Nucelis, the microbial strain development subsidiary of agriculture biotech company, Cibus, said a new alliance it has just established is aimed at assisting Chinese manufacturers of food ingredients, animal feed, and other products made via fermentation.
It announced a partnership agreement this week with Nanjing Darwingenetech Co Ltd (Darwin).
The two companies said they would jointly identify and enter into agreements with China based customers for Nucelis’ proprietary gene-editing and advanced fermentation expertise to improve fermentation yields and reduce costs.
Divestment to grow feed biz
Moving to Europe, specialty chemicals producer, Perstorp, said it has agreed to sell its caprolactone business, including the production site in Warrington, to Ingevity for approximately €590m.
The company said the divestment would enable it to focus on new opportunities and future growth prospects, with it flagging up its feed businesses as a particular target, in that respect, saying it could look to expand the markets for products within the animal nutrition area.
Vaccine development
Also this month, Phibro Animal Health announced it has acquired Israeli aquaculture vaccine developer, KoVax Ltd, for an undisclosed sum.
That company’s specialists have joined Phibro’s biological R&D team; the aligned experts will focus on developing a pipeline of innovative vaccines for the farmed fish sector.
The first commercial vaccine that Phibro will commercialize is KoVax's KV3 vaccine for the prevention of Koi Herpes Virus, a significant threat to carp farms.
Phibro Animal Health Corporation is a manufacturer of animal health and mineral nutrition products for livestock. The company said its farmed fish focused division, Phibro Aqua, has R&D facilities that include a large-scale wet lab for clinical evaluation of fish vaccines, medication and feed additives.
Chemical-based barcode for feed security
Staying in Israel, Security Matters reported that it has struck a deal with an Israeli animal feed producer for it to test run its technology.
That company's hidden chemical-based barcode can be used to permanently and irrevocably mark any object, be it solid, liquid or gas.
It has signed an agreement with Ambar, the largest producer of livestock feed in Israel.
Under the terms of the agreement, Security Matters said it would incorporate its technology, via a drop-in solution, without changing production methods and protocols, into Ambar’s produce during the production process.
“This enables authentication of the feed, counterfeit detection and enables high levels of quality assurance throughout the production process.
"The project is expected to begin shortly and is expected to be completed within three months of commencement.”
On completion, if it is deemed successful by both parties, Security Matters said it expects to sign a definitive agreement with commercial terms for ongoing supply of its technology.
