Of Cats & Corn

Of Cats and Corn

Most weeks at AURI are interesting, but some are just a bit more memorable.

On June 16, we had a four person crew from Animal Planet here working on a segment for the show Must Love Cats. AURI coproducts guru Alan Doering and fellow scientist Kevin Hennessy have tested a variety of agricultural products for use as animal litters. This includes corn, wheat as well as coproducts. 

For the better part of a day, the crew followed Al around and shot video of various tests that AURI scientists have conducted to determine odor control properties, clumping ability, sorbency and a wide range of other characteristics. It will be interesting to see how the segment captures the work.

From what we have been told, the show is supposed to air on Animal Planet sometime in January of 2011.

Also this week AURI presented our annual Ag Innovator of the Year Award to Suntava. This company produces a deep purple corn that is grown in southwest Minnesota. From the grain, Suntava extracts the pigment for use as a food and beverage colorant as well as a nutraceutical ingredient. They also utilize the meal for chips and tortillas.

 

As part of the award presentation, we were able to tour their facility in St. Paul. It is amazing how many food items contain artificial colorants. The Suntava colorant very closely mirrors the color profile of red dye #40, which is the industry standard but is derived from refined petroleum. It is easily water soluble and looks amazing. The future looks very bright for this innovative Minnesota company that is moving agricultural products into a whole new place.