CHIGACO, Ill. — Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) Company’s Animal Nutrition division opened a new Animal Nutrition Technology Center in Decatur, Illinois on Dec. 5.
The facility builds upon ADM’s goal of creating innovation in animal nutrition, offering capabilities to enhance customer collaboration and develop nutrition solutions.
“The Animal Nutrition Technology Center was built as a result of ADM’s commitment to research and growth in the animal nutrition space,” said Ryan Lane, president of ADM Animal Nutrition, North America. “We recognize collaboration is the cornerstone of successful customer relationships and developed the center with this in mind. We’re proud to showcase our expertise and further enhance our capabilities with this facility serving as a global hub for research and development.”
The technology center is designed with a focus on ingredient and nutritional solutions development for pet foods, pet treats and aquaculture feeds. The center includes:
- A pilot extrusion facility with the ability to run multiple small batches in a single day to assess ingredient functionality in extrusion for use in pet foods/treats and aquaculture feeds.
- A pet food culinary kitchen, providing an experience for customers to aid in product development and product performance evaluations.
- A feed evaluation laboratory with specialized screening, including in vitro and simulated digestion analyses.
- An enzyme analysis laboratory to support the development of novel feed enzymes.
“Over the past five years, ADM has significantly expanded its animal nutrition capabilities to meet increased customer demands for comprehensive research and accelerated speed-to-market,” Lane said. “This facility allows us to work with customers to create solutions that meet the changing needs of consumers, all under one roof.”
Some of those expansions include ADM’s recent acquisition of Neovia, a value-added solutions for production and companion animals, as well as its acquisition of pet food manufacturer Crosswind Industries in 2017.
In 2018, ADM opened a 284,000-sq.-ft. premix blending factory in Effingham, Illinois for finished pet food and treat products, as well as livestock feed and other specialty products.
ADM opened two new feed mills in 2019: one in Vietnam and another in Quincy, Illinois. The company has also made renovations to its specialty animal nutrition plants in the US and China.
Read more about pet food processing operations on our Operations page.
