SANFEED - Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feeding

Host Institutions

SANFEED establishes a unique collaboration between three exceptionally strong R&D institutions of international excellence in the University of Porto, UP (ICBAS, CIMAR & REQUIMTE), and ten highly selected industrial partners with strong R&D activity (AGROS, ALGAplus, Alltechaditivos, CAVC, Winsium, Premix, Sea8, Sense Test, Soja de Portugal & SPAROS).

SANFEED is spread across several academic and research departments and companies, combining highly qualified staff members (PhD holders in most industrial partners) from the fields of Animal Nutrition and Animal Production, Health and Welfare, Environment, Food Processing and Quality Control, supported by dedicated administrative and financial teams. UP is ranked among the 100 best universities in Europe, being one of the largest education and research institutions in Portugal (6500 postgraduates). UP hosts the most productive and internationally renowned R&D centres that produce 23% of the Portuguese indexed articles. UP has a longstanding tradition in producing top-class graduates and an excellent track record in research supervision, being able to synergize resources and develop effective cooperation with industrial partners as proven by contract agreements, project partnerships, co-supervised thesis and co-authorship frequently cited publications.

• 

  ICBAS (Abel Salazar Institute for Biomedical Sciences) is the organic branch of UP hosting the doctoral programme in ANIMAL SCIENCE and ensuring the administrative coordination of SANFEED. ICBAS scientific spheres comprise Fundamental and Applied Biology in the fields of Animal Production, Food processing and Quality Control, Health and Environment.

• 

  CIMAR is an Associate Laboratory hosting two research centres (CIIMAR in the University of Porto and CCMAR in the University of Algarve). CIIMAR mission is to develop exceptional interdisciplinary research, promote technological development and support public policies in the area of Marine & Environmental Sciences. Research lines include Biodiversity and Management of Aquatic Ecosystems; Marine Biology and Biotechnology; and Aquaculture. In the last 5-years, CIIMAR generated >1000 articles in SCI journals.

• 

  REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia) is a research Centre of Excellence in Green Chemistry, hosting two research units LAQV and UCIBIO. Research is focused on novel compounds from renewable sources, food quality and safety, analytical control and process automation, clean chemical processes, chemical biology, bioengineering, and animal nutrition.

Industrial Partners

Industrial partners include major stakeholders in the animal nutrition/production in Portugal.

• 

  AGROS (União das Cooperativas de Produtores de leite de Entre Douro e Minho e Trás-os-Montes UCRL) is responsible for 40% of the milk produced in mainland Portugal. It is a company leading the Agricultural Cooperative Movement to design and contribute to an economic, social and cultural, more balanced and sustainable development.

• 

  ALGAplus (Produção e Comercialização de Algas e Seus Derivados, Lda) is a highly qualified SME (PhD holders) focused in the transference of academic knowledge into business. It produces and trades seaweed and derived products for the food/feed and well-being markets. ALGAplus has experience and interest in R&D activities that optimize processes and develops new seaweed-based products.

• 

  Alltech is a global animal health and nutrition company that provides natural, nutritional solutions to the food and feed industries. Our core mission is to improve animal health and performance by adding nutritional value to feed, naturally, through Alltech’s innovative use of yeast fermentation, enzyme technology, algae and nutrigenomics.

• 

  CAVC (Cooperativa Agrícola de Vila do Conde CRL), PME Leader in 2013/2014 is a certified Cooperative that provides support services on animal nutrition. In 2013, it collected 10% of mainland Portuguese milk and produced ca. 33 thousand ton of raw-material mixtures/concentrate feeds for dairy cattle.

• 

  Winsium, leading company in premix industry for animal feed that provides technical and analytical support to their clients in order to generate added value in animal production. Integrates the InVivo NSA Group that is among the world leaders in the sector, and works in 5 main activities: complete feed, firm-services and premixes, animal health, additives, and analysis laboratories.

• 

  Premix Lda. (Especialidades Agrícolas e Pecuárias Lda.) is a 'premixer SME' focused since its start in the formulation and consultancy towards a sustainable feeding supported by the permanent adaptation and application of research innovations, namely the ideal feeding/growing approach and optimization of protein deposition. New compositions are regularly launched and the results monitored through performance and sustainability, or, in other words, in what concerns environmental protection (air-land-water), a key aspect nowadays.

• 

  Sea8 is a major Portuguese producer of flatfish species with extensive R&D activity on recirculation systems and developing new solutions for aquaculture. The raw materials’ international market implies a continuous fine-tuning of feed components to assure cost-effective and high quality diets for each animal species.

• 

  Sense Test (Sociedade de Estudos de Análise Sensorial a Produtos Alimentares, Lda) is the first Portuguese company devoted exclusively to sensory analysis supporting areas of production, development and retail, providing answers for the innumerable questions particularly posed by the food sector.

• 

  Soja de Portugal - S.G.P.S, S.A. operates in the food industry sector and encompasses some important agro-industries brands in Portugal: Sojagado, Pronutri, Pet's Best, Aquasoja, Savinor and Avicasal. Soja de Portugal is focused in five areas: compound feeds for poultry and farm animals, compound feeds for aquaculture, dry food for dogs and cats, broilers meat, collection, treatment and recovery of animal by-products.

• 

  SPAROS Lda. (Nutrition in Aquaculture), a "start-up" of CCMAR / University of Algarve, is devoted to innovate in the development of new products and processes for fish feeding and nutrition. It offers the alliance of a strong scientific background in the areas of fish nutrition and aquaculture, with a flexible pilot-scale feed technology platform. SPAROS has extensive experience in R&D projects at national and European level, focusing on adding-value and/or transfer of knowledge to the aquaculture and feed industries.

• 

  AllmicroalgaeAllmicroalgae is a company aiming to understand the benefits of microalgae on a big scale - for food, feed and beyond. The microalgae farm in Leiria, Portugal, is set next to natural pine forests and basks in abundant natural sunlight - the perfect setting to grow pure, clean microalgae. Their main mission is to make nutritious and sustainable microalgae accessible to all.

All SANFEED members have participated in R&D projects funding in national (FCT, QREN) and international (EU-CRAFT, FP7 framework) programs and will assure top-class host conditions for PhD students.