Episode 21 – Purrfect nutrition: What's on our animals' menus?

James (00:00:00)

By coincidence, funnily enough, I'm getting a dog, a new dog on Saturday. This in a couple of days’ time.

Joana (00:06:18)

So now you'll be checking all the labels!

James (00:09:10)

I will be yes, now I have the expert insight into what to look out for.

Intro (00:24:23)

Science on the Menu, a podcast by the European Food Safety Authority.

James (00:33:19)

Hello everyone and welcome to this episode of Science on the Menu. 

My name is James Ramsay and I'll be your host for today's show. 

Today we're going to talk about an area of EFSA’s work that perhaps doesn't get as many headlines as other topics that we deal with, but which nevertheless represents a large proportion of the total scientific outputs we do - almost 25% of all scientific opinions that we issue on a yearly basis.

We also support, through the risk assessments that we do, a multi-billion-euro sector in the EU. 

The topic that I'm talking about is animal feed additives. To talk us through what animal feed additives are and what our work in that area involves I'm very happy to welcome to the podcast our animal feed expert and scientist Joana Firmino. 
Joana, a very warm welcome to you. How are you today?

Joana (01:30:17)

Thank you, James, for having me here to represent the FEED team here in EFSA. I'm very good, I'm very glad to be here, this is also a new experience.

James (01:42:01)

As I said, we're going to talk to you a bit about the work that we do here in EFSA on animal feed and feed additives.

But before we get there, can you just give us a bit of info about your background and how you came to work here?  

Joana (01:57:03)

I'm a biologist by training, I'm specialized in marine biology and aquaculture.

James (02:03:24)

Marine biology in a coastal country like Portugal is a good fit.

Joana (02:09:18)

This is the first time that I'm a little bit more far away from the sea.

James (02:16:05)

It's very nice to have you here, Joana.

What we're going to do to start with, just to give people a bit of an idea about what feed additives are, is explain the work that we do and what feed additives are. Perhaps comparing them or highlighting the differences between food additives and feed additives as well, because I think people will be very familiar with food additives, not so much the additives that we use for animal feed.

Joana (02:42:03)

Feed additives, as the words we can infer from, are additives, substances that are added to feed.

Feed would be food for animals. We might be talking about farmed animals or pets: any animal that would be fed by humans. These substances’ objective would be to improve nutritional content or quality of the diets. They can also improve animal health and welfare, this would be important for both farmed animals and pets, also for performance, which would be a characteristic that is sought for animal production, or even to improve technological aspects of the diet of the feed process.

James (03:39:24)

They would have a wide range of applications.

Joana (03:41:19)

Yes, we have for instance amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, flavourings, microorganisms. So, all of those would fall into this category.

James (03:56:09)

To help us sort of navigate a bit through the world of feed additives, we've brought some pet food with us to the studio here today. We've distilled them into little jars here. They are treats for cats; I think you're a cat owner?

Joana (04:12:17)

Yes, I am!

James (04:14:02)

So, you should be familiar with this.

Checking the labels beforehand I saw that the additives included in these treats here are vitamin E and taurine and that surprised me a little bit. People probably would be familiar with this because it's an ingredient that you find in energy drinks for humans, but it's included in these pet foods. Can you explain a little bit what that's about and why we would find it in cat treats?

Joana (04:43:19)

In this case, taurine is an essential amino acid for cats. To put it into context, amino acids would be the building blocks of proteins and taurine is an essential amino acid for cats, but it's not essential for humans. This means that cats bodies are not able to synthesize it naturally in a certain amount that allows the cats to be healthy.

Physiologically they cannot synthesize it in a natural way. That's why it's essential and they have to consume it through their diet. In nature or with raw materials, this taurine is naturally present in animal-based protein.

James (05:30:01)

If you're a lion or a leopard or a tiger, you're finding this in your prey.

Joana (05:34:20)

Right! In the natural diet. Since we are feeding cats manufactured feeds, it can have a high content of animal protein, of course, and in this animal protein there is already taurine available.

But also, the processing during the manufacturing can compromise a little bit the levels of taurine and if we think about also diets maybe with less value, a little bit less quality, that have more fibres, more carbohydrates, they will have deficiencies of taurine. So, it needs to be supplemented.

James (06:13:00)

Intentionally added.

Joana (06:14:12)

Yes. Because it's essential for their development and growth.

James (06:19:11)

And then there's vitamin E, which I guess cats like humans require.

Joana (06:25:11)

It's a vitamin and nutritional requirement for any animal.

James (06:34:12)

That's an example of a feed additive which is intended to improve health, let's say in general terms. You talked about different uses or applications or functions of feed additives as well. Can you give us another example?

Joana (06:50:06)

Another interesting example for me would be those additives that are added to feeds in order to improve or alter the colour of the animal products or animal’s appearance. A specific example would be carotenoids that are added in salmon diets. Salmon in the wild have these carotenoids or they eat these carotenoids in their natural diet that are present in crustaceans and in small fish.

These carotenoids will give them this orange-pink colour to their flesh. 

In the farming system, in aquaculture, they are not fed with their natural preys, so these carotenoids are added to their diet in order to mimic their natural diet and also to mimic the colour that the consumer prefers.

James (07:47:09)

That would be true both for salmon for human consumption and also salmon that you would find in pet food and so on?

Joana (07:57:02)

Yes, because it's part of the standard diets for the salmon industry. 

