The Aquaculturists: November 2018

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Andrea Nagata joins Biorigin as Product Manager for animal nutrition

Graduate in Veterinary Medicine and postgraduate in Administration and Marketing, Andrea Nagata has more than 15 years of experience in multinational industries of the animal nutrition segment in the commercial and market and product development areas.

Andrea Nagata
Image credit: Biorigin

At Biorigin, she will work as a Product Manager, being responsible for the positioning of products, global sales strategy and follow-up and for the evaluation of new opportunities and launches.

According to Alessandro Rocha, the Feed Business Global Manager, "We are challenged with a bold growth. Our strategy is to add value to our client's products by offering innovative solutions. Having Andrea in the Feed team, as a link between the commercial and technical area and the market needs, reinforces our commitment to always provide the best to our clients".

For more information visit the Biorigin website, HERE.

The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd

For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news

Cargill grows business in Thailand with $70 million (USD) investment in seafood and poultry

Cargill has invested over $1.15 billion (USD) as it marks 50th anniversary in the country

Cargill in Thailand have announced its continuing commitment to the country with investments of more than $70 million USD over the next two years to address the increase in global demand of seafood and poultry consumption.

The $70 million investments are part of the company's global innovation strategy to leverage technology, in support of the needs of partners and customers. This includes technology implementation into the poultry supply chain, additional funds for the Technology Application Centre for research and development for the aquaculture industry and the expansion of a cooked poultry facility in Nakornratchasima, in Northeastern Thailand.

The company will also upgrade and refurbish an aqua feed production plant located in Petchaburi.

"These planned investments demonstrate our commitment to the communities and people of Thailand. We appreciate the Thai government's support of direct foreign investment which has allowed companies like Cargill to grow with the Thai economy and community over the last 50 years. By investing in technology innovation, we can make our supply chains as efficient and sustainable as possible – as we work to nourish those in Thailand and around the world," said Dave MacLennan, chairman and CEO of Cargill, during his visit for the 50th anniversary celebrations.

As part of Cargill's ongoing commitment to Thailand also includes investments in the local community, including efforts to equip more than 1,500 farmers with agricultural technical knowledge and training.

The company also works with local partners such as Save the Children Thailand to create nutrition initiatives for school-aged children and has been providing clean drinking water stations for schools, continually supporting schools around the company's facilities and building homes for rural residents.

Cargill has operated in Thailand for 50 years, opening of its first office in 1968. The company has invested more than $1.15 billion USD into its operations to-date across various businesses during its expansion and growth through the years, and currently has 14 facilities throughout the country with more than 17,000 employees.

For more information visit the Cargill website, HERE.

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Canada's seafood farmers launch National Youth Initiative

The Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance (CAIA) announced today the official launch of its National Youth Council.

"Seafood farming is a young and growing sector for Canada. We are delighted to be attracting top-caliber young people to create a strong and sustainable future. The diversity and strength of these young people is a testament to a bright future for our sector," said CAIA Executive Director, Timothy Kennedy.

CAIA established this National Youth Council to connect young professionals in Canada's aquaculture sector, to propose and develop ideas for the flourishing of the sector, and to be ambassadors for the sector.

"We have brought together a group of fourteen young people from across the country – seven women and seven men – to represent the growing presence of youth in this science, sustainability and future-oriented sector," said Mr Kennedy. "Representing six provinces, they are excited and eager to share their knowledge and passion for seafood farming. We look forward to their ideas and energy."

"We hail from across Canada's thriving seafood farming sector: finfish to shellfish, land-based to net-pens, freshwater to marine, industry to research," said RJ Taylor, inaugural Youth Council Chair. "And we all share the same passion for advancing this incredibly dynamic and sustainable sector. Thank you to CAIA's board and staff for this opportunity to collaborate with like-minded professionals in the time ahead!"

The Council members will convene their first face-to-face meeting at Canada's Farmed Seafood Policy Conference 2018 in Ottawa, Ontario on November 27th. Conference delegates will have the opportunity to learn more and to meet the council member at a dedicated breakfast event to open the event.

For more information visit the Canadian Aquaculture Industry Alliance website, HERE.

