Projects

This section aims at presenting the main currently active projects carry out by out team (link to pagina del team). Each of them is focused on individuating, experimenting and evaluating different ways to feed animals with a special attention for sustainability and technology applications.

The use of bakery meal in diets for post-weaning pigs
Worldwide, will have to face the challenge of increasing the number of farms and also, at the same time, increasing the production of cereals to support the diets, both for humans and for animals. We have to consider that six billion tons of feed materials (in DM) is consumed annually by livestock sector, including one third of global cereal production. It has been estimated that between 30% and 50% of global food products are lost or wasted before and after reaching the consumer, in fact resulted that the world wastes about 1.4 billion tons of food every year. In 2006, the total loss of food in EU 27 was about 90 million tons and it is estimated that in 2020 food waste will reach 126 million tons. While, United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 40 million tons. That’s estimated to be 30-40 % of the entire US food supply, and equates to 99 kg of waste per person. Reducing food loos and waste is the key to achieving sustainability and brings savings for consumers and producers and from a social point of view, the redistribution of surplus food that otherwise would be wasted, is very important. reuse food loss and food waste to feed animals is a viable option that has the potential to simultaneously address waste management (landfilling), food security, and resource and environmental challenges. The increasing availability of by-products from various food industries has long raised interest in animal nutrition. Besides common by-products, bakery products generate large amounts of wasted, consisting mainly of unsold products (i.e., unsold sliced bread, croissants, biscuits, cakes, dough). From a regulatory point of view, bakery meal is considered feed ingredient, and their use in animal nutrition would help recycling and valorizing the wasted food.

Bakery meal has many names in different parts of the world: dried bakery product, bakery waste, former food, cookie meal, bread meal, etc. Despite the many names, and variable composition, it always describes the same source of materials, namely by-products or waste of the bakery industry, consisting primarily of wheat flour and variable quantities of sugar, salt, oils and additives. In general, bakery meal is rich in starch because wheat flour is the main ingredient in all bakery products. Because this starch is already thermally processed (cooked), it is highly digestible, and thus, of high nutritive value. For this reason, bakery meal is a suitable ingredient for young pigs and starter broilers diets. From a nutritional point of view, bakery meal contains about 2,981 kcal/kg net energy (NRC-Swine, 2012), which compares very favorably with maize at 2,672 Kcal/kg net energy. Accordingly, it contains 3,500 kcal/kg metabolizable energy for poultry, when maize is at 3,300 kcal/kg. However, if candy bars, snacks, cakes and other high-fat ingredients comprise a large part of the product mix, then bakery meal will also be of high-fat concentration (normal levels are about 8 percent as for the above quoted energy level). Any extra fat, will increase dietary energy and must be taken into account when formulating diets. Salt is almost invariably a part of any baked product. Some contain more than others, and therefore the salt (sodium) content of bakery meal must be monitored very closely. To this end, the inclusion level of bakery meal on any formula should not exceed what is needed to meet the sodium requirements of the animal. Removing other high-salt ingredients (such as fish meal or animal plasma) and, of course, pure salt, from formulas increases the upper limit of inclusion rate for bakery meal.

In collaboration with University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaingn and Hans H. Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory, we performed an in vivo trial where we want to test the hypotesis that corn may be replaced by bakery meal in diets for weanling pigs without any effects on growth performance. We used 160 newly weaned pigs, one source of bakery meal and we formulated four diets replacing until the 100% of corn with bakery meal. A total of ten diets were formulated. In each phase, a control diet based on corn and soybean meal was formulated, and four additional diets included increasing concentrations of bakey meal, replacing corn were formulated. The percentages of replacements of corn were 0, 25, 50,75 and 100%. Results indicated that if 25% of the corn is replaced by bakery meal, there are no changes in pig growth performance. Also, pig growth rate was maintained if 50% of the corn was replaced with bakery meal. However, pigs fed with increasing level of bakery meal showed a worse gain to feed ratio, compared to pigs fed with control diet. From the results we can say that 100% of substitution of corn with bakery meal is limiting and as observed in other studies, the best substitution rate is around 50%. The reason of that is unknown, we have to consider that this animals are in growing phase so maybe the «maturation» of the digestive system in the cause and cannot be excluded, in any case more studies are necessary in the future.
The use of bakery meal in diets for post-weaning pigs
Worldwide, will have to face the challenge of increasing the number of farms and also, at the same time, increasing the production of cereals to support the diets, both for humans and for animals. We have to consider that six billion tons of feed materials (in DM) is consumed annually by livestock sector, including one third of global cereal production. It has been estimated that between 30% and 50% of global food products are lost or wasted before and after reaching the consumer, in fact resulted that the world wastes about 1.4 billion tons of food every year. In 2006, the total loss of food in EU 27 was about 90 million tons and it is estimated that in 2020 food waste will reach 126 million tons. While, United States discards more food than any other country in the world: nearly 40 million tons. That’s estimated to be 30-40 % of the entire US food supply, and equates to 99 kg of waste per person. Reducing food loos and waste is the key to achieving sustainability and brings savings for consumers and producers and from a social point of view, the redistribution of surplus food that otherwise would be wasted, is very important. reuse food loss and food waste to feed animals is a viable option that has the potential to simultaneously address waste management (landfilling), food security, and resource and environmental challenges. The increasing availability of by-products from various food industries has long raised interest in animal nutrition. Besides common by-products, bakery products generate large amounts of wasted, consisting mainly of unsold products (i.e., unsold sliced bread, croissants, biscuits, cakes, dough). From a regulatory point of view, bakery meal is considered feed ingredient, and their use in animal nutrition would help recycling and valorizing the wasted food.

