Patent pending for fermented feed additive said to help animals in disease challenges

By Aerin Curtis

- Last updated on GMT

Patent pending for fermented feed additive said to help animals in disease challenges

Related tags Immune system Salmonella

Diamond V is currently in the process of patenting a fermented feed supplement that is said to limit foodborne pathogens like Salmonella and Campylobacter present in animals at harvest.

The pending patent on Orginal XPC is based on a collated body of studies conducted with leading research institutions.

“We want to go out and protect the use of this type of product so we can really bring that value to our producers,”​ Stephanie Frankenbach, company researcher and poultry advisor, told us. “We have something we can feed at the farm level that is providing a benefit through every stage.”

“You’re reducing the number the animals that would test positive and you’re reducing the number [of pathogens] significantly when they do test positive,”​ she added.

The Iowa headquartered firm has just released a white paper on the gathered findings from multiple studies looking at how effective its XPC is at reducing the prevalence of pathogens in different species including chickens, turkeys, swine and cattle.

Diamond V said the assembled projects are the work of leading investigators at multiple research locations using varying methods.

“The thing that really is exciting is the consistency of the response across the different types of Salmonella,”​ said Frankenback.

Consistency of the response

Pathogenic bacteria such as Salmonella, Campylobacter, ​and E coli​, reported the company’s white paper, are frequently associated with consumption of animal protein products, and are often cited among the top five pathogens causing foodborne illness in the US.

In 2014, the US Center for Disease Control (CDC) reported that rates of infections caused by the pathogens Campylobacter​ and Vibrio​ increased while rates of Listeria​ and Salmonella​ saw no improvement or change.

Mode of action 

Orginal XPC isn’t an antibiotic and doesn’t kill pathogens directly said Frankenbach. Instead it would seem to boost an animal’s immune system and help it fight off disease challenges and pathogens.

“Because of the way the product is working in the body, it needs to be fed from the beginning, feeding at birth or hatch until the animal gets to the processing plant,”​ said Frankenback. “The first few days are really critical because those are important for the development of the immune system.” 

However, examinations into the inner working of XPC are ongoing, she said.

“We’re still researching how this is working – we have our theories,”​ she said. “We believe that it goes back to that you’re improving the overall health status of the animal.”

Other trials being planned including seeking more answers regarding the supplement’s ‘mode of action’​ and results from different dosage levels, she said. The company also is set to study uses and effectiveness of XPC in different circumstances and work on building its database.

Research findings

In one of the studies summarized in the white paper, researchers ran trials in both broilers and turkeys where groups of both birds separated by house and half were fed a diet including the 2.5 pounds of the supplement per ton of feed while the other half received a control diet.

At slaughter, one out of the 200 broilers receiving the feed additive had a positive carcass rinse compared to 17 birds in the control group, scientists said. And the amount of Salmonella​ present was less than in the control birds.

For the turkeys studied, ceca collected from the birds receiving the supplement showed 83 of 200 testing positive for the pathogen while 133 of 200 of the control birds were positive, they said. Again the Salmonella ​load was lower in the treated flock compared to the control birds. 

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