The Urgent Case for Antibiotic-Free Animals
Jan, 22 2020
Leon Marchal
Bioprocess engineer, DuPont Animal Nutrition
The UN predicts that antimicrobial resistance will be our biggest killer by 2050. "That should really scare the hell out of all of us," says bioprocess engineer Leon Marchal. He's working on an urgently needed solution: transforming the massive, global animal feed industry. Learn why the overuse of antibiotics in animal products, from livestock feed to everyday pet treats, has skyrocketed worldwide -- and how we can take common-sense measures to stave off a potential epidemic.
“We have the knowledge on how to produce meat, eggs and milk without or with very low amounts of antibiotics. This is a small price to pay to avoid a future in which bacterial infections again become our biggest killer.”
Leon Marchal
Bioprocess engineer
Leon Marchal
Leon Marchal is passionate about discovering more sustainable animal production. He obtained his PhD in enzymology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and for more than 20 years has been active in research and product development in different parts of the food and feed industry. Working for many years in northwest Europe and the global forefront of antibiotic reduction and sustainability, Marchal brought his knowledge to DuPont's Nutrition & Biosciences business, where he and his team are working on new solutions for sustainable antibiotic-free animal production.
DuPont Animal Nutrition:
Optimized, healthy animal nutrition solutions
DuPont Animal Nutrition is a market leader in nutritional health solutions with a comprehensive portfolio of feed enzymes, betaine, phytogenics and probiotics. Through the lens of nutribiosis, we invest in science and innovation to help producers improve performance, increase liveability and support welfare in the face of increasing pressure to reduce or remove antibiotics from production systems. Our capabilities are underpinned by the quality and quantity of our trials, including over 80,000 guts sampled from over 500 farms, our investment in omics technologies and microbiome research, and our collaboration with leading commercial, governmental and academic partners.
Learn more
Transformation begins with the spark of something new.
In 2018, TED and DuPont began a partnership to do just that: TRANSFORM. As the world and our interactions grow more complex, so do our challenges. To solve for modern problems, we decided to pursue a new framework for innovation itself, one that considers all perspectives and outcomes in the calculus. This inaugural TED@DuPont event signifies a monumental step to unlock the institutional knowledge within the organization and showcase the New DuPont. Taking place in September 2019, at The Fillmore in Philadelphia, the day’s topics ranged from science, technology, and beyond. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED