Egg Industry - August 2009

Finding the right future in knowledge and technology Qa:

Dr. T. Pearse Lyons obtained his un- dergraduate degree from the National University of Ireland in Dublin followed by master’s and doctoral degrees in biotechnology from the University of Birmingham. He is the recipient of a number of awards for promoting education, exports and for philanthropy.

Egg Industry: Alltech is one of the top-ten ranked animal health companies in the world. Please outline for our readers some of the signi;cant achievements of your company during the past

ten years.

Dr. T. Pearse Lyons, president of Alltech, discusses the achievements of his company and how technology will help incorporate growth.

EI: Please share with us your vision regarding the future impact of non-antibiotic Consumer Acceptable Production Enhancers [CAPES] derived from advanced fermentation technology.

TPL: Traceability and food safety are critical regulatory and consumer concerns and will drive our industry in the future. The key question concerns the role of antibiotics? I do not want to get into the scienti;c validity of whether the use of antibiotics is right or wrong. The fact of the matter is that this is not an issue that the feed industry should be addressing. It is the responsibility of the manufactures of antibiotics. If the consumer decides that they don’t want antibiotics used in the production of

their food, then they as consumers have the perfect right to freedom from antibiotics. The consumer has already spoken in the European Union which has responded by banning a number of antibiotics. Under the precautionary principal if there is any potential for a problem, speci;c ingredients or additives are disallowed. My vision is that we will see an industry which focuses on improving animal health and reducing the cost of production by using alternatives to antibiotics.

EI: You travel extensively meeting with leaders among the U.S. and international animal production industries. What lessons can we apply to become more ef;-

Dr. T. Pearse Lyons: Ten years ago our company did not have a focus on key products. We took a very entrepreneurial approach and we were developing new products at a fast pace. By deciding to focus on what we then called “the big six” we were able to concentrate our resources on six major items. We made investments in R&D and marketing using available ;- nancing. This focus undoubtedly allowed us to achieve growth in speci;c products which met our targets.

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EI: Alltech has developed an intensive international market and has been recognized for export promotion. How did you achieve this objective?

TPL: During the past ten years we have optimized our efforts in all areas of the world under the Alltech brand name. During the early stages of the company we had to use distributors to develop a network in each country. Alltech has since established subsidiary companies in each country in which we operate and we brand our products with a single image.