Animal Nutrition & Health
Kaiseraugst (Switzerland), Maastricht (Netherlands), 7 January 2025
Pictured (ltr): Daan van der Zanden, Senior Manager at Deloitte, Dr David Nickell, Global Head of Sustainability and Business Solutions at dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, Bas van Driel, Group Director Specialties at Royal Agrifirm Group, Hans Couwenberg, Precision Services and Sustainability Manager at dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, and Ton Gielen, CEO at Hardeman Egg Group.
dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, Hardeman Egg Group and Royal Agrifirm Group have joined forces to set a new benchmark for sustainable eggs, making sustainable eggs affordable and accessible for everyone.
The partnership, which combines industry-leading technology and innovation, will give consumers access to eggs which have been produced more sustainably than conventional eggs, while maintaining a comparable price point and simultaneously enabling companies along the value chain to meet their sustainability commitments in a cost-effective way.
dsm-firmenich's Sustell™ Carbon Value Program will be key to creating a new industry standard for sustainable eggs. The three companies have already completed a commercial pilot. The initial outcomes showed groundbreaking results.
Bas van Driel, Group Director Specialties at Royal Agrifirm Group, commented: “Through nutritional solutions we achieved more than a 17% reduction in carbon emissions, while layer performance was above the baseline. If we apply this approach at scale across roughly 10 billion eggs that are produced yearly in the Netherlands, we can reduce around 180 million kilograms of CO2e—equivalent to the yearly energy and gas consumption of 70.000 households—using technology that exists today.”
While surveys indicate that some consumers are willing to pay more for more sustainable products, mainstream adoption of more sustainable products requires cost competitiveness across the value chain.
“The biggest impact comes from producing a lower-footprint egg that is attractively priced, ideally at price parity”, said Ton Gielen, CEO at Hardeman. “There are already far too many options on the shelves. If a consumer sees two cartons at the same price, they’ll pick the verified lower-footprint option and feel they’re helping the environment without paying more.”
Dr. David Nickell, Head of Sustainability & Business Solutions at dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health, stated: “Accuracy and credibility of measurement at scale is the foundation of an environmental claim that consumers can trust. When you combine robust, verifiable data with proven nutrition improvements, you lower the footprint per egg and improve productivity at the same time.”
In March 2024, dsm-firmenich and Agrifirm teamed up to connect their leading platforms, Sustell™ and PoultryNEXT, which focus on life cycle assessment (LCA) and farming performance insights, respectively.
In 2026, the partnership intends to bring the new sustainable egg standard to companies in the farm and food value chain.
“We’ll start small, but the recipe stays the same: at least three parties committing together, making verified reductions, and taking cost out so the consumer gets a lower‑footprint egg without paying more,” concluded van Driel.
Hardeman is an egg producer and processor active in the Netherlands, Germany and worldwide. Through Hardeman Egg Farms, it produces more than 50 million eggs – through 50% own production and 50% purchased from farmers - per week, which are then transported and processed. Sustainability is a key focus area and it invests in circularity and CO2e reduction initiatives.
Worldwide, Agrifirm is constantly working on the development of new and inspiring solutions for a sustainable food chain for future generations. Almost 3,000 employees work together with farmers, growers and partners on new methods, best practices and innovative technologies to create a food chain with healthy soil, healthy animals, healthy and resilient nature and with a fair income for farmers and growers.
With more than 120 years of experience, the cooperative is developing the agriculture of tomorrow, today!
In 2024, dsm-firmenich shared its plan to find a new owner for the Animal Nutrition & Health (ANH) business, including vitamins. ANH, a dsm-firmenich company, is a global leader in animal nutrition and health, as well as vitamins, carotenoids, and aroma ingredients. ANH is an innovation leader and increased its sales to €3.3 billion with a team of more than 7,800 people, driven by its strong purpose: feeding the planet without costing the earth. Together, we make it possible.
Sustell™ makes precise, tailored environmental footprinting the new normal across the animal farming value chain, opening the door to multiple commercial opportunities and a more sustainable food system. From improving farm efficiency to sustainable finance and ecolabeling and credible, accurate reporting, Sustell™ is your solution. Backed by a robust, ISO certified methodology, a user-friendly SaaS interface and an animal nutrition expert center, Sustell™ is the leading life cycle assessment (LCA) solution for sustainable animal protein from farm to fork for all species. Unlock the value of your footprint with Sustell™.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements with respect to dsm-firmenich’s future (financial) performance and position. Such statements are based on current expectations, estimates and projections of dsm-firmenich and information currently available to the company. dsm-firmenich cautions readers that such statements involve certain risks and uncertainties that are difficult to predict and therefore it should be understood that many factors can cause actual performance and position to differ materially from these statements. dsm-firmenich has no obligation to update the statements contained in this press release, unless required by law. The English language version of the press release is leading.
07 January 2026
