The Horse:Your Guide To Equine Health Care provides monthly equine health care information to horse owners, breeders, veterinarians, barn/farm managers, trainer/riding instructors, and others involved in the hands-on care of the horse.
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46 TheHorse.com THE HORSE March 2018 fiber, moisture, etc., levels in the grain. Throughout the manufacturing process the feed mill's quality assurance proce- dures help maintain the feed's quality. Lattimer says the staff might discard feed if, upon visual inspection, they find foreign material in it, such as unwanted stalks, cobs, husks, or even pests. Lattimer says some manufacturers use magnets as a quality control measure to ensure random metal pieces from harvesting and other equipment don't make it into feeds. They'll also perform additional testing to ensure feeds meet the standards set on the labels' guaran- teed analyses. One of the biggest concerns for horse owners is ensuring their horse feed does not contain monensin. Manufacturers sometimes add this antibiotic to rumi- nant, swine, and poultry feed, but it is toxic to horses. While large feed manu- facturers might have mills dedicated to medication-free feed production, "many mills don't have that luxury," says Lat- timer. "So they have to do things to help ensure monensin-free feed. One is proper cleanout of their systems. Two is what we call sequencing." With sequencing, the mill produces a nonmedicated nonhorse feed between batches of medicated feed and horse feed to flush out the manufacturing line. "I would never make a horse feed directly behind or after a monensin- containing calf feed," he says. The Manufacturing Process Certain ingredients might undergo further processing using a variety of methods to create smaller particle sizes or pellets. The purpose is to improve the ingredients' digestibility. The most common types of processing include the following: Pelleting involves heat and steam as the already-mixed ingredients are forced through a die with hundreds of small holes to create cylindrical pellets. The pellets are then cooled and dried before bagging and storage. Steam flaking involves exposing the NUTRITION Ensuring Equine Supplement Quality The equine nutritional supplement industry is big business. You can find supplements for hair, coat, hooves, performance, temperament, transportation, and much more. Bill Bookout, BS, MBA, president of the National Animal Supplement Council (NASC), says there's a bit of a misconception that the animal supplement industry is not as well- regulated as its feed industry counterpart. The Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Center for Veterinary Medicine regulates animal supplements at the state and federal level. Additionally, a manufacturer can choose to have its supple- ments regulated by the NASC. To join NASC a company must qualify for membership and agree to follow NASC compliance requirements and current good manufacturing practices (cGMPs), which are similar to those required for human dietary supplements and include Food Safety Modernization Act requirements. Bookout says the organization represents more than 90% of the industry's supplement manufac- turers and works closely with the FDA, individual states, and the American Association of Feed Control Officials. He says it's up to the supplement manufacturer to ensure they are getting quality ingredients, either through the company's own vendor qualification program or through the NASC's Preferred Supplier Quali- fication Program, which approves raw material suppliers, manufactur- ers, and testing labs for the animal industry. "There is absolutely no substitute for verifying the quality in the supply chain," says Bookout. When a company purchases a large amount of raw material to pro- duce a supplement, it should receive with it a certificate of analysis providing information about the material's quality, potency, strength, purity, and composition. However, Bookout says the supplement manufacturer should verify that information independently through its own testing programs. To produce a consistent, high-quality product, he recommends the manufacturer use a well-documented production process with standard operating procedures that meet the industry's cGMPs. Bookout advises consumers look for or ask the following questions when choosing a supplement: 1. Is the product formulated by professionals who have expertise in formulating supplements or animal food? What are their qualifica- tions and background? 2. Who can you call if you have questions or need expert advice? 3. What cGMPs and standards does the company follow? 4. What are its testing and quality standards? 5. Have the company's products been independently tested by a reli- able analytical laboratory? 6. Is the company a member of the NASC, and has it passed an NASC quality audit or been independently audited by a third party? 7. Does the supplement have the NASC Quality Seal? To display this seal on its products, a company must pass NASC's on-site quality audit, says Bookout, and maintain ongoing compliance with NASC's stringent requirements. Never buy a product without a lot number, says Bookout. He emphasizes that companies making claims that sound too good to be true probably are, and cheap products are usually cheap for a reason.—Sarah Evers Conrad To maximize digestibility, many ingredients undergo processing such as pelleting (left) or steam flak- ing (right), before being added to a mix. PAM MACKENZIE PHOTOS