What Are Premixes?
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Quality premixes from D&D help our customers to manufacture products that mix well and have uniform dispersion of vitamins, trace minerals, and other micro-ingredients throughout — yes or no?
And, how do D&D customers use our custom premix products to make their products, including supplements, concentrates, and complete feeds?
First, the “what”:
• A premix combines one or more micro-ingredients — such as vitamins, trace minerals, medicated products, etc. — with one or more carrier ingredients (such as rice hulls or calcium carbonate) in a uniform mixture
• The premix carrier along with mineral oil, for example, helps stabilize the micro-ingredients and maintain uniformity of the mixture
Feed companies use our premixes to achieve uniform dispersion of micro-ingredients in a larger mixture of macro-ingredients in manufacturing their feed products. The premix often contains essential nutrients — vital for the health of the animal. But these micro-ingredients are in high concentration in the premix and cannot be fed directly to animals.
That’s why the quality of premixing is so important: If the micro-ingredients in the premix do not mix well or fail to disperse thoroughly in manufacturing, then “hot spots” of highly concentrated compounds can appear in the final feed product. Feeding such a product may put animal productivity or health at risk.
We specialize in custom premixing, which means customers count on us to make quality premixes that use their own formulas and meet their specific requirements.
Our formulation and production teammates solve the challenges of mixing multiple micro-ingredients and carriers, addressing issues of particle size and shape, static charge, potential chemical interactivity, and product stability over time under various storage conditions.
Our 2019 investment in a new, state-of-the-art premix facility and our skilled workforce and great customer service is growing this D&D business segment.
D&D’s quality custom premixing is helping us achieve our vision to be the partner-of-choice for outsource manufacturing services for the feed and pet food industries.
How concentrated?
Depending on the customer’s formula, a premix may contain a dozen or more vitamins, trace minerals, and other micro-ingredients.
Many of these “micros” come with material safety data sheets (MSDS) required for safe handling in our facilities. If the premix includes a drug or federally regulated medication, then the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) requires additional protocols for safe handling and record keeping.
Premix products can have a wide range of concentration depending on their use in various types of final feed products. The range may span from a few pounds of premix per ton of finished product up to as much as 50 lb. per ton.
For a supplement or concentrate feed product, the premix inclusion rate (pounds per ton or percentage by weight) can be relatively high because the farmer will mix or feed the product along with other feedstuffs. The inclusion rate can be much lower for premixes incorporated in complete feeds, such as for nursery pigs or poultry.
Building our premix business
A growing number of feed and pet food manufacturers are taking advantage of our ingredient knowledge, formulation expertise, and premixing technology. By partnering with D&D, our customers can better optimize their manufacturing operations. We’re helping them concentrate even more on what they do best.
More “Did You Know?”
Quality Custom Premix ‘R’ Us! However, there’s much more to know about the industries we serve. Please let us know other topics of interest. Email claytong@ddingredient.com