Foss has announced and sponsored a new website for the feed industry called nirperformance.com, a place for near infrared, NIR, analysis experts and feed industry professionals to come together to discover more about NIR analysis and its potential in the feed industry without directly pushing branded products and services.
The goal, according to Foss, is to produce objective advice and opinions, and to give industry professionals more insight into the use of NIR in the feed industry. It features contributors, partners and industry professionals sharing their input and engaging in an active, industry-specific community.
The site has two main sections: shared perspectives and resources. "Shared perspectives" is an online "event" where selected industry professionals offer their thoughts on a technical or business challenge within NIR and feed. Each event has several participants representing different technology and feed industry disciplines with different angles on the challenge. It aims to be a valuable industry resource that helps to promote new technology development. Comments can be provided and a related nirperformance LinkedIn discussion group and Twitter news feed extend the sites across search and social channels.
"Resources" is a library for diverse NIR-related material including articles, white papers and video interviews, structured under four categories: Calibration, Production Control, Technology and Application. Material can be downloaded and comments can be shared. Visitors can also submit relevant and non-promotional material to share on the site.
The site already includes a number of articles and interviews and the first shared perspectives topic-whether routine analysis of enzyme substrates is viable and how it could reduce feed production costs-is ready for visitors to explore.
The feed industry has a vital role to play in making food production more effective, according to Foss. The supply of animal feed can have a significant effect on the cost of food. At the same time, the feed supply is prey to natural events such as the recent drought in North America, creating a significant ripple effect in the food supply. Routine analysis with NIR has become commonplace as a tool for improving feed production; for example, for checking protein content of raw materials for optimal feed formulation. Experts broadly agree, however, that routine analysis with NIR technology has a far greater potential to improve the output of affordable feed and food.
