7/10/02 (New Straits Times) - A local company has come up with theworld's first enzymatic treatment that permits palm kernel expeller to befed to chicken and fish.

Improser Group Sdn. Bhd's breakthrough means that Orgafeed can partlyreplace corn and soyabean meal, which constitute 99 per cent of theingredients in chicken and fish feed.

In future, the same technology can be adapted to produce similar feed forother animals like pigs.

Malaysia imports four million tonnes of animal feed ingredients annuallywhile it has two million tonnes of palm kernel expellers every year whichcan be used in animal feed, said company president and chief executiveofficer Henri Ten Have.

Palm kernel expeller, which contains many nutrients, is a waste product inthe palm kernel crushing process.

The technology that produced Orgafeed can be adapted to produce feed forother mono-gastric animals.

It was earlier used as cattle feed as cows have four-chamber stomachs.

Ten Have said the company's breakthrough allowed the fibre walls of palmkernel expellers to be broken down through a treatment process involving amixture of enzymes.

Orgafeed was launched at the Malaysian Agricultural, Horticultural andAgrotourism Show (MAHA) 2002 and Agritech Malaysia 2002.

Improser has teamed up with the Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA)to establish a manufacturing plant for Orgafeed at Pasir Gudang, Johor.

FELDA Improser Biopalm Feeds Sdn. Bhd. will be operational before HariRaya with a daily production of 125,000 kg, which is expected to increaseto 300,000 kg daily within six months.

When Orgafeed becomes available in commercial quantities in January, itwill mark the first success of a RM20 million investment spanningfour-and-a-half years.

Ten Have said Orgafeed could help produce superior-quality chicken meatdue to the enzymatic treatment which releases sugar within palm kernelexpellers. Mannose is the most beneficial type of sugar, it is the onlynatural gut-modulating agent, and serves as a natural antibiotic.