end of each lot.
• Allocate appropriate bins for vitamins.
• Use barcodes system for traceability to avoid mistakes.
Packing material:
Packing is crucial for maintaining the stability of the vitamins either as raw material or in premix. It protects the vitamins from the factors affecting its stability. Vitamins are mainly packed in multiple layers of either paper or plastic with an internal layer of aluminum film or tinted LDPE and some suppliers use cartons or drums as per the sensitivity of the vitamin. Bags should be heat sealed to avoid cross contamination with treads.
Traceability and record keeping:
Implementation of traceability system serves to protect the business from frauds and complaints. It facilitates product recall and shows commitment toward regulations, society and increase business confidence. These benefits are assured by keeping information related to vitamin origin, production, expiry date, storage conditions, lot number and supplier contacts. This also implies to record the formulas in which it has been used, finished feed lot number, production date and to which customer it was sold.
CONCLUSIONS
As being part of their culture, Adisseo experts recommend their customers willing to preserve the quality of their vitamins during different types of storage to follow a combination of measures starting by understanding the factors affecting the stability of the vitamins, knowing their process, following manufacturers’ recommendations, investing on appropriate storage facilities, implementation of a stock management system and utilization of a quality control plan to maintain the traceability and the quality of the vitamins.
About El Mehdi El Ouahli
Joined Adisseo in 2021 as global solution application manager in R&I, El Mehdi as Specialist in grain milling industry served in flour and feed milling industries for over 20 years allowing him to gain expertise in animal feed production and development of solutions to increase the productivity and profitability, he contributed to the success of different projects in his past experiences. El Mehdi supports Adisseo Engineers and customers to provide solutions on feed technology, product applications and works with R& I team for the development of new services and solutions.
