ICC: the innovation that feeds tomorrow

The company completes 30 years with the ambition of doubling its revenue in 5 years and inaugurates a state-of-the-art facility in the state of São Paulo

ICC celebrates 30 years of history with the mission to add value to animal nutrition. In its anniversary campaign, the company highlights the importance of feeding the world with healthy, safe, accessible and available products for a population fighting against hunger. All of this in a sustainable way and caring for people. “Our history has taught us to always invest in the future as thinking about tomorrow adds knowledge to the present and reinforces the accumulated experience”, highlights Glycon Santos, founder and CEO of ICC, a company that provides yeast-based natural technological solutions for animal health and nutrition.

The goals are ambitious. According to Glycon, the objective is to grow at 15% per year. By these means, the company intends to double its revenue in the next 5 years. “Since the beginning of our activities we have been working to grow and evolve business year over year. To achieve this, we have invested heavily in research, innovation, technology and sustainability. We know our potential and how much more the yeast market can grow”, explains the CEO.


He adds that “when we first started, it was an uncertain bet. We had little information on the market and a lot of work to do. Today we have our own research team and several alliances. Therefore, we can reach even more farmers from Brazil and international markets. And we continue working to go even further”.

As an entrepreneur, Glycon puts the responsibility for the success of ICC on the team. “I am very proud of the team we have put together. All, without exception, work tirelessly to achieve excellence and continue being useful for the progress of global production of animal protein. I have great pride and respect for all who are part of ICC and thank them for their commitment”.

With headquarters in São Paulo, Brazil, ICC has an industrial unit located in Macatuba, São Paulo, with an area of approximately 14,000 m². Among its differentials is the productive capacity of 84 tons per day.
 
Constantly growing and under the pillars of evolution and technology, ICC inaugurates its second production plant in Jundiaí, São Paulo. “This plant was built to support the growth of ICC”, says the CEO. In addition to a modern administrative space and a warehouse, with a total area of 15,400 m², the plant has a productive capacity of 7 tons/hour and daily production of up to 140 tons in three shifts. The plant is fully automated and has its own laboratory for internal quality analysis and, among other equipment, a UHPLC to perform analysis of free nucleotides and nucleosides, which ensures maximum safety for customers.

Leading Brazilian company in the production of yeast-based nutritional solutions with international presence, ICC has three branches in USA, England and China, and also exports to more than 70 countries.

In ICC, innovation is taken very seriously and is it is part of company’s core values. This pillar has always been accompanied by technology, science, evolution and sustainability, which add value to animal nutrition. “Throughout our successful history, ICC has been guided by its values and opened many doors for the promotion of animal health and welfare”, analyzes Glycon.

But it was not always easy. Thirty years ago, Glycon started working with yeasts at the suggestion of a friend. He studied the raw materials and invested in the understanding of yeast application possibilities and which countries were already importing the product. This was the beginning of ICC, a company that over three decades has always invested in research and technology to consolidate itself and earn the confidence of the market.

“Among the pillars that guided the beginning of ICC was a willingness to be useful and contribute to the increase of production and productivity. In Brazil and the great majority of other countries the yeast was used only for its nutritional value and studies were needed to prove its potential as functional additives, as well as to develop technologies to purify and fractionate yeast cells in order to increase their biological value. We have established alliances or collaborations with several universities and research institutions in 14 countries, but I am very proud of having brought researchers from our team, and thus generated innovation in-house. We have always worked with total transparency. Proving the contribution of yeast to the production through scientific studies is part of this process and has certainly helped us to be what we are today”, says the CEO.

Also, ICC maintains a rigorous quality control program that monitors all batches of raw materials and finished products, which guarantees the supply of safe and reliable products according to the required specifications.

The Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) program is certified by GMP+ International since 2003, which ensures product traceability in all the manufacturing stages, from the arrival of raw materials to the delivery of final product to customers. “Various indexes are evaluated to guarantee safe and high-quality products which are both free of any undesired substances and highly effective. To ensure the success of this activity we have biotechnological laboratories in our units”, reinforces Glycon.

Always looking to the future, Glycon predicts that the yeasts will become indispensable in animal diets. “Although we have understood the importance of yeasts in animal nutrition, we continue to give access to whom doesn’t have information about it. There’s still a lot to be done. However, we are continuing to invest in research to guarantee the quality and safety of our products. We can say that the use of yeasts should be mandatory in animal diets as their positive effects on animal’s development and environment have been demonstrated. This challenge motivates us to work even harder and towards animal health and nature”, says the CEO of ICC Brazil.