Premix, Probiotics & prebiotics
The secret black box in every koi food
The secret black box in every koi food
We have described the proteins and carbohydrates in detail.
Despite the great importance of these basic nutrients, they aren’t actually super complex.
The complexity of any koi food lies in what is often called the ‘premix’.
For example, if you want to make a specific color-enhancing food, those components can be found in the premix. The same applies to a number of vitamins, minerals, and additives that promote the health of the koi.
For very good reasons, the premix is often kept very secret, as it is essentially the most important part of the koi food recipe.
Probiotics and prebiotics
Probiotic claims on koi food are tricky because probiotics are live bacteria that rarely survive the food production process (heat and pressure). As a result, a claim often says little about the actual effect on the koi. Additionally, probiotic claims in animal feed are strictly regulated within the EU and only permitted to a limited extent for ornamental fish. They aren’t necessarily prohibited, but only allowed when specific proven bacterial strains in effective amounts have been approved for the target animal. Health claims without this substantiation are legally not permitted. Without explicit health claims and with demonstrable evidence, a probiotic claim is possible, but in practice, this is difficult to substantiate.
What KiGen does instead
- Use of prebiotic ingredients
- Focus on high digestibility
- Limiting intestinal and water load
- No claims that are legally or biologically shaky
This way, as a koi keeper, you know exactly what you’re feeding and why.
Apart from the above, at KiGen we want to stick to the European rules, and those are quite clear regarding claims on packaging; including where koi food is concerned.
