NETHERLANDS – After almost 6 years, Dutch global health, nutrition, and bioscience, Royal DSM has revised its optimum vitamin nutrition (OVN) guidelines to help animals across all species to achieve peak health and performance.
The recent updates features inputs from researchers, nutritionists, and the feed industry in an effort to ensure the tool reflects changes in the genetics and management of all farmed animals along with advancements in nutritional understanding.
Silvia Sonneveld, VP, essential products, DSM Animal Nutrition and Health (ANH) said the revamped supplementation specifications allow producers to ensure they are feeding animals the optimal amounts of high-quality vitamins, appropriate to their life stage and growing conditions.
“Setting optimum vitamin requirements focuses on fulfilling the genetic potential of animals which is improving year after year in a changing world where the use of antibiotics has been drastically reduced,” Sonneveld noted.
She further noted that the update was necessary to make the OVN guidelines relevant in a world where there is a higher incidence of animal diseases and where there is a growing focus on better immunity, animal welfare and reduced food loss and waste.
This optimization of animal health and welfare directly impacts the performance quality and the nutritional value of animal-origin food, she said.
“Suboptimal vitamin levels can have a huge impact on overall health, putting animals at risk of developing clinical deficiencies and disorders. Achieving the optimal vitamin levels removes many of the roadblocks to good performance, health status and sustainability.”
But it´s not only about levels, it´s also about using quality and sustainable vitamin forms, said the essential products lead at DSM Animal Nutrition and Health.
“For instance, using a vitamin A form which is not stable in a premix or feed, animals might be receiving only 50-60% of what the nutritionist has indicated, potentially jeopardizing animals’ health and performance. By following the OVN guidelines, producers can see a tangible impact on both efficiency and performance.”
Meanwhile, Animal Nutrition & Health volumes for the Netherlands-based company were in-line with a strong prior year that had delivered 14% volume growth.
Pricing increased +6% in Q3, in comparison to +11% in H1, reflecting lower pass-through costs and lower vitamin prices, the company noted in its Q3 financial update.
The company’s Food & Beverage division also delivered solid growth with volumes up 3% and strong pricing of 11% “with Dairy, Baking, Beverages and Hydrocolloids performing particularly well.”
DSM has however lowered its full year 2022 outlook, and now expects its Adjusted EBITDA for Continuing Operations (Health, Nutrition & Bioscience and Corporate Activities) to increase by a low-single digits.
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