The Poultry Site’s Sarah Mikesell spoke to Michael Pierri, technical project manager at Amlan International, at the Richard M. Jaffee Center for Applied Microbiology Laboratory near Chicago.

Tell me about NeutraPath’s functional ingredients and how they work.

NeutraPath® is a natural antimicrobial solution designed to improve production efficiency in poultry. It’s a synergistic blend of antimicrobial essential oils, medium chain fatty acids and Amlan’s own selectively sourced enterosorbent mineral, designed specifically to improve feed efficiency and intestinal health in poultry. NeutraPath uses several modes of actions to target pathogens and their toxins to provide equivalent performance to industry standard antibiotics.

NeutraPath’s synergistic blend has been thoroughly validated by several third-party contract research trials, consistently showing reduced pathogenic colonization within the intestinal tract. This protects animals from dangerous pathogens such as Salmonella species or Clostridium perfringens.

The backbone of NeutraPath is our natural enterosorbent mineral. This mineral will rapidly bind with bacteria. Our synergistic blend of ingredients then breaks down the bound organism. Unlike industry standard antibiotics, the binding affinity of NeutraPath allows for any extra endotoxins or exotoxins from the broken-down cells to be moved out of the intestinal tract, protecting the animal and the bottom line of producers.

How strong is NeutraPath's binding capability?

We set up a demonstration to show the effectiveness of NeutraPath in a controlled environment. With the help of Dr. Dongping Wang, senior research scientist at Amlan, we want to visually show the efficacy of NeutraPath.

Pyocyanin is a toxin released by a common poultry pathogen. In a liquid solution, it appears bright blue. When this toxin is ingested into the gut, it causes damage to the animal's intestinal health and their liver, reducing production efficiency.

Today, we're going to show the binding affinity of NeutraPath in a controlled environment. When we add a small amount of NeutraPath to the blue liquid vial with pyocyanin and mix it, the binding occurs rapidly. Once the vial settles, it becomes clear indicating the toxin has completely bound to the mineral.

When you consider poultry feed, there are many different toxins, pesticides, heavy metals - things you don't want the animal ingesting. By adding our sorbent mineral, you are protecting the gut health of the animal.

To learn more about Amlan and NeutraPath, visit amlan.com.