Kerry will immediately begin marketing GRAINZYME® Phytase for poultry use in U.S.A. market

BELOIT, Wis. and WOBURN, Mass.,—November 8, 2018—Kerry Animal Health & Nutrition and Agrivida announce a new strategic partnership, providing Kerry with rights to promote Agrivida’s pioneering GRAINZYME® Phytase technology for poultry use for the U.S.A. market.

Agrivida’s GRAINZYME® Phytase utilizes a groundbreaking innovative process to produce phytase inside corn kernels. By simply replacing a small amount of regular corn with GRAINZYME® Phytase corn, poultry producers can conveniently and easily introduce phytase into the diets of their flocks. With GRAINZYME® Phytase, producers can feed their flocks significantly higher and more optimal doses of phytase, and thereby greatly improve their business profitability.

“The benefits of GRAINZYME® Phytase have been confirmed in multiple university studies that demonstrate significant poultry performance improvements for flocks fed with GRAINZYME® Phytase corn, compared to those fed traditional phytase enzymes. The results also demonstrate significant cost savings per ton of feed when higher doses of phytase were used. We believe GRAINZYME® Phytase is a novel solution for poultry producers because it increases the value of their flocks without the need for additional feed space. And there’s no requirement for special processing as the functional benefits are contained in the corn,” says Michael Lanahan, Ph.D., chief commercial officer at Agrivida.

This partnership between Kerry Animal Health & Nutrition and Agrivida brings together two important companies in the animal feed market. Kerry’s AlphaGal™ brand is the U.S.A. market leader for non-starch polysaccharide enzymes used in poultry feed, where it significantly enhances the value of poultry feed by improving digestibility and lowering the cost of feed by facilitating the use of alternative raw materials.

“At Kerry, we are committed to leading our customers to better products and continuing to innovate with high performance nutrition solutions for the animal feed market. Complementing our AlphaGal™ range and our gut health portfolio, we are excited to bring GRAINZYME® Phytase to market, reflecting our commitment to cutting-edge science and aligned with our strategy to grow our animal feed business,” says Vilson Simon, global vice president of Kerry Animal Health & Nutrition.

According to Dan Meagher, CEO of Agrivida, “Kerry’s strong reputation and customer marketing strength with their AlphaGal™ enzyme range make them an ideal business partner for us. Together, this partnership will bring significant new value propositions to the poultry industry.”

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About Kerry Animal Health & Nutrition

Kerry, the Taste & Nutrition company, offers solutions that nourish lives all over the world. From humble beginnings as an Irish dairy co-operative, Kerry has grown into a large international food industry leader, with offices in 30 countries, 135 manufacturing facilities and an employer to over 25,000 people globally, including over 900 food scientists.  We bring to the table our strong food heritage, coupled with 40 years of experience, global insights and market knowledge, culinary and applications expertise as well as our unique solutions to anticipate and address our customers’ needs. With our dedicated Animal Health and Nutrition division, we are passionate about leading our customers to better through using our food and technologies expertise to improve animal health and nutrition globally.  Our diverse portfolio of enzymes, emulsifiers, proteins and nutraceuticals enhance animal nutrition feed by increasing nutritional value, maximizing efficiencies, replacing antibiotics and supporting sustainability. From function to palatability, Kerry’s Animal Health and Nutrition experts are committed to innovating for success. For more information, visit Kerry.com.

About Agrivida

Imagine it. Deliver it. Committed to building a better future for everyone, Agrivida scientists are experts in biochemistry, plant biology, molecular biology, agriculture, and nutrition. Dynamically addressing the needs of both animal nutrition and animal health through its unique technology platform, Agrivida is delivering on its promise of innovative new corn products that offer effective, simple, and convenient solutions more sustainably than ever before. The company’s corn-based feed additive, GRAINZYME® Phytase, is just the first of many products that will benefit producers of poultry, swine, dairy and beef cattle, and aquaculture. For more information, visit Agrivida.com.

New corn has potential to take poultry production to higher levels of productivity, studies show

WOBURN, Mass.,—November 6, 2018—Agrivida, a privately held biotechnology company, today announces the availability of its innovative GRAINZYME® Phytase for use in poultry operations. An industry first, the new enzyme feed additive is delivered in corn, offering a more convenient, nutritious, and responsible phytase than previously available. Approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), new GRAINZYME Phytase makes it possible for producers to provide their flocks with higher, optimal doses of phytase, enabling them to increase their return on investment by improving bird performance, lowering production expenses, and reducing waste.

GRAINZYME Phytase has potential to transform the industry

“Study results with GRAINZYME Phytase demonstrate in excess of $20 worth of improved animal performance per ton of feed over traditional phytase doses,” says Michael Lanahan, Ph.D., chief commercial officer at Agrivida and one of the scientists involved in its development. “I believe GRAINZYME Phytase has the potential to bring exceptional added value to the poultry industry.

“GRAINZYME Phytase is an elegant solution because the functional benefits of enzymes are built right into the grain,” he continues. “GRAINZYME corn is grown, milled, and then provided to customers for inclusion in animal feed, replacing just a fraction of the traditional corn that producers already feed their flocks. No special processing is required to use it.”

Current phytase production methods come with high operating and capital investment costs, not to mention downstream recovery and formulation costs. Small additions of corn-based GRAINZYME Phytase can deliver high levels of the enzyme to poultry diets, providing producers with a simple, easy, and sustainable alternative that provides substantial benefits over microbially produced phytase.

Strong body of evidence-based data

Over 30 well-controlled studies of GRAINZYME Phytase have been conducted at independent laboratories and multiple universities across the U.S., including the University of Georgia, University of Missouri, N.C. State University, Texas A&M University, West Virginia University, and others.

An important late-stage evaluation of GRAINZYME Phytase took place at West Virginia University which recently invested $1 million in a new feed mill to further support poultry research. The university’s team, headed by Joe Moritz, Ph.D., professor of nutrition and feed manufacturing, helps manufacturers like Agrivida evaluate products for stability and uniformity.

“I’ve known for a long time that there was a lot of excitement about this GRAINZYME corn,” says Moritz. “Other additives may dilute the nutritional content of the feed, but GRAINZYME Phytase doesn’t. This is an easy way to add enzymes because they are delivered in corn–right there in the grain itself. Nutritionists deal with as many as 25 ingredients, so the fact that it’s in corn is very important to them. Having evaluated GRAINZYME Phytase in our laboratory, we have observed product uniformity post-feed mixing, high enzyme activity after steam conditioning and pelleting, and efficacy in broiler feeding studies.”

More innovative products to come using Agrivida’s corn platform

Having shown that it is possible to express a variety of functional proteins at high levels in corn, Agrivida intends to use its corn platform to deliver many different enzymes and to expand the scope of the technology to proteins that may benefit animal health.

About Agrivida

Imagine it. Deliver it. Committed to building a better future for everyone, Agrivida scientists are experts in biochemistry, plant biology, molecular biology, agriculture, and nutrition. Dynamically addressing the needs of both animal nutrition and animal health through its unique technology platform, Agrivida is delivering on its promise of innovative new corn products that offer effective, simple, and convenient solutions more sustainably than ever before. The company’s corn-based feed additive, GRAINZYME® Phytase, is just the first of many products that will benefit producers of poultry, swine, dairy and beef cattle, and aquaculture. For more information, visit Agrivida.com.