Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care announced it will officially launch Microsaf, a multi-species bacteria probiotic, during the 2019 International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE), Feb. 12-14 in Atlanta, Ga., giving poultry professionals a new route to improved feed efficiency, gut health and growth performance.

The announcement said the new probiotic is based on a unique combination of three proprietary strains of three Bacillus species, carefully chosen to produce improvements in feed efficiency, alongside their potential to inhibit major poultry pathogens, including Clostridium perfringens.

According to the results of a battery of pre-launch trials, carried out in North America and Europe, Microsaf is capable of delivering increased levels of feed intake, improved feed conversion ratio, higher daily growth rates and better all-round growth performance.

The company said performance of Microsaf is also enhanced by the exclusive three-patent Germination Optimization Technology (GO Technology), a new process designed to promote faster and stronger Bacillus spore germination. This maximizes the product’s impact within the short transit time of 4-5 hours, which applies to most chickens.

Comparing Bacillus spores primed by GO Technology to ones that are not primed showed that the GO Technology innovation successfully accelerated and synchronized the germination of the three Microsaf strains. This enabled primed Bacillus licheniformis spores to reach 90% germination in just 45 minutes, a level reached by only 10% of the spores in the control group, Phileo said.

“We’re delighted to be able to launch Microsaf at IPPE 2019, making this ground-breaking product available to our customers in such an important part of the poultry world,” said Lin Wang, global product manager at Phileo.

“This is an extremely important day for Phileo, as our launch of this high-profile bacteria probiotic reveals how much our product range is increasing in both scope and impact,” said Dr. Alain Riggi, global poultry manager at Phileo. “We’re obviously pleased to have a strong global reputation for our many yeast-based products, but it’s also good to be able to unveil a new bacteria-based solution and to display the progress our research and development teams are making in many other areas as well.”

Backed by 30 years of experience and a global staff of 150 people, Phileo is viewed as a major player in the animal nutrition, health and welfare market. Phileo works at the crossroads of nutrition and animal health, designing, developing and delivering innovative nutritional solutions to improve animal health and performance.

As a global key player in yeasts and fermentation, Lesaffre designs, manufactures and markets innovative solutions for Baking, Food taste & pleasure, Health care and Biotechnology. Family group born in Northern France in 1853, now a multi-national and a multicultural company, Lesaffre is committed to working with confidence to better nourish and protect the planet. In close collaboration with its clients and partners, Lesaffre employs 10,000 people in 78 subsidiaries based in 50 countries. Lesaffre achieves a turnover of 2 billion euros.