Bakery meal has many names in different parts of the world: dried bakery product, bakery waste, former food, cookie meal, bread meal, etc. Despite the many names, and variable composition, it always describes the same source of materials, namely by-products or waste of the bakery industry, consisting primarily of wheat flour and variable quantities of sugar, salt, oils and additives. In general, bakery meal is rich in starch because wheat flour is the main ingredient in all bakery products. Because this starch is already thermally processed (cooked), it is highly digestible, and thus, of high nutritive value. For this reason, bakery meal is a suitable ingredient for young pigs and starter broilers diets. From a nutritional point of view, bakery meal contains about 2,981 kcal/kg net energy (NRC-Swine, 2012), which compares very favorably with maize at 2,672 Kcal/kg net energy. Accordingly, it contains 3,500 kcal/kg metabolizable energy for poultry, when maize is at 3,300 kcal/kg. However, if candy bars, snacks, cakes and other high-fat ingredients comprise a large part of the product mix, then bakery meal will also be of high-fat concentration (normal levels are about 8 percent as for the above quoted energy level). Any extra fat, will increase dietary energy and must be taken into account when formulating diets. Salt is almost invariably a part of any baked product. Some contain more than others, and therefore the salt (sodium) content of bakery meal must be monitored very closely. To this end, the inclusion level of bakery meal on any formula should not exceed what is needed to meet the sodium requirements of the animal. Removing other high-salt ingredients (such as fish meal or animal plasma) and, of course, pure salt, from formulas increases the upper limit of inclusion rate for bakery meal.

In collaboration with University of Illinois of Urbana-Champaingn and Hans H. Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory, we performed an in vivo trial where we want to test the hypotesis that corn may be replaced by bakery meal in diets for weanling pigs without any effects on growth performance. We used 160 newly weaned pigs, one source of bakery meal and we formulated four diets replacing until the 100% of corn with bakery meal. A total of ten diets were formulated. In each phase, a control diet based on corn and soybean meal was formulated, and four additional diets included increasing concentrations of bakey meal, replacing corn were formulated. The percentages of replacements of corn were 0, 25, 50,75 and 100%. Results indicated that if 25% of the corn is replaced by bakery meal, there are no changes in pig growth performance. Also, pig growth rate was maintained if 50% of the corn was replaced with bakery meal. However, pigs fed with increasing level of bakery meal showed a worse gain to feed ratio, compared to pigs fed with control diet. From the results we can say that 100% of substitution of corn with bakery meal is limiting and as observed in other studies, the best substitution rate is around 50%. The reason of that is unknown, we have to consider that this animals are in growing phase so maybe the «maturation» of the digestive system in the cause and cannot be excluded, in any case more studies are necessary in the future.

SAN - Sustainable Animal Nutrition

The sustainable increase in livestock productivity cannot be achieved without the use of sustainable animal diets. Thereby, the sustainability of animal rations is crucial in livestock production systems where feed represents the most important production cost and efficiency is increasingly becoming important. The main topic of the project is to develop a “sustainable animal nutrition” concept, which integrates the importance of an efficient use of natural resources and environmental protection.