This also happens for egg yolks. We have these more yellow egg yolks. And in terms of pets these colourings can be used for ornamental fish to have brighter colours, ornamental birds also to have these more flashy colours. This will be an example of an interesting additive.

James (08:27:05)

I think we have an idea more or less of what feed additives are now. They’re used obviously both in the farming systems for agriculture, aquaculture and also in pet food.

Can you tell us then what role EFSA plays in all of this? Where do we step in and what is it that we're doing in the world of feed additives?

Joana (08:50:16)
Feed additives are highly regulated products. What does it mean? It means that for a feed additive, a product to be marketed and authorized in the European market has to go through a very thorough risk assessment process.

This is when and how EFSA plays a role with the scientific risk assessment of the product. So each product in this risk assessment will be evaluated in EFSA with the panel experts.

In terms of the safety of those products for the target animals, the animals that will be consuming those products, and also for the consumer.  If an additive that is fed to an animal will remain in the animal when this animal is consumed, as a residue in the meat or in the milk - would be an example.

Also, the safety for the environment, it's the assessment of the risk that this additive might not be fully metabolized by the animal. There is a part of this additive that is excreted into the environment and how this can impact the environment and also the safety for the users or workers that are involved in the manufacturing of those products in terms of industry.

James (10:24:06)

It's really holistic.

Joana (10:26:02)

Very realistic, One Health approach of the risk assessment.

Efficacy is one of the points also that EFSA assesses - if those products are in fact efficacious and comply with their requirements or their claims, the final objective of them before they enter the European market.

James (10:50:21)

You mentioned the environment, that’s something I wanted to touch on as well because there's a lot of discourse, public debate about the impact of farming, farming systems, agriculture, on the environment, sustainability issues, particularly in terms of the livestock sector.

You were saying before we came on air that there are some feed additives that indeed are intended to address in some way these issues.

Can you explain that to us?

Joana (11:25:06)

This is a not so new trend, but it's a big concern in terms of sustainability and both in terms of regulation and even consumers’ concerns. It is a trend that is also seen in the feed additive market. There are some additives that are being proposed to be authorized in terms of diminishing - this would be maybe a famous example - diminishing the production of greenhouse gases by livestock, by cattle, the famous cows’ burps.

I don't know if I'm allowed to say burps?

James (12:05:24)

Yes, we're not too shy on this podcast!

Joana (12:13:06)

They aim to reduce the excretion of these greenhouse gases. There are also others that aim to decrease nutrition pollution, for instance phytases. There are enzymes that reduce the output of nitrogen or phosphorus, of trace elements in the environment, they also help to reduce this environmental impact.

James (12:38:03)

That's another use or application of feed additives.

Joana (12:41:23)

There are several ones like to decrease the smell of farms. 

James (12:48:20)

I'm starting to see why you guys are so busy here in EFSA with your feed applications.

Before we close, just to get a sense from you of what the future holds for the feed additive sector or if there are new technologies or products coming on the market in the future. How do you see things evolving?

Joana (13:14:05)

It is a billionaire market and it's expected to increase, the predictions say that is increasing - this shows how the market is evolving and, in my opinion, it's also evolving because of those concerns about sustainability, animal welfare, animal health.

There are a lot of subjects that it's not only about maintaining animals, but also for them to be in their best possible way and for the sector, in terms of animal production even the pet sector, to be the most sustainable possible.

This goes very much along with the technological advances and also consumers’ perspectives. So as long as the technology is evolving and consumers also change their needs, or their opinions, the sector will grow along side.

This is what we are seeing nowadays also with the applications, we are seeing more and more applications for new species, for instance, for lemurs, llamas, alpacas, camelids.

James (14:26:07)

Specific feed additive applications for alpaca?

Joana (14:32:03)

For different species that are not so common. Also for insects like bees, which is very particular as well.

James (14:43:16)

I can't quite get my head around that. What's the feed additive for a bee then?

Joana (14:47:08)

I really don't know, James, I know they exist. I don't know any specific compound.
There is also an increase in the applications for pets. This is showing this trend: people are having more and more pets and are very devoted to them and want to give them high quality products.

It goes with the trend of humans - what is sexy for humans is then kind of a basis for animal feed as well.

James (15:26:01)

More of a focus on the quality for pet food.

Joana (15:33:03)

I would say quality, precision, sustainability, welfare, health. A little bit on those big issues.

James (15:44:11)

By coincidence, funnily enough, I'm getting a dog, a new dog on Saturday. This in a couple of days’ time.

Joana (15:51:21)

So now you'll be checking all the labels!

James (15:53:17)

I will be. Now I have the expert insight into what to look out for. Taurine is not an essential amino for dogs.

Joana (16:04:15)

Not for dogs, that’s why they can eat cat food without a problem, but not the other way around.

James (16:11:14)

So, cats can't eat dog food?

Joana (16:13:09)

They can, but they will be missing the taurine.

James (16:17:23)

We could go on for ages. There are so many sides to this story. I think we have to stop there in the interest of time.

Thank you very much for your time. It's been really interesting to speak with you.
And to all our listeners I hope you enjoyed the show today. Stay tuned for our next episode, which will be coming up soon.

If you want more information about EFSA’s work on feed additives or anything else that we do, please check out our website or follow us on our social media channels.

For now, that's all and thank you very much. Goodbye.