Improved management of mycotoxin risk in feed and raw materials

Trouw Nutrition, Nutreco's animal nutrition business, has added a new tool to its Mycotoxin Risk Management programme. The programme's existing Mycomaster tool can rapidly assess the risk of mycotoxins in feed and raw materials for different animal species. Getting this right is important, as underestimating the risk can lead to animal health issues and subsequently deteriorating production as well as economic performance. The new tool, the NutriOpt Mycotoxin Adviser, provides additional real-time recommendations for final feeds to further reduce animal health risks and improve the predictability of results.

Save time and improve productivity

Analysing materials for the presence of mycotoxins can be complicated. One reason for this is that there are many different types of mycotoxins; another is that the risks posed may differ from species to species. Once the risk of mycotoxin contamination has been determined, swift action is needed. "Sending the data to a lab for analysis takes too long," says Richard Maatman, Global Marketing Director Trouw Nutrition. "A truckload or silo full of feed materials will not wait. What's more, managing imprecise information can lead to under- or over-treatment, resulting in unnecessarily high costs and potentially affecting animal performance. That's why the NutriOpt Mycotoxin Adviser's real-time results are so useful: from performing the analysis to receiving recommendations on feed formulation takes only a matter of minutes."

From analysis to recommendations

The Mycotoxin Risk Management procedure consists of three steps. First, the materials are analysed using the easy-to-use Mycomaster. This can detect the six most commonly encountered mycotoxins. The result is a reliable quantitative reading of the contamination levels in feed materials and compound feed. In the second step, the result is uploaded to the new tool, the NutriOpt Mycotoxin Adviser, which is essentially an extensive (and ever-growing) database, containing analyses from all over the world. The many real-time results per raw material ensure a precise estimation of the contamination level. This is compared to acceptable levels in final feed. If the outcome of this comparison shows that the formulated feed contains unacceptably high levels of mycotoxins, in the third step, the Adviser makes recommendations for improving the feed formulation or quality control programme.

Integrated, evidence-based approach

The new NutriOpt Mycotoxin Adviser tool forms part of the Trouw Nutrition Mycotoxin Risk Management programme, an integrated, evidence-based approach that makes it possible to actively monitor mycotoxin risk and improve the predictability of results.

For more information on the NutriOpt Mycotoxin Adviser and the complete programme, please contact the Trouw Nutrition company nearest to you or contact us via info@trouwnutrition.com.