Organic acids grow on the farm

Abstract

With antibiotics increasingly being shunned as growth promoters, chemical makers are investing in short-chain organic acids as a new way to help farmers increase meat production without contributing to antibiotic resistance. The specialty chemical company Oxea just completed an expansion of its plant in Oberhausen, Germany, that boosts output of short-chain organic acids such as propionic acid, butyric acid, and isobutyric acid. Last month, Sweden’s Perstorp launched production of valeric acid, which it says is the first new organic acid for animal nutrition in decades. Also last month, the French industrial biotech firm Metabolic Explorer said it plans to invest in a facility that makes butyric acid via fermentation. All three companies are responding to rising farmer interest in organic acids and their derivatives as components of animal feed free of antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs). Europe, the largest market for the organic acids, banned AGPs in 2006. The U.S. FDA