Trouw Nutrition’s Masterlab gets accreditation for NIR

NIR is considered as a rapid and inexpensive test method for the composition of feed ingredients. This accreditation reduces the importance of traditional wet chemistry analysis, given the fact that the same level of accuracy can be achieved in less time and at lower costs. MasterLab’s NIR network is one of the biggest in the world. Its database contains data collected over more than two decades of all types of feed and feed raw materials worldwide.

This accreditation is of substantial value for the animal nutrition industry. Nutritional parameters of raw materials are of critical importance for compound feed producers, integrators and home mixers. The exact composition of feed ingredients is determinative for which feed additives need to be added to optimise feed performance and digestibility. Remote NIR application gives results within minutes, whereas traditional proximate analyses take up to several days.

The ISO 17025 accreditation was awarded by the Dutch Accreditation Council, a public and independent authority. The scope of accreditation includes the analysis of moisture, crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, starch and sugars. Equivalence has been demonstrated in relation to NEN-EN-ISO 12099, which provides guidelines for the application of near-infrared spectrometry in animal feedingstuffs, cereals and milled cereal products.