NETHERLANDS-Nutreco, a Dutch animal nutrition and fish feed company, has entered a long-term research and commercial partnership with microbiome research company BiomEdit to produce novel feed additives-Biome-actives.
Founded in 1994, Nutreco has about 100 production facilities and eight research centers and is present in more than 30 countries, while BiomEdit is a startup founded in April 2022.
The partnership will primarily focus on the discovery, development, and commercialization of next-generation ultra-specialty feed additives as a measure to alleviate the existing livestock producers’ health and sustainability challenges.
The novel feeding additives will provide benefits to animal feeds in poultry, swine, cattle, and aquaculture.
According to Nutreco Exploration’s (NutEx), the move aligns with its vision of developing proprietary ultra-specialty ingredients to promote its purpose of Feeding the Future.
Therefore, the partnership with the animal’s most advanced microbiome biotech company, BiomEdit will contribute to the realization of the vision of having healthy and productive animals.
The production of Biome-actives products employs BiomEdit’s advanced microbiome science and bioinformatics platform, a technology that focuses on the gut microbiome. These microbes contribute to how foods are digested in the gastrointestinal tract and can impact the well-being of animals.
In recent years, studies into the gut microbiome have led to a basic understanding of their role in human and animal health and in how foods are digested in the gastrointestinal tract.
Therefore, the researchers are definite that influencing the gut microbiome’s environment through food supplements or medicines can have a beneficial impact on animal health and similarly improve well-being, and performance.
According to Aaron Schacht, Chief Executive Officer of BiomEdit, this novel technology combines the depth, breadth, and experience of a leading animal nutrition company with a leading biotechnology R&D program.
Meanwhile, microbiome science has created a buzz following its associated benefits but the practical application of this scientific progress is still scarce.
However, David Bravo, Nutreco’s Chief Science Officer said that Nutreco is not focusing on the microbiome composition and how to affect it, but they are exploring mining the microbiome to find microbial functions that will benefit the animal’s physiology to unlock real sustainable progress for welfare, health, and productivity.
This partnership is relevant to BiomEdit since it’s the first since its inception last year.
BiomEdit began with contributions of assets and technology from Elanco and Ginkgo Bioworks (NYSE: DNA) and a successful $40M Series A funding round with Ferment, Viking Global Investors, and Anterra Capital.
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