The aim of the project is to investigate the production and the use of by/co-products as new and innovative feed ingredients for a sustainable animal nutrition, such as ex foods (food leftovers for human) also known as Former Food Products (FFPs). These are recently considered an interesting alternative to traditional protein and energy sources for animal diets and are expected to be increasingly used as replacers for conventional feedingstuffs. They also represent a way for converting losses from the food industry into ingredients for animal feed, keeping nutrients in the food chain. From the circular economy point of view, both represent a way for upgrading food wastes to valuable feed ingredients.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, University of Novi Sad
SAN - Sustainable Animal Nutrition
The sustainable increase in livestock productivity cannot be achieved without the use of sustainable animal diets. Thereby, the sustainability of animal rations is crucial in livestock production systems where feed represents the most important production cost and efficiency is increasingly becoming important. The main topic of the project is to develop a “sustainable animal nutrition” concept, which integrates the importance of an efficient use of natural resources and environmental protection.

The aim of the project is to investigate the production and the use of by/co-products as new and innovative feed ingredients for a sustainable animal nutrition, such as ex foods (food leftovers for human) also known as Former Food Products (FFPs). These are recently considered an interesting alternative to traditional protein and energy sources for animal diets and are expected to be increasingly used as replacers for conventional feeding stuffs. They also represent a way for converting losses from the food industry into ingredients for animal feed, keeping nutrients in the food chain. From the circular economy point of view, both represent a way for upgrading food wastes to valuable feed ingredients.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, University of Novi Sad

ASSO Alimentazione Suini Sostenibile (Sustainable Pigs' alimentation)
Livestock farming represents one of the human activities with the highest environmental impact, especially for the production of feed. For this reason, in recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the enhancement of alternative ingredients to be used for animal nutrition in order to increase their sustainability. The terms “Ex-food” or “Former Foodstuffs” is referred to food products produced for human consumption but withdrawn from the market, because of practical or logistical reasons, manufacturing problems, packaging defects etc.
The ASSO project aims to analyze the effects of replacing conventional ingredients with former foods (FFP) in pig diets in order to explore the potential of these ingredients and their sustainability.

PARTNERS: University of Milan
ASSO Alimentazione Suini Sostenibile (Sustainable Pigs' alimentation)

Livestock farming represents one of the human activities with the highest environmental impact, especially for the production of feed. For this reason, in recent years, increasing attention has been paid to the enhancement of alternative ingredients to be used for animal nutrition in order to increase their sustainability. The terms “Ex-food” or “Former Foodstuffs” is referred to food products produced for human consumption but withdrawn from the market, because of practical or logistical reasons, manufacturing problems, packaging defects etc.
The ASSO project aims to analyze the effects of replacing conventional ingredients with former foods (FFP) in pig diets in order to explore the potential of these ingredients and their sustainability.

PARTNERS: University of Milan

Sus-FEED - SUSTAINABLE FEED DESIGN APPLYING CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES: THE CASE FORMER FOOD IN PIG NUTRITION

Ex-food, applying circular economy principles, represent a way by which convert losses from the food industry into ingredients for the feed industry, thereby keeping food losses in the food chain. Ex-food processors in the EU convert approximately 3 million tons of ex-food in animal feed, namely former food products (FFPs). However their use is still limited (3.3%) compared to the total food waste. One of the major limit in exploiting the potential of FFPs is their poor nutritional and functional evaluation.
Beyond the nutritional value, the use of FFPs in animal feeding imply also the evaluation of sustainability issues. Available sustainability-environmental studies and LCAs have shown that feed production is a significant contributor to the environmental footprint of animal products and therefore an important element to take into account when considering mitigation options. Without a comprehensive sustainability analysis of the impacts of animal feed, it is nearly impossible to establish the Product Environmental Footprint of animal products such a meat, eggs, dairy products and fish.
Starting from these assumptions, the aim of the project will be to evaluate the effects of substituting conventional cereals with FFPs in pig’s diets, by addressing its impacts on growth performance, gut health, pig wellbeing, as well as its sustainability assessment and its implications in natural resources saving. Particular attention will be devoted to the analysis of the impact of substituting conventional cereals with FFPs in pigs’ diets, in order to explore its effects on water resources.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, Politecnico di Milano, University of Novi Sad
Sus-FEED - SUSTAINABLE FEED DESIGN APPLYING CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES: THE CASE FORMER FOOD IN PIG NUTRITION
Ex-food, applying circular economy principles, represent a way by which convert losses from the food industry into ingredients for the feed industry, thereby keeping food losses in the food chain. Ex-food processors in the EU convert approximately 3 million tons of ex-food in animal feed, namely former food products (FFPs). However their use is still limited (3.3%) compared to the total food waste. One of the major limit in exploiting the potential of FFPs is their poor nutritional and functional evaluation.
Beyond the nutritional value, the use of FFPs in animal feeding imply also the evaluation of sustainability issues. Available sustainability-environmental studies and LCAs have shown that feed production is a significant contributor to the environmental footprint of animal products and therefore an important element to take into account when considering mitigation options. Without a comprehensive sustainability analysis of the impacts of animal feed, it is nearly impossible to establish the Product Environmental Footprint of animal products such a meat, eggs, dairy products and fish.
Starting from these assumptions, the aim of the project will be to evaluate the effects of substituting conventional cereals with FFPs in pig’s diets, by addressing its impacts on growth performance, gut health, pig wellbeing, as well as its sustainability assessment and its implications in natural resources saving. Particular attention will be devoted to the analysis of the impact of substituting conventional cereals with FFPs in pigs’ diets, in order to explore its effects on water resources.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, Politecnico di Milano, University of Novi Sad

