The journey towards performance and gut health with Koen Schwarzer 

Times before ProPhorce™ SR  
Koen Schwarzer came in contact with butyric acid, more precisely with ethyl butyrate, in the early days of his career in feed additives. “Butyric acid was doing the job, but it was easily dissociated in the stomach and did not reach the intestinal tract. That is why we needed a second-generation product, the coated version of the salts of butyric acid. These fat-coated versions reached the small intestine, where the fat coating was liberated by lipase activity. The now-available butyric acid improved the small intestinal epithelial cells and, consequently, the performance in monogastric animals became evident.”  
 
The three product generations  
Hearing “second generation product” might make you wonder what product belonged to the first generation and how many more generations are there. Koen shortly explains that “the first-generation product was just a single salt, sodium and calcium butyrate, the second generation was the coated salts, and the third generation is ProPhorce™ SR that is based on butyric acid and glycerol-esters which are not coated but present in a form of an ester.” The reason for the third generation was to have an ester being delivered where the most effect can be expected, in the small intestine, and to improve the handling characteristic of the products containing butyrate from releasing any free butyric acid. “Perstorp was a main producer of organic acids and was a company well known for its esterification and odorless ester know-how. It is good to see that glycerol esters with butyric acid, mono, and triforms have reached 10 years and I think it will be around for decades more because butyric acid is an essential ingredient.”  
 
Koen has already shared a lot of engaging information right at the beginning of the ProPhorce™ SR journey. If you are curious about what he still has up his sleeves and how his commemorative story will develop, stay tuned for the second part of his interview!