Pelleting swine feed increases its temperature, which has made people worry about causing the Maillard reaction and thus, making the amino acids less digestible. Several studies in the past have evaluated the pelleting process and shown that this reaction is not likely to occur, but what if more reducing sugars were added? In this episode, I talk to Dr. Kara Dunmire about her search for an answer to that question by testing the availability of amino acids in swine diets with high levels of reducing sugars and free amino acids.

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Meet the guest:

Dr. Kara Dunmire is originally from Pennsylvania, where she got her B.S. from Penn State. She then transferred to Texas A&M University, where she earned her M.S. in Swine Nutrition. In 2018, she began her Ph.D. research at the Feed Science Department of Kansas State University with a focus on ingredient quality and amino acid digestibility. She received her degree in 2022, and has recently begun working at Purina as a Process R&D Scientist.