Victam 2019: Fish feed and pet food innovation stands out

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Two days into Victam International 2019 in Cologne, the evident trend on the show floor was the domination of aqua feed and pet food processing innovation, with feed machinery manufacturers citing growth and higher margins in both sectors as the rationale for such a focus.

However, productivity advances were also central to much of the process optimization on view that aimed at precise temperature control mechanisms, less machinery downtime, reduced product wastage, less wear and tear on kit and easier overall maintenance and cleaning, among other goals.

The importance of sustainability gains was also a visible trend with equipment amendments reflecting such objectives such as a cooling system seeing a shift to electricity from gas as an energy source to help industry meet climate change goals; feed safety concerns were also paramount with a raft of decontamination technology on show. Suppliers were also championing research into ensuring the stability of additives when they undergo heat treatment.  

This edition of the Cologne based show also saw the first ever International Feed Technology Congress (IFTC), one of the conference programs run in parallel to the machinery exhibition. It was organized by Wageningen University, IFF Germany in conjunction with the Victam Foundation. Valorization of feed raw materials through processing, the interaction of feed formulation and feed technology along with new process developments were the overarching themes of the IFTC. 

FeedNavigator mustered a selection of tweets to give non-attendees a flavor of the event….