Banham Poultry and Akeso Biomedical Partner to Reduce Foodborne Illness Due to Campylobacter
Banham Poultry and Akeso Biomedical recently announced a partnership focused on controlling Campylobacter infection of chickens. The partnership will seek to significantly reduce the levels of Campylobacter in chickens raised on the farm as part of an integrated approach.
The partnership will aim to develop a feed additive for poultry using Akeso’s Fe3C technology to reduce Campylobacter levels. The Fe3C technology was discovered at the University of Nottingham by Dr. Mahdavi, and Professors Soultanas and Ala’Aldeen, and prevents the binding of Campylobacter to the chicken’s GI tract and subsequent infection.
“We are delighted to partner with Banham Poultry to develop our Fe3C technology for the reduction of Campylobacter in poultry,’ says Dr. Simon Williams, CEO. “The Fe3C technology shows significant promise for the reduction of Campylobacter, and becoming an important component of an integrated approach.”
Initial trials with the feed additives began in April. In preliminary studies, TYPLEX™ and Q-PLEX™ feed additives both dramatically reduced infection levels in chicken. Furthermore, these additives also provided improvements in feed conversion ratio. Further studies are expected later in the year. As part of the development process it is anticipated that Banham Poultry will evaluate the feed additives in commercial trials.
Lars Brattinga, general manager of agriculture at Banham Poultry says: “This is a really exciting project for the industry. To reduce levels of Campylobacter, we need to take action throughout the supply chain. We still don’t know the source of Campylobacter, which is what makes it so difficult to control. This feed additive could give us the tool we need to combat this bug”.
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