Friday, March 29, 2024

Global nutrition firm presses for progress

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A nutrition firm wanting to sell a methane-busting feed additive in New Zealand says authorities must act with utmost urgency to approve the product. Global company Royal DSM says its 3NOP feed additive will cut methane emissions by about 30%. 
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Just a quarter teaspoon of the additive per cow suppresses the enzyme that triggers methane production in a cow’s stomach. The effect is immediate, 26 peer-reviewed studies confirmed, it says

DSM boss Christoph Goppelsroeder visited NZ in July to speak to Climate Change Minister James Shaw and others.

He was aware his visit coincided with debate about new climate change legislation.

“Entering NZ when all this discussion about climate change and Zero Carbon Bill is going on, we are surprised that people are saying there is no solution to methane emissions.”

The company had been talking to politicians, farmer groups and meat processors about the science behind 3NOP but also acting on a problem with the regulatory approval system.

DSM is seeking European Union approval for the methane inhibitor and wants NZ to follow suit.

This country appears to have no ready-made regulatory framework for approving such a product, despite national interest in greenhouse gas emissions, Goppelsroeder said.

For about 15 years the EU has assessed products like 3NOP under a category of environmental performance. 

“In NZ that is not the case. There is a bit of an emptiness there for products that have that kind of benefit.”

It is important the Ministry for Primary Industries assesses 3NOP with utmost urgency, Goppelsroeder said.

“That is obviously a huge bottleneck in making headway. 

“And making headway, we think, is especially necessary, both from a consumer point of view and now with the Zero Carbon Bill here.”

Approving the product won’t be radical, Goppelsroeder said. 

“In Europe they introduced it in a way that said ‘it’s just a feed additive with a different benefit’. It’s not a nutritional benefit, it’s an environmental benefit. So it’s not a revolution, it’s more of an evolution.”

NZ dairy companies could make a mark for themselves as suppliers of milk with a low greenhouse gas footprint, Goppelsroeder said.

“At the moment NZ has a favourable environmental footprint and therefore a competitive advantage. But if we go forward, in Europe, where we launched the regulatory filing, we would expect approval towards the end of the next year. We don’t want to see NZ fall behind and lose that competitive advantage.”

When DSM entered the NZ nutrition products market three years ago people immediately asked how well a methane inhibitor would work in grass-based, outdoor dairy systems. 

Cows in Europe and elsewhere are mainly barn-fed so farmers can continuously feed additives. 

“It would work with grass but the point would be, how continuously could it be fed?”

Over the past 18 months DSM had been working with NZ partners on a solution, feeding slow-release 3NOP pellets at milking time.

That product, which is still being tested, will be active in the rumen for six to eight hours.

The technology worked well in recent testing and DSM is working on a second generation prototype.

Goppelsroeder is aware NZ has experience of inhibitor products, like Ravensdown’s Eco-n, being withdraw from sale for regulatory reasons. 

DSM found no 3NOP residues in milk in any of its commercial trials. 

“The mechanism of this compound, it basically doesn’t touch the cow. It touches one bug in the cow which is actually the last step in methane-creation. As soon as you stop feeding 3NOP the cow goes into its original state.”

The product is just as safe for cows and consumers as any other approved product, Goppelsroeder said.

MPI disputes the claim there is a bottleneck to registration, however.

A spokesman said that 3-NOP could already be used as a feed additive (as the method of delivery) for the purposes of improving milk production in dairy cows if DSM wished to market the product based on such a claim.  

“Such a use would require registration under Agricultural Compounds and Veterinary Medicines (ACVM) Act but DSM wants to register it under a different category (an environmental inhibitor) that does not currently fall within the scope of the ACVM Act.”

Trade name product registration under the ACVM Act can afford up to 10 years of data protection, but as environmental inhibitors aren’t currently within scope of the Act, they’re not eligible for this, MPI said.

“It’s DSM’s decision whether or not they enter the New Zealand market at this time. They haven’t applied to MPI for registration of 3-NOP under the ACVM Act, so we don’t have anything to register yet.

“MPI welcomes the effective development and use of emerging technologies to reduce agricultural emissions.  “We’re a food producing nation and when New Zealand’s reputation is at stake we have to follow a careful and robust regulatory process, backed up by solid scientific data. This has been explained to DSM.”

MPI is actively considering how to effectively and efficiently manage products like 3-NOP as environmental inhibitors. 

“A range of important factors need to be considered, such as their level of risk particularly in relation to trade and residues. 

“We will be engaging closely with industry and other key stakeholders in the near future as we continue our inhibitors work.”

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