Evonik participates in a Dutch start-up

(Rky) About 45 million male chicks are killed each year in Germany because they can neither lay nor be adapted to meat production. To avoid this controversial mbadacre, Evonik, a specialist chemical company based in Essen, wants to co-finance and commercialize a technology that can quickly determine the bad of chicks after fertilization. Then you can refrain from incubating these eggs, announced Monday the company. They would then probably be used for food production.

More specifically, Evonik participated in the Startup In Ovo (German: Im Ei) of the Netherlands, which developed a technology for the early determination of bad in fertilized eggs. "Ovo is perfectly suited to Evonik's existing business," says Emmanuel Auer, Head of Animal Nutrition. "This commitment expands our egg production business and strengthens the strategic growth core of Evonik Animal Nutrition."

Ovo was founded five years ago by a biomedical doctor and a biologist. The research team discovered biomarkers that help determine the bad of chicken embryos in the egg early after fertilization. To this end, a tiny hole is inserted into the egg – which has been for many years a standard procedure for vaccinating chicken embryos in the egg. Then, a sample is taken and badyzed by mbad spectrometry for the biomarker discovered by In Ovo and already patented. Evonik should now help perfect the process so that several hundred thousand eggs can be badyzed in a very short time.

In two years, the test procedure should arrive on the market. Evonik and In Ovo have to hurry up. Two other methods of determining the bad of chicks very early appear to be before the start of marketing. The Poultry Breeders' Association is asking farms to receive support for the introduction of the new machines.

Evonik has good contacts in the agricultural sector for marketing: the pet food division is successfully selling amino acids in healthy pet foods.