Lallemand Animal Nutrition announced that it has entered into a long-term global partnership with ICC Brazil for the research, development and supply of inactive yeast products and fractions derived from sugarcane ethanol.

ICC was founded in 1992 and specializes in the production and supply to animal nutrition and pet food customers of secondary yeast derivatives from ethanol, including yeast cell walls, inactive dry yeast, autolyzed and mineral yeasts, Lallemand said. It has headquarters in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with production facilities in the port of Santos and in Macatuba, Brazil.

According to Lallemand, the fermentation of sugarcane molasses or juices generates large quantities of spent yeast co-products that can be harvested and dried. Over recent years, Lallemand Animal Nutrition has developed a unique expertise in the qualification of the chemical and physical structure of yeast cell wall, introducing new tools such as Atomic Force Microscopy and in vitro models to measure the binding capacities (against pathogens and/or toxins) and immune modulation effects of such products.

In parallel, Lallemand said it has been working on the selection of specific yeast strains that offer very unique properties while producing high yields of ethanol.

These new research programs have identified new properties and benefits for end users from ethanol-based yeast co-products, leading ICC and Lallemand to enter into collaborative discussions. These discussions resulted in the decision to formalize a partnership that will further develop ICC’s upstream expertise and Lallemand’s technology leadership by undertaking joint research and development (R&D) work on yeast cell wall and derivatives.

The new partnership will secure a dedicated supply from ICC's contracted sugar/ethanol mills of characterized yeast cell wall products and yeast derivatives, which will be marketed by Lallemand Animal Nutrition under its brands to its customers.

Lallemand noted that the value of yeast cell walls is well demonstrated and widely accepted by the animal nutrition marketplace. However, there is further work to do to identify and select new strains with higher and more consistent performance effects on a number of species, the company said. Both ICC and LAN believe that yeast can become a reliable and original source of alternative protein at a time when sustainability has become a major concern for the animal production industry, especially in aquaculture.

According to the announcement, within the partnership arrangements, Lallemand Group will contribute its knowledge and expertise in yeast selection and production, Lallemand Animal Nutrition will use its R&D capabilities to further deploy its discoveries in terms of yeast downstream modification using specific and new enzyme blends applied on specific strains in dedicated plants and ICC will provide its knowhow and expertise in the ethanol yeast production based on more than 25 years of offtake from its network of Brazilian sugar mills.

The Lallemand and ICC commercial networks will remain separate, and ICC will continue to sell its full range of existing products to customers through its offices in Brazil, Europe, the U.S., Asia and South America.

Lallemand Animal Nutrition president Yannig Le Treut said, “I’m very pleased to announce that ICC and Lallemand Animal Nutrition have now entered into a long-term supply and R&D partnership, aiming at offering to the animal production, pet food and aquaculture industries significant volumes of selected ethanol-based yeast products produced by specific strains under specific downstream processes that can maximize the well-known functional properties of yeast cell walls. We also believe that specific autolysis conditions can add value to the protein part of particular Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains, and this is of great importance for our industry at a time when we are all looking for better-quality proteins with functional roles for young animals, aquaculture and companion animals. Brazil offers almost untapped quantities of high-quality secondary yeast that could, for example, play a significant role in partly replacing fish meal. We all know that sustainability and wild catch reduction is on the agenda of all the serious professional players, and [Lallemand Animal Nutrition] and ICC wish to develop new products that can combine amino acids as well as nucleotides and vitamins."

Furthermore, Le Treut noted that Lallmand believes that new investigative tools and models the company "has developed over recent years (leading, for example, to the launch of YANG, a unique combination of three different Saccharomyces and non-Saccharomyces strains) will soon allow us to enlarge our range of yeast derivatives offered to the marketplace. We intend to ensure these are affordable, well-qualified and consistent products targeted for specific effects such as mycotoxin binding, controlled immune modulation, amino acids supply, palatability and feed intake enhancers. We fully recognize the expertise that ICC has built as a reliable and long-term partner with many of the key players in Brazil."

Source: Lallemand Animal Nutrition, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.