INNOKEP-FEED

SERBIA is one of the Europe’s important crop producers, particularly for maize, soya, and sunflower, all largely used in animal nutrition. The present project aims to promote the Know-how Exchange in the field of animal nutrition and feeding and assist the beneficiary institution in the feed design and evolution in the preparatory phase of market integration and to foster the transposition and implementation of the EU regulation. The following objectives are foreseen:

  • To support an innovative KEP in Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology.
  • To provide specific expertise focused on alternative and sustainable animal nutrition.
  • To use innovative teaching tools.

Specifically, Italy and the University of Milan (UNIMI), and the Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA) will represent the Country of Know-How Provider Institution, while Serbia and Institute of Food Technology (FINS) (Novi Sad) will be the Country of Know-How Recipient Institution.
The project is divided in two steps: the first will use innovative teaching techniques (e-learning&web-in-air), and the second, that will take place at FINS, will provide deeper insight in the feed technology process. After the training, participants will be better able to advise on content / think about optimization of machines & process. Students’ internationalization will be improved, as well as the knowledge of both, students and professionals. In addition, the both Institutions will be able to share and exchange knowledge in the field of animal nutrition and feeding.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, University of Novi Sad
INNOKEP-FEED

SERBIA is one of the Europe’s important crop producers, particularly for maize, soya, and sunflower, all largely used in animal nutrition. The present project aims to promote the Know-how Exchange in the field of animal nutrition and feeding and assist the beneficiary institution in the feed design and evolution in the preparatory phase of market integration and to foster the transposition and implementation of the EU regulation. The following objectives are foreseen:

  • To support an innovative KEP in Animal Nutrition and Feed Technology.
  • To provide specific expertise focused on alternative and sustainable animal nutrition.
  • To use innovative teaching tools.

Specifically, Italy and the University of Milan (UNIMI), and the Department of Health, Animal Science and Food Safety (VESPA) will represent the Country of Know-How Provider Institution, while Serbia and Institute of Food Technology (FINS) (Novi Sad) will be the Country of Know-How Recipient Institution.
The project is divided in two steps: the first will use innovative teaching techniques (e-learning;web-in-air), and the second, that will take place at FINS, will provide deeper insight in the feed technology process. After the training, participants will be better able to advise on content / think about optimization of machines & process. Students’ internationalization will be improved, as well as the knowledge of both, students and professionals. In addition, the both Institutions will be able to share and exchange knowledge in the field of animal nutrition and feeding.

PARTNERS: University of Milan, University of Novi Sad

INSECTS

Insects as feed ingredients have a great potential for several reasons: (i) nutrient content, since they are rich in proteins, fat (and in turn energy), vitamins and minerals; (ii) sometimes they are characterized by an adequate feed conversion efficiency compared to livestock; (iii) low space requirement; (iv) great acceptance by poultry and fish, whose diet in nature is partly represented by insects; (v) they are mostly omnivorous and can grow on different substrates. In this respect, insects can potentially be used to upgrade low value organic waste materials which can be exploited in the feed and food chain. furthermore, the selection of an appropriate and tailored substrate could lead to the production of a premium feed specialty, thus providing new opportunities for raw materials and diet formulations. This implies that a standardization of the rearing protocols is needed.

PARTNERS: University of Milan
INSECTS

Insects as feed ingredients have a great potential for several reasons: (i) nutrient content, since they are rich in proteins, fat (and in turn energy), vitamins and minerals; (ii) sometimes they are characterized by an adequate feed conversion efficiency compared to livestock; (iii) low space requirement; (iv) great acceptance by poultry and fish, whose diet in nature is partly represented by insects; (v) they are mostly omnivorous and can grow on different substrates. In this respect, insects can potentially be used to upgrade low value organic waste materials which can be exploited in the feed and food chain. furthermore, the selection of an appropriate and tailored substrate could lead to the production of a premium feed specialty, thus providing new opportunities for raw materials and diet formulations. This implies that a standardization of the rearing protocols is needed.

PARTNERS: University of Milan