Daniel De Carvalho talks Mootral and tackling greenhouse gas emissions

Daniel De Carvalho is the Global Director of Corporate Communications of Zaluvida, the makers of Mootral, a new natural feed supplement for cows. Zaluvida, a biotech company that tackles health challenges ranging from antibiotic resistance to livestock emissions, claims to instantly reduce cow methane emissions by at least 30%. The powdery supplement, which is compressed into pellets and mixed into cattle feed streams, is made of two basic ingredients, garlic and citrus extracts.

Zaluvida’s team of researchers have found that the two compounds combined improve cows’ ability to digest without emitting excess methane in the process. While cow farts are often blamed for the bulk of their methane emissions, it’s really their burps that are the culprits–and that is what Mootral is most effective in neutralizing.

Mootral (a portmanteau of “moo” and “neutral”) can help farmers make more money, and help the environment at the same time. The actual amount of supplement needed to deliver the 30% methane-reduction is very small; per cow per day, farmers will only need around 10 to 17 grams. Mootral is still in the early stages–it just launched a pilot project at UC Davis–but according to Trista van Tine, Global Marketing Director for Mootral”, once the product scales up,  it should cost farmers no more than $60 per cow per year to deploy.

Find out more about Mootral and what Zaluvida's doing by visiting www.mootral.com or watching the highlights of their Farm for Ch4nge FoodTruck Tour.