Wants to reduce dependence on marine ingredients.
In a press release, the Chilean salmon feed producer Salmofood Vitapro Chile (a division of Peruvian consumer goods giant Alicorp) writes that it has just reached the first milestone of its trial to produce Atlantic salmon feed without marine ingredients.
In the study at the company’s Experimental Aquaculture Centre (CEA), Salmofood wrote that the fish have already reached half their production cycle without feeding on fish flour or oil.
“We are doing several things in our new experimental center. There, we have carried out digestibility tests of new raw materials, tests of additives that are emerging and we want to support the sustainability of the industry by removing flour and fish oil contents from the diets,” said Vitapro Chile Feed Technology Manager Pablo Leyton.
“We already have a fishmeal-free diet, but this development we are launching would be totally free of marine proteins and lipids, using alternative sources of omega-3s, such as microalgae oils in return,” Leyton said, adding that they hope to bond with suppliers of these ingredients, as well as explore the possibilities offered by genetically modified canola oil.
“We have taken the last step in the quest to reduce dependence on marine inputs. This allows us to alleviate the demand for pelagic fishing and to show, in order to the cultivation of salmonids, that the knowledge generated allows us to establish formulation criteria that can vary from the current levels of use of fishmeal and fish oil to values that allow us, under the circumstances, to dispense with them,” Leyton added.
