What is animal feed?
Animal Feed is an incredibly important aspect of the food and agricultural industry. Animal feed production makes up a massive 36% of agricultural land’s global use, with some of the most common crops grown for livestock being corn, barley, oats and rye. Modern animal feed is typically made using a specific blend of ingredients to maximise the nutritional benefits to the livestock and increase the quality of end products such as meat, milk or eggs.
Given its huge importance and the massive scale of animal feed production, we must wonder, is there a more sustainable way to create animal feed?
Repurposed animal feed
Commercial food production generates thousands of tonnes of food ‘waste’ each year. Whether it’s imperfect food products, expired foods or even surplus food co-products made, there is always something left from the food production process and plenty of ways to save food more effectively. Typically, these food products would be classified as waste and sent to landfill or Anaerobic Digestion facilities, but we at Mobius understand its true value.
There are many ways in which food manufacturers can save food products from becoming waste. Repurposing it into animal feed is one of the best options to minimise waste from food production and instead create a valuable product. Repurposed animal feed is just as nutritionally dense as other feed products but so much more sustainable. All the nutrition that would typically be used for people, can be mixed together into a feed suitable for animals. Alongside its benefit of reducing waste, it also reduces the demand for grown feed products, which are a lot more energy and water intensive to produce than their repurposed counterparts.
By repurposing surplus food, we are helping create a circular economy within the food manufacturing industry, minimising waste, reducing carbon emissions and creating value.
Typical Animal Feed Bay
How is Animal Feed Processed?
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- Collection. All surplus food products will require processing by a FEMAS assured processor, such as SugaRich, in order to produce a safe feed. The process begins with the collection of surplus food products from food manufacturing facilities. These food products are then transferred to one of SugaRich’s many Animal Feed facilities.
- Sorting. Once the surplus food products have arrived, they need to undergo a sorting process. This involves separating the collected materials into different product categories based on their different nutritional compositions and textures. These categories form the basis of the ingredients required to make a nutritionally balanced finished feed.
- Mixing. Now comes the difficult part, the feed ingredient categories are mixed according to a scientifically designed formulation that will deliver the precise nutritional balance required for the particular feed in production. There are many different feeds that can be produced depending on the customer’s requirements, so this is a very important process to get right.
- Milling. Following the mixing stage comes the milling. This stage involves the removal of packaging and size reduction of the materials. The food product is sent through a series of separators, trommels and pulverisers until the desired consistency is reached and contaminants from packaging have been removed, before being placed into finished feed bays for onward transport.
What are the benefits of reusing more food products in animal feed?
Mobius is a sister brand to SugaRich, and as such, have a special connection with the animal feed industry. With a growing number of customers experiencing the benefits of having their waste and surplus food products managed, there is no better time to get involved. With 6 SugaRich sites across the UK, sustainably repurposing food products has never been easier. If you are looking to optimise your food and co-product waste management, please fill in the contact form below: