In an exclusive interview with The CEO Viewpoint, Erik Visser, CEO of Hamlet Protein, shares how the company is advancing young animal nutrition through science-driven innovation, global collaboration, and high-performance specialty protein solutions.
Powering Performance Through Young Animal Nutrition
Can you introduce Hamlet Protein and its core mission in the animal nutrition industry?
Since its founding in 1989, Hamlet Protein has remained committed to one fundamental belief: the nutrition provided during the earliest stages of an animal’s life has a lasting impact on its overall health, welfare, and long-term performance. This philosophy continues to define our company’s role in the global animal nutrition industry today.
At the core of Hamlet Protein’s mission is our dedication to improving young animal nutrition through scientifically developed soy-based specialty ingredients. By combining extensive research, innovation, and in close collaboration with customers, we consistently deliver clean, high-quality nutritional solutions designed to support animal growth and performance from the very beginning.
Over the years, Hamlet Protein has become a trusted partner for feed mills, integrators, home mixers, and farmers across the world. With a strong global presence and local expertise, we work closely with customers to address both current and emerging challenges in animal nutrition. Through this approach, Hamlet Protein not only creates long-term value for our partners but also contributes to more sustainable farming practices and stronger agricultural businesses worldwide.
How does your philosophy of “healthy animals, healthy business” shape your overall strategy?
At Hamlet Protein, the philosophy of “healthy animals, healthy business” is more than a guiding principle, it is the foundation of our company’s overall strategy. Providing the right nutrition during the earliest stages of life directly influences the lifetime health, welfare, and performance of production animals. By focusing on young animal nutrition, Hamlet Protein we help producers achieve increased productivity and a sustainable return on their investment.
Central to this strategy is the importance of gut health, as a healthy gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is essential for optimal animal performance, particularly during the critical early-life stages. This focus allows us company to support not only better growth and feed efficiency, but also improved animal well-being and long-term sustainability within livestock production systems.
Our soy-based specialty ingredients are specifically designed to provide highly digestible protein while minimizing anti-nutritional factors (ANFs). We emphasize the use of advanced nutritional concepts such as net energy and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) when formulating diets, ensuring that producers can select protein sources that maximize nutrient absorption and overall animal performance.
Another key aspect of our approach is protein kinetics. as the speed at which protein is digested and absorbed plays a major role in growth performance, feed efficiency, and gut health. Faster-digesting proteins are utilized more effectively for tissue development, while reducing the amount of undigested protein reaching the hindgut, where harmful fermentation may occur.
Through this science-driven and health-focused strategy, Hamlet Protein continues to strengthen the connection between animal health & performance and business success, helping customers build more efficient, profitable, and sustainable operations worldwide.
Could you elaborate on your flagship product lines and their impact across swine, poultry, and ruminant segments? Hamlet Protein is considered the gold standard for specialty soy protein ingredients for swine, poultry, and ruminants. We often describe our product range as a “vegetable plasma” because it delivers the benefits of highly digestible proteins while remaining a plant-based solution.
Young animals require fast and efficient protein sources to maximize nutrient utilization and support healthy growth. Our products are specifically designed to provide rapid protein digestion and amino acid absorption, ensuring better synchronization with supplemented synthetic amino acids. This improves feed efficiency and allows animals to use more nutrients for tissue development rather than losing them during digestion.
What differentiates Hamlet Protein is the speed and quality of our vegetable protein solutions. Our portfolio is nearly free from key anti-nutritional factors and consistently outperforms other plant-based proteins in digestion kinetics.
Products such as HP300 also provide a cost-effective alternative to animal proteins like whey protein, blood plasma, and fish meal, while maintaining comparable performance and nutritional value across multiple livestock segments.
How do you collaborate with feed mills, integrators, and farmers to deliver customized solutions?
Collaboration is a fundamental part of how we deliver effective nutritional solutions across the animal production industry. We work closely with feed mills, integrators, and farmers as long-term partners, recognizing that every production system has unique goals, challenges, and operating conditions.
Our primary focus is young animal nutrition, where early-life feeding strategies have a significant impact on lifetime performance, health, and productivity. By providing high-quality functional ingredients that support gut health, immunity, and early growth, we help customers establish a strong nutritional foundation from the beginning.
