Application Rundown: Animal Nutrition

Whether an animal lives on a farm or in our home, feed and nutrition have a direct impact on their quality of life. The first step in creating the best quality feed for your livestock or furry friend is in the ingredients. Choosing the right ingredients can affect the animal’s development, health, and growth rate. 

There are almost a thousand different ingredients and additives approved for animal feed in the United States. According to the American Feed Industry Organization, there are three avenues for ingredient approval for feed: 

• ●  The first way an ingredient can be approved is the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA) will deem it Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS). The ingredient must be recognized as generally safe by the scientific community and meet the same safety standards as existing ingredients. This method does not require premarket approval by the Food and Drug Administration to be sold on the market. 
• ●  The second way an ingredient is approved is through the FDA. The FDA uses a food additive petition process. This process is very thorough and requires several years of data and research before an ingredient is approved. 
• ●  The last avenue for approval is the ingredient is recognized by the Association of American Feed Control Officials and published in their annual publication. The publication is recognized federally and worldwide for ingredients allowed on feed labels. 

Animal nutritionists and scientists work together to find the perfect ingredients to include in their feed recipes. Two of the most important things to keep in mind while choosing the perfect ingredients are what will help benefit the animal and what will help aid in production. Lucky for you, ingredientsonline.com offers all of our animal nutrition ingredients in one place so it is easy for animal nutrition access online.

Amino Acids

Amino acids play a huge role in animal nutrition and it is important to make sure that livestock receives enough amino acids in their feed. They may help build the animal’s muscle and tissue and can play an important role in milk production. Amino acids are present in all stages of livestock farming, from growth to production to reproduction.

Corn

Corn is the primary ingredient used in animal feed. It is full of nutrients and many different animals can benefit from the use of corn in their feed. Corn may help chickens with egg production. This ingredient may also help cows with milk production and may improve meat quality.

Vitamin C

Like humans, animals need vitamin C to survive. Although most animals produce enough on their own, pigs and chickens might benefit from the ingredient in their feed. Including ascorbic acid in the feed may help support the animal's immune system. This ingredient is most often used in pig feed to potentially help combat stress from heat.

Once the perfect ingredients are chosen for the animal feed, nutritionists and scientists will start to create the best recipe possible for each species. They focus on a few different factors when creating each type of feed. Some of those factors include focusing on the preservation of the food to help prolong its shelf life, that the animals will be getting the most nutrient feed possible, and adding flavored additives to help make the feed taste the best to the animals to keep them coming back for more. 

When the perfect formula is created, it will go into the final steps of being manufactured. These final steps include mixing the ingredients, packaging the product, and shipping it out so farmers and pet owners can provide their animals with the best quality product. There are many steps when creating the best food for animal nutrition but it all starts with selecting the right ingredients. 

Click here to shop all of our animal nutrition ingredients. ingredientsonline.com connects buyers and sellers of raw nutritional ingredients. We offer a real-time U.S.-based inventory, 24/7 access, and complete transparency with instant-download QC/QA documents.