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IPRT Company Assistance Success Story

 

Added Value from a Plentiful Resource

Green Products of Conrad, Iowa, had a great idea for a new product made from the corncobs it processes. The company planned to make a low microbial-count animal bedding for use with high-value animals, such as rare pets or those used for research. First, though, Green Products needed help to create a process to sanitize the bedding. Assistance was also needed to test the product in a realworld setting.

IPRT and Iowa State University were able to help on both accounts. Researchers from ISU’s College of Agriculture helped optimize the process for treating the corncob material to reach low-level microorganism counts. Researchers from ISU’s College of Veterinary Medicine then performed animal safety tests on the bedding material.

“We would not have been able as a small company to do this on our own,” says Matt Schryver, president of Green Products. “IPRT and ISU personnel have been instrumental in helping us with this process.” Such a product would be a great benefit to potential customers. With this kind of bedding, research organizations could eliminate the costly and timeconsuming process of sterilizing their own bedding. And, rare-pet “We would not have been able as a small company to do this on our own.” -- Matt Schryrer owners could rely on the sanitized bedding to help keep their precious animals healthy.

Sanitary Corncobs

The first phase of the research was conducted by Aubrey Medonca, an associate professor of food science and human nutrition at ISU. Carey Novak, manager of IPRT’s technology commercialization group, helped set up meetings with Medonca and Green Products to clarify the problem and research requirements. IPRT also provided funds to partially defray the costs of the research.

Medonca reports that the research was successful. “The outcome of the research was the development of a novel processing treatment to enhance the microbial quality of corncob grits without negatively altering the color and odor of the product,” he says. “The treated product is sanitary, that is, it is free of pathogenic microorganisms and has a relatively larger particle size.”

Putting it to the Test

Next the product needed to be tested to see if it was in any way harmful to animals. For this part of the product, Brian Muff, a technology commercialization associate at IPRT, arranged for research to be done by Gary Osweiler, a professor of veterinary medicine at ISU. The work was done with assistance from Laboratory Animal Resources at the Veterinary Medical Research Institute.

Osweiler compared the new bedding to regular bedding using a variety of animals. The tests showed that the new bedding had no impact on the animals’ lives. “The project was funded, conducted and completed in a very good turnaround time,” Osweiler says, noting IPRT’s assistance with the project’s logistics and budgeting.

Schryver reports that the company will be installing a production line in the second quarter of 2007 to produce sanitized corncob grit for the new product. “I am convinced that the timing on this product is correct for the marketplace,” he says. IPRT works for Iowa