Plenty of fish: The future of aquaculture

An overview of Julian Conway McGill’s presentation from the BIOMIN World Nutrition Forum by Matt Holmes, Features editor, International Aquafeed

Dr Julian Conway McGill

Julian Conway McGill works for consultancy LMC international - a leading independent economic and business consultancy for the agribusiness sector around the world. Dr McGill is the head of south east Asia at LMC and he gave a presentation to the World Nutrition Forum in Cape Town, South Africa called: ‘Plenty of fish: How will the choice of species being domesticated influence aquafeed demand?’
The growth in beef production has been slower than pork and chicken. This also combines with the perceived health benefits of white meat.

“A less commonly noted though equally remarkable transformation, has been the growth in aquaculture production,” says Dr McGill. “Fish are even more efficient than livestock at converting feed into edible weight. As fish are buoyant, do not expend energy to warm their body and as they excrete nitrogen waste directly through their gills, they are able to channel more energy into weight gain than land animals.”

Livestock, by contrast, need to expend energy to stand, maintain their body temperature and convert ammonia into urea among other energy requiring functions.

“Aquaculture therefore has the potential to be a very efficient source of meat”, he continues. “At their most efficient, salmon can achieve a ratio of one-to-one, with each kilogram of feed resulting in a kilogram of additional meat. This makes them 20 times as efficient at converting feed to meat as cattle.”

Advantages of aquaculture
One of the challenging aspects of aquaculture is the sheer variety of different species in the sea with over 400 types of fish being successfully farmed as compared with fewer than 10 land animals. Dr McGill explains fish can be split into two broad categories: bulk white fish and luxury fish.

Bulk white fish farming has grown exponentially, thanks to its hardiness compared to higher value fish. These species provide protein at a low price and demand has been increasing with growing population. They have also replaced cheap fish from wild fisheries. The growth in these species has been predominantly driven by rapid production growth in China and South East Asia and is narrowly concentrated into three main groups: carp, catfish and tilapia.

Read more HERE.

Dabie Hatchery company profile

Dabie Hatchery was established in 2003 as a result of great passion and experience of two ichthyologists: Krzysztof Grecki and Jacek Juchniewicz. They both started operating as fish farmers in the 80’s. Thanks to their accumulated knowledge, the fish farms are designed to produce the best living conditions for fish while respecting the environment.

Breeding techniques implemented are unique and innovative. The team in place consists of skilled, highly qualified and devoted members. Veterinary and Sanitary standards are very high and maintaining them remains as one of our priority activities.

The eyed eggs are available all year round and are successfully sold in more than 30 countries. The operation process takes place in two highly specialized and modern farms: Dabie and Budowko located in the North of Poland around one and a half hours drive from Gdansk.

Visit the Dabie Hatchery website, HERE.

Monday, November 26, 2018

You can farm sea urchins?

by Rebecca Sherratt, Production editor, International Aquafeed

Sea urchins don’t immediately come to mind, when thinking of the variety of delectable goods we farm from the seas, but they soon might be. A team of three companies, based in Canada and Norway are researching into the perfect feed for sea urchins, to make this spiny echinoderm a popular food source for consumers worldwide.

Sea urchins (Echinoidea) come in 200 different varieties, distinctive by their long spikes completely covering their hard shells, which they use to move about and trap particles of food. They dwell upon the ocean floor and coral reefs worldwide, typically preferring warmer temperatures.

They are omnivorous creatures, but mainly feed upon algae on the rocks, and sometimes treating themselves to decomposing matter such as mussels, decomposing fish, sponges and barnacles (but this is not natural for them). They can live between 15 years to an astonishing 200 and can grow between 3-10cm in size.

Japan are, in fact, one of the only countries which farm and regularly eat sea urchins. Often compared to the taste of scallops, with a smooth and custard-like texture, the Japanese regularly have sea urchin (uni) sushi, and sea urchin roe, which is actually the reproductive organs of the sea urchin. Considered a delicacy, sea urchin roe can retail for over US $450 per kg, served raw as sashimi or often with soy sauce and wasabi. The Mediterranean often eat sea urchin with lemon, whilst in New Zealand ‘kina’ is the name of their raw delicacy of a sea urchin nature.

