Peter-Melvin – global quality assurance officer, De Heus

Studying at WUR

“Hi, I am Peter-Melvin. At my parent's house, we had lots of pets: dogs, cats, chickens, guinea pigs, mice, fish, turtles, etc. You can imagine that I have had an interest in animals. So then I heard of Wageningen University. During my BSc Animal Sciences, I did a minor at the University of Reading, England. The minor focused on animal welfare and the economics of climate change. I got to learn how we could deal with climate change from an economic point of view. That was a great opportunity!”

“During the MSc Animal Sciences I specialised in Animal Nutrition and Metabolism. In addition, I followed courses related to aquaculture. During my thesis, I did research on alternative protein sources for rainbow trout feed. We focused mainly on whether we could realize the same development in fish fed with alternative feeds when compared with commercial diets. Furthermore, we looked at the fish’s environment. Preferably, the faces should be sturdy so they don’t disintegrate and are easy to remove from the water. This way the water quality remains good encompassing optimal health and development of the fish. At Cargill, I did my internship. They focus a.o. on innovative, transformative, and sustainable solutions for the animal production industry. I dived into the topic of sustainability assessment within the broiler industry. I investigated how we can feed animals as much non-human-digestible protein as possible. This turns the chicken into a net producer of human-digestible protein.”

From university to work

“Sometimes, the transition from studying to the job market can be difficult. I talked to many people during my internship and one person gave me some great advice: make a list with non-negotiables, nice-to-haves, and rather-nots. This helped me to get to know myself better. I find it important that I get the chance to create things myself. I like to be challenged and come up with solutions so that I can transfer my knowledge to others. Furthermore, I like a company that could offer the opportunity to work abroad and with career opportunities in the aquatic sector.”

“That is when I encountered De Heus. They were looking for someone to become a so-called ‘global quality assurance officer’. De Heus is quite a big company, with locations all over the world, but not so big that there is no personal working atmosphere.”

Ensure feed quality and safety

“As a global quality assurance officer, I ensure that the feed quality and safety meet a specific minimum standard. In the Netherlands, the feed industry has to obey certain quality measurements. However, not every country has equal legislation to safeguard the quality and safety of animal feeds. Therefore, to ensure that our feed is safe and of high quality, regardless of the country it has been produced, we create a minimum standard that the feed has to meet.”

“I make sure that countries comply with these requirements. I have been working at De Heus for less than a year, but I have already had the opportunity to visit some countries. I stayed in Poland for a week to learn from my colleagues and visited Egypt to provide support. Upcoming September, I will be visiting Ghana for the first time. I can tick the box ‘working abroad’ on my list as well.”

Take home message

My studies at WUR were a good foundation for making the step into the job market. I learned to make connections between ideas and became knowledgeable in the field of animal nutrition. However, I still learn new things every day, which is very exciting. My goal is to continue learning so that I can do my job fully independently in the future. With De Heus, I hope to contribute to a better world regarding animal welfare, sustainability, and safety. Finally, I want to encourage future graduates to pursue a job that they enjoy and find exciting.

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