What is Encapsulation?

Encapsulation is used within medical and veterinary drug manufacture as a method of enclosing the active components of drugs within a shell like outer protective coating.  Encapsulation is a valuable technology developed 50 years ago, which has improved the delivery of both veterinary and medical drugs.

The reason for this being done is that it protects the active ingredients of the product especially during the low pH acidic conditions of the stomach.  Some drugs are chemically susceptible to these acidic conditions and need to safely bypass the stomach and reach into the milder pH conditions of the lower intestine where they can be absorbed into the body. Multilayered encapsulation technology can also provide long term release of a drug with outer protective coatings of different porosities so that rather than the drug being released in one dosage, it can be spread over a period of hours to deliver a smoother remedial action. The technologies involved in the process of encapsulation can be closely guarded and protected by their owners or licence holders with protected patents and intellectual property law. These processing technologies need to mobilise the active ingredients of the product into small amounts by the use of heat or mechanical agitation which uses complex specific engineering equipment. As a result of this specific technology, encapsulation is an expensive operation.

Natural versus Synthetic

We are progressively turning back to the benefits of nature’s bounty, not just in Europe but elsewhere in the world. Natural products such as agricultural growth promoters no longer have the attached stigma of being seen to be an alternative last resort option, but are widely used as a preferred first choice for animal health. Bacterial resistance to antibiotics continues to be a growing problem globally, as the interface between zoonotic disease and epidemiology causes real concern for international government policy.  Good quality natural feed additive products offer a practical solution to a problem that needs worldwide attention.

Many different biochemical molecules such as amino acids, sugars and enzymes are constructed of the same bonded atoms in the same pattern but are in mirror image of each other. Animals’ sense of taste and smell may respond only to one, but not the other molecule. Synthetic products are never able to imitate the natural compounds version of the same stereoisomer.  Consequently, smells and flavours of imitation products may be completely different to the original natural and need to be masked. This is the genuine reason for the use of encapsulation technology in animal feed additives, rather than making claims about concentration and prevention of flavour and ingredient losses during feed manufacture, extrusion and storage.  Intermediary synthetic reagents in synthetic products such as p-cresols and AlCl3 are known to be toxic.  Even the latest procedures for the synthesis of phenols don’t avoid the use of toxic reagents such as compounds containing ferum, aluminium or ruthenium.

Orego-Stim is proudly a natural product from Meriden Animal Health Limited with quality control measures to guarantee conformity to standard regulation for the compositional active ingredients. Orego-Stim is a natural compound and also contains natural bioflavonoids so it would be ridiculous to mask this natural benefit by encapsulation. Orego-Stim is a non-encapsulated product with an appealing flavour to animals such as pigs which have a well developed olfactory-glossopharyngeal response. This acts to stimulate appetite and increase the production of saliva and digestive enzymes, improving both feed intake and digestion. Orego-Stim does not specifically act on one region of the intestinal tract, but can convey protection along the whole length of the intestines. A good example are various parasitic species of Eimeria which can induce necrotic enteritis in chickens, each species is preferentially located in one specific region of the gastrointestinal tract. Orego-Stim is not absorbed through the intestines so it can focus it’s unique mode of action on the entire length of the gastro-intestinal tract. Most importantly, Orego-Stim is tolerant to the high temperatures in feed mill technology without any loss in efficacy.

Conclusion

Although encapsulation technology has its advantages for medical and veterinary drugs, it is not necessarily a beneficial inclusion for the manufacture of 100% natural feed additives for the reasons described in this article.

 

For further information on the use of non-encapsulated 100% natural feed additives for the promotion of animal health, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

 

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