The companies behind the magic
Canadian company Green Seafoods is working with Memorial University scientists on grow-out trials for sea urchins. However, this isn’t the first time Green Seafoods have tried this. Back in 2000, the company tried similar tests, however, they came across issues when trying to use a feed which increased the roe to a marketable size.

Mark Sheppard, Operations Manager for Green Seafoods, describes the difficulty the company had in using the right kelp-based feed for the sea urchins; “fresh kelp is difficult to gather year-round here and when we fed [sea urchins] any fish for protein, they ended up tasting like what they had just eaten. We couldn’t sell them.” Despite the attempt all those years ago being a failure, Green Seafoods are now determined to try again, with the help of Norway-based Urchinomics.

Read more HERE.

Alltech company profile

In the 1970s, Alltech’s founder, Dr Pearse Lyons, immigrated to the United States with a dream: to sustain the planet and all things living on it. As an Irish scientist, he saw an opportunity to apply his yeast fermentation expertise to animal nutrition challenges, and his dream became a reality when he founded Alltech in 1980 with just $10,000.

Today, a global team of more than 5,000 people around the world shares this vision of sustaining and nourishing the world’s plants, animals and people.

Alltech deliver on this vision by improving plant, feed and food quality through nutrition and scientific innovation, particularly yeast-based technology. Their team is fully committed to helping plants and animals achieve their full potential while supporting producers in greater efficiency, profitability and sustainability.

Aquaculture
From gut health to mineral absorption, their nutritional technologies help aqua producers overcome challenges to support fish health and profitability. Alltech can help you with:

- Feed efficiency
- Antibiotic-free production
- Food enrichment
- Mycotoxin management
- Gut health management
- Protein management
- Enzyme management
- Mineral management

Alltech’s guiding principle
In all of these endeavors, they are guided by their ACE principle, their promise that in doing business they have a positive impact on the Animal, Consumer and Environment.

Visit the Alltech website, HERE.

Thursday, November 22, 2018

Supporting shrimp performance and health in reduced fishmeal diets with Prosaf

by Otavio Serino Castro and Nadège Richard, Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care, France

Fishmeal usage in commercial feeds has decreased from an average of 30 percent to 15 percent in recent years, subject to shrimp life stage, production systems and intensity. In addition, recent estimates suggest that fishmeal usage can be reduced further, potentially achieving average levels as low as 5 percent by 2025.

To nutritionally rebalance shrimp feed formulas, different strategies can be adopted using specific protein sources. These range from premium ingredients, such as soybean protein concentrate and krill meal, to lower grade alternatives like rapeseed meal, sunflower meal and rendered animal by-products, such as feathers and blood meal.

For each adopted strategy, nutritionists will assume different levels of risk when it comes to maintaining feed efficiency and growth performance. This is especially true for field conditions that impose additional challenges related to stress and shrimp health.

Challenges associated with low fishmeal diets for shrimp farming
Replacing fishmeal in shrimp diets can affect growth in several ways. Among the main factors which limit alternative protein utilisation are the reduced digestibility of essential nutrients; decreased attractiveness and palatability, and the presence of anti-nutritional factors that might not be completely inactivated or destroyed during feed processing.

The reduction of nutrient digestibility in alternative protein sources is generally linked to higher fibre and ash content; the presence of antinutritional factors, such as phytic acid which can bind essential nutrients, and losses which occur during ingredient storage and processing, which are generally caused by reduced freshness, high temperatures or chemical treatments.

Antinutritional factors also not only negatively impact shrimp performance by making nutrients unavailable, but also due to direct action on digestive and metabolic functions, enzymes activity, nutrients transport, etc.

The behavioural response of farmed shrimp to feed in the water, such as feed detection, orientation and movement, is moderated by the presence of chemical signals in the water. The most powerful of these attractants are small water-soluble molecules such as amino acids, small peptides, amines, nucleotides, nucleosides and quaternary ammonium bases. Reducing these key compounds, which are generally found in fishmeal and marine ingredients, can compromise the attractiveness and palatability of the feed concerned.

Read more HERE.

