Media Contact Name
Florie Madec, Marketing & Communication
Email
flmadec@bcf-lifesciences.com
Please provide a short description of your company.
BCF Life Sciences is a private French company, based in Brittany and specialized in the extraction of functional free amino acids mixes from a sustainable protein source, poultry keratin. The company is historically a pioneer of the circular economy and was created in 1986 with the purpose of reuse feathers from poultry integrated Guyomarc’h group and create added value functional ingredients (Unique mixes of functional amino acids).
The company is strongly involved in research programs and all our products are tested according to their field of application to better understand the mechanisms of action and specify the performance of ingredients and active principles.
Our approach is focus on health nutrition and specifically market driven by different application fields: Human Care, Animal Care and Plant Care.
BCF Life Sciences is present in Aquaculture since 2018 with Kera-Aqua range. In relation with our CSR policy and commitment to reduce our environmental impact, this positioning is particularly in phase to answer challenges of Aquafeed industry to reduce carbon footprint and globally improve sustainability by reducing the pressure on marine resources. Kera-Aqua offers a range of functional amino acids mixes allowing shrimp and fish to overcome challenges. Through their functional actions, these functional amino acid mixes induce direct and indirect benefits at Aquafeed and Farm levels, and contribute to global sector efficiency moving toward a more sustainable model.
Please provide any details you would like to share about the product that you are developing for the Challenge.
Kera-Stim®50 (KS50) is a unique mix of free amino acids obtained from extensive hydrolysis (thermal and pH) of a sustainable protein source, the poultry keratin from poultry feather. This unique process generates a unique combination of 17 free amino acids (AA) belonging to essential AA, non-essential AA and functional AA categories. The gap between traditional AA classification and physiological importance has led to the emergence of the “Functional amino acids” concept proposed by Wu (2010). Functional AAs are defined as those that participate and regulate key metabolic pathways to improve growth and health in mammals and fish. This AA group encompasses arginine, cysteine, glutamine, glutamate, glycine, leucine, proline, and tryptophan regardless of their designation as dispensable or indispensable.
In relation with this specific AA profile and AA functionalities, the product positioning is market and challenges driven and its application in aqua feed provides direct benefits on health and welfare such as better adaptability to water conditions, higher resistance to diseases, optimization of the oxygen use and support of the moulting for shrimp. In relation with its high attractant effects, this mosaic of functional AA also provides strong indirect benefits on feed intake and feed efficiency. The combination of all these benefits generates higher growth and survival and finally contribute to the carbon footprint reduction.
Amino acid composition (in % or g/100g)
Aspartic acid: 3.67%, Threonine: 2.48%, Serine: 6.60%, Glutamic acid: 5.43%, Glycine: 4.48%, Alanine: 2.53%, Valine: 4.07%, Cystine: 1.04%, Methionine: 0.30%, Isoleucine: 2.44%, Leucine: 3.96%, Tyrosine: 0.41%, Phenylalanine: 2.49%, Lysine: 0.97%, Histidine: 0.32%, Arginine: 3.40%, Proline: 5.84%.
Low molecular weight and fast assimilation
The mix has a very low molecular weight in relation with the hydrolysis level. 93% of the composition (free AA) is inferior to 250 Da and 100% of the composition inferior to 800 Da (Di and Tri-peptides), ensuring a fast assimilation and in vivo digestibility of 96.8%, between the most digestible protein sources available on the market.
Proven Performance
Our product development and sales strategy is based on a strong proven performance policy. We work in collaboration with more than 10 research centers and universities worldwide and we have presented our works in 20 scientific articles and magazines and 14 conferences in congresses since 2018.
Results on fish application:
During a first experimental study conducted on Tilapia in partnership with Mahasarakham University (Thailand), KS50 supplementation of the feed significantly influenced zootechnical performances, with increase of growth parameters, biomass and FCR reduction. In relation with these parameters and improvement of the feed utilization, we noted positive effects on the digestive enzymes activity including amylase, protease and lipase, evaluated in fish intestine that were significantly increased. We also measured antioxidative status of fish by determination of non-specific immune enzyme in fish serum: superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase and glutathione reductase and underlined significant higher activity levels. Interestingly, we also observed significant improvements of innate immune response of fish serum such as lysozyme, myeloperoxidase and catalase activity. It is noteworthy that, in correlation with growth performances, KS50 supplementation on feed generates significant higher levels of the digestive, antioxidative and innate immune response enzymatic activities of Nile tilapia. We recently published these research results in the journal Aquaculture (Wangkahart et al., 2022).
In a recent complementary study also conducted on Tilapia in a perspective of Fish Meal reduction in feed, we found that dietary KS50 supplementation significantly increased the growth performance parameters including final body weight, weight gain, and specific growth rate with a substantial positive effect on the feed conversion ratio. Interestingly, not only the low-FM diets but also the diets supplemented with KS50 had a positive effect on the economic conversion ratio and economic profit index, suggesting increased economic efficiency. Furthermore, lysozyme, catalase, superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, and glutathione reductase activity levels were significantly increased by supplementing low-FM diets with KS50. KS50 and low-FM diets increased the whole-body levels of ash, fat, and crude protein. Moreover, KS50 supplementation increased the levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These results are under scientific publication process.
Are you looking for partners to join your company to compete as a team in the Challenge?
No
What year was your company founded?
1986
Approximately how many people are employed by your company?
213
In what country is your company headquartered?
France
What types of products does your company currently produce?
