Food by-products: a more sustainable feed ingredient

Evelien van Donselaar joined Trouw Nutrition, Nutreco’s livestock feed business line, 10 years ago and is currently working for the Selko Feed Additives department, which provides feed safety, animal health and nutritional solutions throughout the entire feed to food chain.

“We offer solutions as early as harvesting feed ingredients, all the way through feed processing, feeding at farms and ultimately to the food and beverage industry in the form of preserving by-products to route back into the feed chain,” she told Dairy Global.

Why should those in the feed industry be excited about the event, and why is the upcoming Feed Safety Summit so relevant?

“Within the feed and food industry we all have the responsibility to produce safe, responsible, and sustainable feed materials. The Global Feed Safety Summit enables the connection between all parties; companies producing feed (ingredients) but also certification bodies within the feed to food chain. Making it a great opportunity to network, share experiences and start collaboration on the shared responsibility of feeding the world population in a safe way.”

What will you be presenting on at the event?

“Throughout my presentation, I will focus on key areas of sufficiency, safety, and sustainability. As part of the Food to Feed Quality programme, I will focus on maintaining the value of food by-products and routing them back into the feed chain in the form of feed ingredients. This ever-evolving solution can have a significant impact on the reduction of landfills and the use of human-grade feed materials. A great sustainability vision, but are these ingredients sufficient to really make an impact? How do we guarantee safe use, in line with the global GMP+ feed safety standards, while maintaining nutritional value and hygiene? These are topics we always have in mind, and we look forward to sharing our views with the audience at the summit.”

“The opportunities to reduce the need for human-grade feed materials are abundant and new innovations are constantly opening possibilities to make the feed production chain more agile and efficient.”

What are your thoughts on the future of feed safety now and in the years to come?

“In light of sustainability in general, and global trends such as climate change and scarcity of traditional raw materials, there is an increasing interest in using by-products from the food and beverage industry as feed materials. Furthermore, the focus will increasingly shift to topics such as the reduction of environmental footprint, waste management, and raising awareness of transparency and origin of feed ingredients.

“Feed safety requires an integrated approach, throughout the entire production chain. From harvest until feeding to the animal, but also aiming for circularity, by applying by-products from the food and beverage industry within the feed chain. Next to maintaining nutritional value, microbial control, production efficiency and other quality aspects, transparency on ingredient origin is key. Especially for by-products, which can have a complex origin, as they can be composed out of various mixed ingredients, for example cookies or bread.

“The opportunities to reduce the need of human-grade feed materials are abundant and new innovations are constantly opening possibilities to make the feed production chain more agile and efficient. At Trouw Nutrition we are proud to be part of this journey, as it truly supports our purpose ‘Feeding The Future’.”