Rather than offering one-size-fits-all solutions, we tailor our recommendations to each customer’s specific needs. While the core products may remain consistent, the application strategy varies depending on factors such as production performance, local challenges, market conditions, and operational objectives. Through continuous dialogue, on-site technical support, performance monitoring, and data-driven insights, we ensure our solutions remain both scientifically effective and commercially practical. This collaborative approach allows us to create long-term value and sustainable results for our partners worldwide.
Hamlet Protein operates globally—how do you adapt your strategies to different regional markets?
As a global company, Hamlet Protein understands that livestock production is shaped by regional factors such as climate, raw material availability, genetics, regulations, and customer expectations.
Our strategy begins with a strong global foundation built on scientific research, nutritional expertise, and species-specific knowledge across poultry, swine, and ruminant production. The key to our success lies in adapting this global expertise to local market realities. We work closely with regional teams and trusted distribution partners who understand the unique challenges faced by customers in their respective markets. This allows us to tailor nutritional strategies based on factors such as heat stress, seasonal conditions, ingredient quality, production goals, and local farming practices.
Regulatory environments and market priorities also differ significantly around the world. While some regions focus on maximizing efficiency and output, others prioritize sustainability, animal welfare, or antibiotic-free production.
By combining global nutritional science with local insight and flexibility, we deliver solutions that are both scientifically effective and practically relevant, ensuring consistent value for customers across diverse international markets.
How is technology transforming feed formulation and livestock productivity?
Technology is transforming feed formulation and livestock productivity by making nutrition more precise, data-driven, and responsive than ever before. At Hamlet Protein, we see this evolution as a combination of advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, connectivity, and real-time decision-making that enhances both productivity and sustainability across animal production systems.
Modern feed formulation is no longer based solely on static models. Today, AI-powered systems can integrate data such as animal genetics, ingredient variability, health status, environmental conditions, and market dynamics to create highly optimized nutritional programs.
One of the most significant advancements is precision feeding, where AI and sensor technologies allow nutrition strategies to be adjusted in real time according to the needs of individual animals or specific groups. This improves feed efficiency, growth performance, animal welfare, and reduces waste.
At the same time, automation enables feed mills and farms to respond quickly to changing ingredient quality or supply conditions. While technology provides powerful tools and predictive insights, the expertise of nutritionists remains essential in interpreting data and making biologically sound decisions that drive long-term productivity and innovation.
As a leadership team, how do you position Hamlet Protein as a global partner in young animal nutrition?
At Hamlet Protein, we position ourselves as a global partner in young animal nutrition by focusing on one essential principle: a strong nutritional start has a lifelong impact on animal health, welfare, and productivity. As the industry continues to reduce the use of antibiotic growth promoters and place greater emphasis on sustainable production, the demand for high-quality nutritional specialties for young animals is growing rapidly.
Young animals have immature gastrointestinal systems and limited ability to digest dietary protein efficiently during their early development stages. Whether in chicks, piglets, or calves, this critical growth period requires highly digestible, premium-quality protein sources that can support gut development, immunity, and performance. This is where Hamlet Protein brings significant value through scientifically developed soy-based specialty ingredients designed specifically for young animal nutrition.
As a leadership team, we focus on delivering consistent product quality, proven performance, and strong technical support worldwide. Our reputation as a premium brand has resulted in high customer loyalty, reinforcing Hamlet Protein’s position as a trusted global partner dedicated to helping producers achieve healthier animals and more sustainable business outcomes.
BIO – ERIK VISSER
Erik Visser (NL), has been the CEO of Hamlet Protein since 2019. He started his career in Latin America with Brenntag, living in five different countries in twelve years. Upon his return to Europe, he joined the animal nutrition industry. First with Provimi (NL), followed by Nutriad (BE), Adisseo (FR) and now with Hamlet Protein in Denmark. A people focused leader, Erik Visser has built strong relationships over the years and with his track record of driving growth in multinational companies he has gained the respect of his industry peers.
Learn more about Erik Visser: LinkedIn
Learn more about Hamlet Protein: www.hamletprotein.com
“Delivering science-driven nutrition solutions that support the health and performance of farm animals worldwide”
“Where premium protein innovation meets lifelong animal performance and producer success”
Company Name : Hamlet Protein
Website : https://hamletprotein.com/
Management Team
Erik Visser | CEO