BCF Life Sciences is a French company specialized in the extraction of free amino acids from a sustainable protein source, poultry keratin coming from poultry feather. Amino acids are the base of protein building and indispensable for the nutritional and physiological balances and their functionalities on different metabolic pathways offer a large spectrum of potential applications to answer health and nutrition challenges.
Based on the company’s proven performance policy, these mixes of free amino acids are positioned on specific areas driven by nutrition and health market. The range of products covers different application fields such as Animal Care (all animals and more specifically all aqua species, Pet Food), Human Care (Pharma, Food supplements, Baby Food) and Plant Care.
Aquaculture sector: BCF Life Sciences has developed a tailor made solution with a unique mix, a mosaic of 17 free amino acids. These AA are belonging to essential AA and non-essential AA categories, but in addition, some of them are also functional AA, which are defined as those AA that participate in and regulate key metabolic pathways to improve health, survival, growth, development, lactation, and reproduction of the organisms. The supplementation of this unique combination on feed provides direct benefits to overcome health challenges in relation with diseases, oxygen transportation, moulting management and water quality evolution, but also indirect benefits with strong attractant properties conferring higher feed intake and feed efficiency for shrimp and fish. The conjunction of all these benefits obtained through nutrition generates higher survival and biomass production, inducing better economical performances and at the end of the value chain contribute to reduce the carbon footprint.
Additionally, the valorisation of this protein source from circular economy in high functional ingredient can be considered in Aquafeed formulation matrix, without any impact on the marine resources and contribute to improve the sustainability of aquaculture productions.
Canine and feline nutrition: BCF Life Sciences provides solutions for applications covering the treatment and prevention of food allergies thanks to free amino acid mixes with very low molecular weights, which give them their anallergenic properties.
Human health-nutrition: BCF Life Sciences activities are focalized on production and purification of amino acids (L-Cystine and L-Tyrosine) dedicated for medical nutrition, particularly for the treatment of phenylketonuria.
Food supplements: Single amino acids (L-Cystine and L-Tyrosine) are used to improve skin, nails and hair health and to contribute to the stress reduction and fatigue management.
L-Cystine is also a precursor in Carbocisteine synthesis, mucolytic pharmaceutical active ingredient used in the composition of medicines prescribed for the relief of coughs.
Plant Care, BCF Life Sciences also supports farmers in their transition towards more sustainable forms of agriculture with innovative solutions that make it possible to improve soil and plant nutrition and thus limit the use of chemical inputs (fertilizers, pesticides), while still maintaining good technical and economic performance.
In what countries does your company currently distribute its products?
We are present in 40 countries and 64% of our turnover is realized on the export market.
In Aquaculture, we are present in Europe, SEA (Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia), and LATAM (Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, Brazil).
What is the approximate annual revenue of your company in USD?
$55,000,000
Do you have an environmental statement/mission that your company wants to make explicit?
Historically, our activities have their roots in the local circular economy, and today, the majority of our input materials are considered the co-products of other industries.
BCF Life Sciences is a pioneer of circular economy based on the Breton poultry-breeding sector.
In 2022, 48% of the raw materials used for our production operations were co-products (feathers) resulting from regional poultry breeding and the production operations of down.
For their part, the chemical inputs are auxiliary technical materials, which make it possible to extract and purify the amino acid fractions:
• Caustic soda, a co-product from the electrolysis of a sodium chloride solution, which also yields chlorine. It is the basic raw material for the manufacture of PVC.
• Hydrochloric acid, the main co-product from the manufacture of PVC.
In 2022, BCF Life Sciences has defined a new trajectory for energy saving, with the objective to reduce the energy consumption by 30% until 2027. This trajectory is equivalent to a reduction of 6 000 T CO2eq/year.
BCF Life Sciences amino acids mixes are not in competition with marine origin raw materials and our positioning on Aquaculture contributes to improve the sustainability of Aquaculture productions.
How does this challenge fit with your company’s mission/goals?
To encourage aquaculture sustainability and lower fish production costs, marine origin ingredients and raw materials need to be substituted with sustainable ingredients in aquafeeds. In this context of marine products substitution, mixes of free amino acids obtained from poultry keratin extensive hydrolysates are interesting candidates for aquaculture feeds. Despite the important effort have been made by the Aquafeed industry to replace fish meal and other marine ingredients by alternative materials, mainly from vegetal origin, shrimp and fish feed still consume an important part of marine origin products, such as fish meal and krill meal. Since the start of BCF Life Sciences positioning on Aqua Feed sector, our studies have underlined strong benefits of mixes of free amino acids obtained from this sustainable valorisation of the poultry feather. This by-product from terrestrial origin converted into a high functional ingredient confers to the feed better performances traduced in economic savings. We have built this strong database in partnership with more than 10 Universities and research centers worlwide and published our results in 20 articles and 14 conferences in congresses. The gains are measurable on attraction, feed intake, feed assimilation and growth performances. In addition, we have also underlined strong improvements on survival, resistance to disease and to environmental stress in relation with water quality variations (oxygen and salinity).
This challenge is completely inline with the objective of BCF Life Sciences to be in the heart of the circular economy and confer sense, valour and carbon footprint reduction to the whole chain of production. The direct inclusion of Kera-Stim®50 in Aquafeeds confers direct benefits on health, feed intake and feed efficiency measurable at farm stage. These benefits directly contribute to higher survival and growth performances, linked with FCR reduction and at the end of the value chain, they are part of necessary efforts to reduce the carbon footprint. Extensive feather hydrolysate is an efficient way to improve the sustainability of both poultry and aqua species production by turning indigestible by-product into an efficient functional ingredient for Aquafeed, in the respect and preservation of natural marine resources.
