Feeding the world’s growing human population is a challenge for producers across the planet and much work needs to be done in the food supply chain to ensure that there is enough to eat. 

Hamlet Protein, founded in Denmark 30 years ago, is a key player at an early stage of the food production process. Erik Visser, CEO at Hamlet Protein explains that to achieve the goal of feeding people into the future, we have to make the most out of the resources we have: 

“Becoming more efficient in animal production requires state of the art solutions. We eliminate so-called anti-nutritional factors and create a very palatable and highly digestible product that can be included in the diets of young animals. In that early life stage, that will have an effect throughout the life cycle.”

Just as with humans, early nutrition in animals is vital for their growth and health. Hamlet Protein places a clear focus on young animal nutrition using vegetable protein solutions and works with research institutes, universities and farmers around the world to test concepts and develop the company’s products. 

Diego Navarro, Swine Nutritionist at Hamlet Protein says that their product directly answers needs of food producers: 

“Some of the challenges that bring our customers to Hamlet Protein is their animals have poor feed intake, post-weaning diarrhea, and slow growth. These challenges come from many different factors, nutrition being one of them. And Hamlet Protein has been a leader in young animal nutrition for a long time.”

Making animals healthier through diet is far preferable to using drugs such as antibiotics to increase meat production. Erik Visser says:

“Changing regulations have a direct impact on how animal feed is being produced. The use of antibiotic growth promoters has been banned in several geographies around the world. There's an increasing demand from the consumers to limit medication in the feed, by investing in the right animal nutrition.”

Pernille Rasmussen, Bioengineer at Hamlet Protein, explains how the company’s products work: 

“Hamlet’s unique controlled enzyme treatment allows us to change a variable raw material into a consistent high quality product. Our products succeed when the animals are growing effectively, without being subjected to diseases or complications. This ensures that we fulfill the specification that we promise to our customers.”

Diego Navarro adds that new understanding of gut health has led to further developments of Hamlet products: 

“Hamlet Protein developed a functional fiber solution to combine the benefits of both fermentable and non fermentable carbohydrates, while limiting the traditional risks you would associate with feeding high levels of fiber. We minimize what we call anti-nutritional factors that are not very good for vulnerable young animals.”

As well as the health of animals, Erik Visser says that the industry itself needs to change to be ready for the future: 

“We need to move away from limiting use of proprietary knowledge to single companies. It is only with integration and sharing of information that the industry can collectively improve. If you want to make a difference, you have to connect across the industry and you have to connect with your customers. It is the farmers around the world that produce the food that feed our families. We can contribute to a more sustainable planet by providing safe and sustainable feed for safe and sustainable food production.”