Quality-Product: Growth Tests That Speak for Themselves

Pretoria Protein Company was founded on a simple conviction: South African soya should perform at the highest international level. That belief has now been tested under controlled, independent conditions, and the results leave little room for doubt.

Last year, our soybean meal was evaluated in a blind broiler growth trial at Stellenbosch University’s broiler research facility. Growth trials are the feed industry’s equivalent of a race day, removing marketing claims and focusing purely on performance.

Broilers are divided into groups and fed diets with the same soybean meal inclusion level, sourced from eight major suppliers. While the feed formulation and feeding conditions remain identical, differences in chicken performance reflect variations in the quality of the soybean meal protein rather than the diet itself. Body weight and feed intake are measured weekly to assess how efficiently birds convert feed into growth, enabling a direct comparison of feed efficiency and growth performance across the different soybean meal sources.

The findings were published in Oilseeds Focus (Vol. 11, No. 4, December 2025), making the results particularly noteworthy for a facility that has been operating commercially for little more than a year.

During the trials, birds fed diets containing soybean meal supplied by Pretoria Protein Company delivered growth and feed conversion results at the upper end of the range recorded across all samples tested. In practical terms, this means birds achieved substantial weight gain per kilogram of feed consumed. Achieving this level of performance so early in our history is significant in a sector where fine-tuning processing conditions typically takes several years. The results support the company’s founding belief that locally produced soya can compete confidently with established international producers when processed correctly and consistently.

That consistency is not accidental. Laboratory testing is integrated throughout production at Pretoria Protein Company. Samples are taken hourly and analysed for protein, fibre, fat, moisture and urease activity. Physical checks, including flake thickness and cracked-bean size, support both oil-extraction efficiency and meal quality. Each batch is retested prior to dispatch, and a Certificate of Conformance is issued only when all criteria are met, thereby ensuring full traceability.

To validate internal data, selected samples are routinely sent to accredited external laboratories for independent verification. This cross-checking supports the industry’s move toward more standardised testing protocols and reduces inter-laboratory variation.

The growth test results confirm what our operations show daily: consistent processes and whole-bean utilisation yield consistent products. Every part of our system is designed for measurable performance in the field, in the factory, and in the feed trough.

This is what quality looks like when it is tested, verified, and maintained.