Innovation for more sustainable aquaculture nutrition
People care about the environmental impact and the nutritional quality of their seafood. They are willing to pay for it too. Retailers are therefore looking for products with strong connections to these consumer values on health and sustainability.
As the implementation of sustainability deepens, we see traceability going as far back as feed ingredients and how they count towards the credentials of protein products. But it’s only possible for producers to manage and reduce the impacts of their production if they first can measure them. Doing this accurately, requires a consistent, science-based and credible approach.
Measurement with Sustell™
To enable the industry on their journey to more sustainable animal protein production, DSM developed Sustell™ . Sustell TM is an intelligent sustainability service, combining an advanced Blonk APS environmental footprinting tool, that utilizes real farm data, with expert knowledge and tailor-made, practical solutions and business development projects to unlock the value of sustainability.
Understanding the footprint of an enterprise is often a good business diagnostic. Sustell™ enables animal protein companies to assess their environmental footprints at the farm level identifying inefficiencies in the farming system by accurately footprinting the farm. Improvements made as a result of Sustell™ help ensure the long term sustainability and profitability of the farming business.
Feed innovation with Veramaris
Veramaris is a certified sustainable natural algal oil which contains the highest levels of EPA & DHA Omega-3s. It is the first microalgae for feed producer to achieve ASC-MSC certification. The algal oil is being used across the aquaculture value chain to reduce risk, supplement and even replace the use of fish oil to supply both the necessary EPA and DHA in aquaculture feed.
Both EPA and DHA are critical for human and animal health. Farmed fish receive these though their feed, traditionally supplied in the form of fish oil. The omega-3 richness of that oil, in turn, has implications for the quality and nutritional profile of the end product.
Innovative feed ingredients like Veramaris’ algal oil is helping partners along the aquaculture value chain consistently deliver the necessary levels of EPA & DHA Omega-3 in their feed while reducing the environmental impacts of the feed ingredients they use. This is helping the industry deliver on consumer demands for more sustainable and consistently nutritious seafood.
The evolution towards radical transparency of the food sector will require changes to be made along the entire value chain. Innovations like Sustell and Veramaris are helping producers to respond to these trends and enable the sustainable growth of aquaculture within our planetary boundaries.
Join the DSM and Veramaris team in person during their conference session at Aquaculture UK on Tuesday 3 May at 4pm in the conference tent.