The modern desire of health-conscious people is functional food and eggs are considered as a complete food with most nutrients required for well-being. It is not uncommon to find “enriched” eggs in the market nowadays. We can get all sorts of enrichments in our eggs including low cholesterol eggs, vitamin enriched eggs, mineral enriched, omega 3 enriched eggs and many more types of enriched eggs for different purposes.
Omega 3 Enrichment of Eggs
The term “Omega 3” is not foreign to many of us. Omega 3 includes a range of fatty acids such as the three essential fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). ALA is mainly found in plants oils such as flaxseed, soybean, and canola oils. On the other hand, EPA and DHA are primarily found in fish and other seafoods. Although the body can convert some ALA to EPA then to DHA, the amounts converted are exceedingly small. Therefore, getting enough EPA and DHA from foods is a more practical way to increase bodily levels of these essential fatty acids. Omega-3 are important components of the membranes that surround each cell in our bodies and DHA levels are especially high in retina, brain, and sperm cells.
Why Supplement Omega 3
Besides producing omega 3 enriched eggs for health benefits of end consumers, omega 3 also benefit the health of production animals. Commercial layer feed usually contains ingredients that have higher omega 6 levels compared to omega 3 such as corn and soy-based diets. When animals have increased bodily omega 6 to omega 3 ratios, they tend to develop inflammation. When it comes to layers, oviduct inflammation is a silent killer when it comes to effecting production efficiency.
Oviduct inflammation is traditionally controlled by using antibiotics and have proven to be effective. However, with the increase in the antibiotic ban movement, many antibiotics have been banned and sub-clinical inflammation is less controlled disabling layers to be in their tip top production performance. Therefore, considering the antibiotic ban movement, fish oil is a good supplementation choice to reduce inflammation.
Lipotech Omega 3 VS Fish Oil
There is no doubt that omega 3s are good for the health of animals and end consumers; and fish oil is a good source of omega 3, however, there are various flaws to fish oil application in layer feed.
1. Oxidation of Oil
As seen in the figure above, although fish oil is a good source of omega 3, it oxidises readily. Traditional fish oil uses ethoxyquin as an additive to prevent rancidity or oxidation of oil. Ethoxyquin is a synthetic antioxidant used as a feed additive in fish meal, fats, vitamins, and premixes. However, ethoxyquin has been banned in the EU in 2017 because experts could not conclude on the safety of the additive for any targe animals, consumers and for the environment. In light of that, feed mills in Malaysia and Vietnam have also stopped using materials containing ethoxyquin.
Lipotech Omega 3 contains no harmful antioxidant additives. Instead, it retards lipid degradation and oxidation via microencapsulation.
2. Quality Consistency
Quality of raw fish oil and its fatty acid profile are not guaranteed to be the same for each batch because it is made with fish that may originate from a variety of sources and species. However, the fatty acid profile of Lipotech Omega 3 is consistent as we produce the product batch by batch and fatty acid profile of Lipotech Omega 3 is closely monitored before producing the end product. This ensures that producers get the desired essential fatty acid profile every single time to achieve the desired health and production benefits in their flock.
3. Eggshell Quality
High inclusion of fish oil interferes mineral metabolism especially in the retention and absorption of calcium due to the formation of insoluble soaps during the digestion process. This negatively affects the eggshell quality and the egg weight because calcium absorption is hindered.
Lipotech Omega 3 is made using microencapsulation technology therefore the formation of insoluble soap is greatly reduced. The emulsification and homogenisation of the product ensures that every oil particle is less than 5μm. This enhances the digestibility and absorption of essential fatty acids thus maintaining eggshell quality.
4. Sensory Quality
Producers are often troubled with the effects fish oils have on the sensory quality of the eggs. Fish oils supplementation often develops fishy odour in egg yolk deterring consumer preference. Eggs produced with Lipotech Omega 3 supplementation on the other hand does not have this problem.
5. Feed and Food Safety
There are possibilities that cheaper sources of fish oil are contaminated with heavy metals and this poses a threat to the feed and food safety chain. Lipotech Omega 3 have less contamination issues because it is made with deep sea fish sources from Peru and are meticulously tested for heavy metals.
6. Ease of application
Mixing oils in feed is known to cause uneven mixing and formation of clumps in feed. With Lipotech Omega 3, clumping problems are reduced because Lipotech Omega 3 comes in the form of micro-beadlets.
7. Win-Win: Achieve animal health and DHA enriched eggs
Lipotech Omega 3 acts as an emulsifier in the gut when ingested which improves the digestibility of fat in the basal diet. This causes less undigested fat to pass through to the hindgut and reducing the amount of bacterial lipopolysaccharide (causes chronic inflammation) in the hindgut producing healthier birds. Raw fish oil does not have emulsifying properties thus have no effects in improving the digestibility of fat in the basal diet.
Lipotech Omega 3 also ensures sufficient DHA supplementation to the birds allowing the production of DHA enriched eggs and not merely omega 3 while improving bird performance instead of sacrificing bird performance.
Choose Lipotech Omega 3 – A microencapsulated Omega 3 source high in EPA and DHA
Contact us for more information regarding Lipotech Omega 3.
By Kayla Wong, Technical Specialist, Manuka Biotech
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