Novus celebrated 30 years of supporting animal protein producers globally who are working to feed the world. In 1991, Novus International, Inc. was founded with a mission “to make a clear difference in sustainability meeting the growing global need for nutrition and health.”
Looking back at the last three decades, Novus President and CEO Dan Meagher said the company has always endeavored to offer solutions for the industry’s biggest challenges. “Achieving performance and profit goals while optimizing animal health are challenges for every producer regardless of operation size,” Meagher said. “There are many purposes for feed additives. For us, the purpose is to ensure the nutrients in raw feed are available to the animal, support the animal’s gut health to optimize the nutrition it receives from the feed and provide the animal with what it can’t get from raw feed materials to better prepare it for the health challenges it may encounter during its life. Regardless of the products we’ve offered over the years, focus on these objectives is how Novus helps its customers globally.”
Novus’s foundation began with methionine. In a joint partnership established in 1991, Mitsui & Co., Ltd., and Nippon Soda Co., Ltd., acquired the rights to ALIMET® feed supplement and SANTOQUIN® feed preservative, creating the company with a source of methionine as its flagship product. From there, other methionine solutions were added to the portfolio.
Novus’s next innovation was the MINTREX® trace minerals line, which includes organic sources of zinc, copper and manganese bonded to the HMTBa (hydroxy methionine analog) molecule allowing for better absorption and mineral availability. ACIDOMATRIX™ feed additive and ACTIVATE® nutritional feed acid, both offering combinations of organic acids and HMTBa, were created for the eubiotics portfolio. Other organic acids, essential oils and the CIBENZA® enzyme platform were added, as were pigment and feed quality products before being sold to EW Nutrition earlier this year. The sale was part of a re-focusing currently underway for the company: its Project Destiny strategic business transformation, which includes the goal of becoming the industry’s go-to source for gut health nutrition solutions.
As part of the renewed focus on innovation, Novus announced its partnership with biotechnology company Agrivida Inc. to develop an innovation pipeline of products using INTERIUS™ Technology, the first in-grain-based feed additive platform commercially available to animal nutritionists and feed formulators. Novus is also working to commercialize the flagship product GRAINZYME® PHOS phytase which uses the technology to produce the enzyme inside corn kernels, thus eliminating processes and costs in feed production.
What will the next 30 years look like? Meagher said Project Destiny is paving the way for a Novus known more for its partnerships with customers than its product line. “There’s no question that our solutions – methionine, minerals, enzymes, organic acids, essential oils – can help our customers with their operations but we want to be more than that. Our goal is for customers to look at Novus as a trusted advisor that is going to help make their business more sustainable financially and environmentally.”
