Growth and opportunity for Poland’s feed industry

With new opportunities come new requirements. The European Union has a strict set of regulations affecting the feed industry. Poland’s feed industry will need to abide by these regulations in order to capture the opportunity for continued future growth in production and turnover. These stricter regulation requirements and the continuing volatility of commodity prices is putting a pressure on the feed industry to have plants run with lower operational costs and less down time.

Partnerships essential
For feed companies to survive partnerships are key success factors. Such a partnership was exhibited between the company Cedrob and Buhler this year. Buhler worked together with Cedrob to create a complete process design package and equipment for the production of 35-60 tonnes per hour of 3.5 mm pellet poultry feed. Cedrob is an integrator with its own modern poultry processing plant and therefore the solution presented to Cedrob needed to ensure safe feed would be produced ensuring safe poultry for the consumer. In particular, the Hysys compacting and pelleting system from Buhler will certify safe feed production due to its steel construction. The “first in-first out” principle guarantees identical retention time for each product batch, and the high-temperature heating of the product to 95ºC kills micro-organisms and Salmonella. This together with a new intelligent mixing and grinding system requiring less electrical energy brought a product which is highly successful in the market. The feed can be made into mash, pellets or crumbles. The just-in-time-principle is used to supply the farmers, which requires relative little storage capacity for complete feeds. Through computer planning and a satellite connection all trucks can be followed on-route, which reduces delivery times. The flexibility, capacity and operation efficiency were also needs of the customer addressed by the customised solution developed by Buhler.

Quality and safety
Cedrob Feed selected Buhler for building their new plant. An extremely important and innovative solution to Cedrob was the implementation of the thermal treatment system to produce feed mixtures with minimal or no presence of bacteria, including Salmonellas and fungi. In addition to technology Cedrob Feed puts great emphasis on the quality of the raw materials. Samples of raw materials are collected automatically. These are tested for moisture, protein, fat, ash and crude fibre. Also weed seeds and insects in cereals and other grains are determined. In addition, the laboratory is also examining the quality of fats, and the chloride content in the raw materials as well as in the final feeds. Raw materials that do not meet the strict quality rules are returned to the manufacturer. At each stage in the feed production the principles of good manufacturing practice – GMP and good hygiene practices – GHP and HACCP principles are obtained. The Quality Management System is implemented in accordance with the requirements of ISO 9001: 2000, which is continuously improved during production. In addition, the feed labels are under constant supervision of the District veterinarian.

Another new plant planned
Cedrob intends to build a new production complex on a site in the town of Raciaz in Mazowieckie province. The undertaking will require an estimated capital expenditure of 80 million zloty (€17.6m). The feed plant will operate on an approximately 5 ha plot and the investor is hoping to have the real estate incorporated into the Lodz Special Economic Zone. The new factory will create around 50 jobs.