How do we do it?
Selko's Raw Material Quality Programme offers practical and cost-effective solutions to preserve the nutritional value of grains, grain by-products and other raw materials.
Raw Material Quality Programme
Raw material quality is paramount for safe feed and food production. Grains like corn, wheat, and barley face challenges in the field, susceptible to mould, mycotoxins, and harmful bacteria due to environmental factors. In addition to that, oilseeds like soy, canola, and sunflower, processed into high-protein meals, pose microbial risks. Rigorous quality control measures are essential, involving advanced agricultural practices, proper storage, and continuous monitoring. Implementing comprehensive strategies ensures product safety, upholding the integrity of the food and feed supply chain.
The programme aims to build strong partnerships within the grain industry, in a shared effort to provide safe feed materials, and comprises:
- The sharing of in-depth knowledge about grain and oilseed hygiene, best practices for storage and processing, and effective product application.
- Thorough plant hygiene scans that identify critical control points, analyse samples, and propose the best possible treatments.
- A strong portfolio of potent blends of validated and assessed organic acids, with proven efficacy in commercial circumstances.
- State-of-the-art dosing equipment that allows for safe, accurate dosing of treatment products and optimal dispersion and absorption.
- Continuous monitoring and reporting on progress and adaptation of the programme where needed. This can be in the form of decontamination or shift to the prevention of microbial risk as the programme evolves within your plant.
Implementing the programme for grains and cereals
Grain storage techniques
When it comes to grains and cereals, moulds that generate mycotoxins are a constant concern. About 80% of agricultural commodities are infected with mycotoxins, which can make them unsuitable to be used in feed. Moulds can be hosted in damaged kernels or broken grains and can impact grain quality, both in the field and during transport and storage. Only considering reductions in stored grain, losses during storage as well as mycotoxin contamination can be more than 30%.
Contamination prevention against the adverse effect of moulds should start in the field and continue through transport, storage and production. Scoring systems created by the USDA for corn and other grains are a helpful tool for evaluating quality factors, including grade, moisture, nutritional profile, physical quality and mycotoxin presence.
Grain storage requires careful planning, management and monitoring to prevent spoilage, maintain grain quality and ensure profitability. We defined eight main points that are important for ensuring a well-maintained storage facility:
Interview with Pieter Steyn
Effective grain preservation techniques
Being aware of the risks and threats posed by external factors is a great start for maintaining effective grain preservation. But how can you overcome any risks that might occur?
Pieter Steyn, Global Technical Commercial Manager for Selko's raw material quality programme, regularly visits grain producers, traders, storage facilities and processing plants. In his daily work, he often encounters cases of grain contamination. We asked Pieter to share his tips and tricks to maintaining grain quality.
Implementing the programme for oilseed proteins
Salmonella control in oilseed protein
Of all grains, grain-by products and other feed ingredients, high-protein oilseeds pose the highest risk of contamination with microorganisms, such as moulds, yeasts, Salmonella and other harmful bacteria. Salmonella is the main point of concern, due to the possible human health impact and regulatory restrictions in regions around the world.
In some places, including the European Union, contaminated materials cannot be sold. This causes blocked stock, disrupts the production of feed, and can lead to negative publicity for companies associated with Salmonella contamination.
Selko offers specialised harbour treatments for barges arriving with material that has tested positive for Salmonella.
Effective Salmonella control
Long, oversea, shipping means grains have to endure fluctuating temperatures and humidity. While seemingly in mint condition at the harbour of departure, the story can be completely different upon arrival.
Here's how Selko can help prevent further deterioration of grains.
Plant gap analysis
To help guarantee material and plant hygiene, it's important to know where to implement solutions in the production process. Whether you treat materials upon receipt, or treat by-products after processing, the moment of product application can make a significant difference in the occurrence and risk of microbial contamination.
Selko offers a service that helps define these critical control points. Through a plant audit and sampling with our raw material analysis kit, we analyse samples at various points within the plant to pinpoint exactly where our solutions will have the highest benefit.
Several swabs and product samples are gathered and sent to our Masterlab for qualitative analysis and to test for the presence of possibly harmful microbes. We share the results with you and together determine the best way forward.
Applying effective preservation
While selecting the most appropriate product within the Selko portfolio is critical, proper and safe application is equally important. Selko has decades of experience in researching the most effective ways to treat raw materials within the feed production chain. We can help you navigate the different types of dosing equipment to allow for safe, accurate and even fully automated distribution of organic acid blends. From the type of nozzles to flow rates and pumps, our extensive research has enabled us to develop a portfolio of highly stable, accurate and easy-to-use systems.
Dosing equipment can apply Selko liquid products at any step of the production chain, depending on the needs of your facility.