Antioxidants fail in practice for one of two reasons: dosed for the wrong application, or added after oxidation has already started. Both are avoidable.
Steps
- Identify what you are protecting. Complete feed, concentrate, premix, or high-risk raw material (fishmeal, meat-and-bone meal). Each has a different oxidation load and dose band.
- Start from the band. VSW5 reference rates: complete feed 100-300 g/T; concentrates 600-1,000 g/T; premixes 600-1,800 g/T; fishmeal and MBM 2,000-3,000 g/T.
- Adjust upward for risk factors. High added oil, high trace-mineral premix content, hot and humid storage, or long target shelf life all push you toward the top of the band.
- Pre-mix before inclusion. Blend the antioxidant with a small carrier portion of the batch first, then add to the main mix — direct addition risks poor distribution at low inclusion.
- Verify over time. Check peroxide value or sensory freshness of stored samples monthly. If rancid notes appear before target shelf life, raise the dose or fix warehouse conditions.
Common mistakes
- Dosing raw-material rates into complete feed (waste) or feed rates into fishmeal (failure)
- Adding antioxidant to already-rancid material — it prevents oxidation, it cannot reverse it
- Mixing with strong acids or bases, which degrade the actives
- Ignoring the mineral premix — trace metals are the main oxidation catalyst
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