Private company

Delacon

Delacon Biotech Nik Ges.m.b.H. is a multinational feed additive company headquartered in Engerwitzdorf, near Linz, Austria. The company develops and manufactures phytogenic feed additives for poultry, swine, ruminants and aqua since the 1980s. Delacon conducts in-house research and collaborates with independent institutes and universities.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

1988Founded1
Markus Dedl CEO Delacon
Photo: Delacon Biotechnik GmbH, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons4

Delacon Biotech Nik Ges.m.b.H. is a multinational feed additive company headquartered in Engerwitzdorf, near Linz, Austria. The company develops and manufactures phytogenic feed additives for poultry, swine, ruminants and aqua since the 1980s. Delacon conducts in-house research and collaborates with independent institutes and universities.2

The story

1984: Phytogenic feed additive research begins in Austria.

1988: Delacon Biotech Nik Ges.m.b.H. is founded in Steyregg, Austria, by Helmut Dell. A new category of feed additives - phytogenics - is introduced to the market and the production facility is opened.

2000: Delacon is being certified by ISO 9001 quality management standard and the HACCP (Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points) concept is implemented.

2001: A patented micro-encapsulation technology is introduced into Delacon products.

2003: Delacon expands globally, Asia Pacific Regional Office is founded. The company receives certifications (QS-partner, Gaming/QC, EU Regulation 178/2002) and its products are organic farming certified under EU Regulation 2002–91.

2006: First Performing Nature Symposium is organized in Vienna.

2009: The 2nd Performing Nature Symposium is held on the Greek island Crete to celebrate Delacon's 20th anniversary.

2010: Handing-over of daily management to Markus Dell and founding of Delacon China.

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2011: Delacon opens its own Performing Nature Research Center in the Czech Republic.

2012: Fresta F is approved for use by the EU, and is the world's first phytogenic zootechnical feed additive.

2013: Delacon celebrates its 25th anniversary along with a further enlargement of the production facilities, enabling production capacities to be tripled.

2014: Delacon hosts its 3rd Performing Nature Symposium, featuring more than 350 guests, including customers, distributors, leading scientists, economists, and industry leaders of the feed sector. Delacon introduces a new corporate design at EuroTier 2014.

2015: Research and Development, Product Management and Innovation teams are united within the division ‘Product & Innovation’.

2016: For the second time, Delacon receives a positive EFSA opinion, this time for the poultry product Biostrong 510 EC. Delacon enters a strategic partnership with PMI Nutritional Additives, a business unit of Land O ‘Lakes in the USA.

2017: Bio Strong 510 EC is authorized as zootechnical feed additive by the European Commission. Delacon enters a strategic partnership with Cargill, including a minority equity investment.

2022: In June Cargill announced it will acquire the company.

From Wikipedia’s article on Delacon, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Products and brands

Delacon has introduced a continuous innovation process that aligns the needs from customers, target animals, technology, and production with the long-term strategy for new product development. The focus of research is on animal health, performance, on reducing environmental impact of livestock production such as reduced ammonia and methane emissions; and improving animal welfare.

To ensure that products are developed based on sound scientific knowledge on bio-efficacy and modes of action of phytogenic actives, Delacon invests around ten percent of the annual turnover in the Products and Innovation division. In selection of phytogenic actives, Delacon focuses on natural ingredients to fully use the synergies between actives.

Performing Nature Research Center

To meet a growing internal and external demand for high quality controlled animal studies, Delacon opened its Performing Nature Research Center (PNRC) in 2011. The company-owned facility is used to develop and evaluate new phytogenic substances and formulations with poultry and pigs.

The focus of Delicious trials is to collect and evaluate data on new phytogenic substances, and product applications. It further investigates effects on nutrient digestibility and utilization, reduction of gaseous emissions, effects of phytogenic feed additives on animal health, all being linked to the animals’ performance. Delicious PNRC is located in Czech Republic.

From Wikipedia’s article on Delacon, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Timeline

  1. 1988Founded Founded1

Sources

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