To face growing market demand for the premium protected live yeasts Levucell SC Titan and Levucell SB Tittan, Lallemand Animal Nutrition is expending the production capacity of its dedicated yeast production plant in Józefów, Poland. Major investments have been made to double both yeast drying and micro-encapsulation capacities. Titan is a patented live yeast protection technology specifically designed for pelleted feed applications. TITAN yeast production capacity is expected to double by the end of 2019.
Yannig Le Treut, General Manager for Lallemand Animal Nutrition commented: “This represents one of our major investments in production facilities of the past decade. Since the launch of the TITAN technology 10 years ago, we have seen a tremendous growth in the demand. We used to produce all our live yeast products in one plant.
He added: "Then, we extended this production to five yeast plants in Canada, South Africa and Europe, including two European facilities dedicated to Titan microencapsulation. Today, Titan forms of our live yeast products represent much more than 50% of the total supply. This growing demand has been fueled by an increase in pelleted feed production, even in markets where mash feed was traditionally the main feed form. Moreover, as the pelleting processes are becoming increasingly stringent to answer feed quality and safety standards, it is a real challenge for heat sensitive feed additives. Feed producers and premixers need stable probiotics that can withstand such pelleting processes and remain stable during storage. We are committed to offering the market the best yeast product”.
Jean-François Hupé, R&D Manager, Product and Process Development, explained: “Titan includes a patented yeast microencapsulation technology, but Titan is not only about coating. The development of this technology is a truly integrated approach. We optimized both the fermentation and drying conditions and each downstream processing step to ensure optimal resistance and viability of the live yeast in customer applications. We invested in each step of the production process, from fermentation to packaging.”