Trouw Nutrition’s Highland, Illinois premix manufacturing facility took gold in the American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) Feed Facility of the Year program in the premix manufacturing plant category. In Highland, Trouw employs 29 people full-time, who produce more than 550 different custom formulas for companion animals from a mixture of over 500 ingredients.

Trouw has manufactured premixes for companion animals for more than 35 years, with products ranging from fine-powdered to dry, whole-fruit, trail mix to whole fruits and vegetables. It produces, vitamin, mineral and base premixes to support pet nutrition.

“The pet food industry is a very confidential business and very competitive. Required are a lot more layers of validating and testing,” said Monty Barker, plant manager. “We have to make it baby food safe.”

Other winners include Famo Feed in the commercial dry feed category, Koch Foods in the integrator category and Quality Liquid Feeds in the liquid feed category. The overall winner will be announced at International Production & Processing Expo during AFIA’s Feed Production Education Program Feb. 12-14.

“Each of these facilities has shown it is very deserving of being considered a top plant in its respective category in the 2018 Feed Facility of the Year program,” said Gary Huddleston, director of feed manufacturing and regulatory affairs for AFIA.

The Feed Facility of the Year award program is considered a valuable benchmarking program for animal food manufacturers. The program recognized 71 companies in animal food manufacturing to determine each of the four category winners. Read more about the other category winners.

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