Visit the Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care website, HERE.

Dibaq company profile

Dibaq a.s. has been a member of Dibaq Group of Spain since 2001, Dibaq Group deals with the development, research and production of pet food and feed for livestock, salt-water and fresh-water fish. In its 30 companies operating in 30 countries across four continents, the group has a workforce of over 1,100 employees.

One of the group's strengths is the cohesion among the individual companies, which enables Dibaq to offer top-level comprehensive services on all markets.

Headquartered in Helvíkovice, Dibaq a.s. currently has 134 employees to support a full range of services associated with supplying our customers with nutrition programmes and feed. This comprises research and development, production, distribution and comprehensive customer care including consulting.

Company mission
Be a top-quality professional producer and distributor in Central, Eastern and South-East Europe.

Company Vision
Ensure customer, employee and product user satisfaction by professionalism and approach.

Product Portfolio
Dibaq a.s. offers a wide range of products. It is based on the Fitmin nutrition programmes for dogs, cats and horses, which take a comprehensive approach to animal feed in that it not only considers what the animals like but mainly what they need based on their lifestyle. A major part in the product range of Dibaq a.s. is played by the brand Dibaq itself, which represents complete feed and supplements for pets and livestock.

Read more HERE.

Permira funds announces investment in one of Asia’s leading aquatic feed producers

Permira funds, a global investment firm and Grobest (Ye Cherng Industrial Products Co., Ltd), one of the largest independent and most advanced producers of aquatic feed in Asia, have announced that a company backed by the Permira funds, will acquire 50 percent of the shares of Grobest. This will occur through a new joint venture company that will become the sole corporate shareholder of Grobest after closing.

Image credit: Foodista on Flickr
(CC BY 2.0)

A shareholder group led by Grobest CEO Ko Chi-kang and Chairman Chen Chun-ping, will also retain a 50 percent stake in Grobest. Founded in 1974 and headquartered in Taiwan, Grobest has operations in Taiwan, Vietnam, Thailand, China, India, Indonesia, Philippines, and Malaysia.

In addition to this broad presence across Asia, the world's largest aquaculture market, Grobest is also a pioneer and technological leader in an array of innovative and differentiated functional feed products, focused on preventing and combating diseases as well as increasing yields. Furthermore, the company provides a full range of services and technical assistance to farmers throughout Asia, including pond maintenance, water treatment, and soil and disease testing.

Read the full article on the International Aquafeed website, HERE.

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

A view on cage culture in inland open waters in India

by Dr B Laxmappa, Department of Fisheries, India

Globally, India stands second in inland fish production next to China, but there is a huge gap in fish production between these two leading aquaculture countries. The prime objective of cage culture in inland open water is the stocking of reservoirs and culture of economically important fishes for augmenting fish production.

Cage culture in inland open waters is being evaluated as an opportunity to use existing reservoirs and meet the increasing demand for animal protein in the country. Reservoirs in India offer substantial scope for implementation of technology for intensive cage farming to realise water productivity, entrepreneurship and employment opportunities.

Cage culture
Cage culture is an emerging technology through which fishes are reared from fry to fingerling, and then from fingerling to marketable size while kept captive in an enclosed space that maintains the free exchange of water with the surrounding water body. A cage is enclosed on all sides with mesh netting made from synthetic material that resists decomposition in water for a long period of time.

In India, cage culture in inland water bodies was initiated for the first time in air breathing fishes in swamps, for raising major carps in running waters in Jamuna and Ganga at Allahabad, and for raising carps, snakeheads, and tilapia in lentic (still water) bodies of Karnataka.

Thereafter the cages have been used for rearing fry in many reservoirs and floodplain wetlands to produce advanced fingerlings for stocking main water bodies. India has 19,370 reservoirs spread over 15 states with an estimated 3.15 million ha surface area at full capacity, and this is expected to increase due to the execution of various water projects in the country.

Evolution of cage culture
In India, the Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) attempted cage culture in the 1970s with the production of air-breathing fish in cages. Subsequently, trials with major carps were conducted in cages installed in river Yamuna and Ganga at Allahabad. Similar attempts were made with common carp, silver carp, rohu, snakeheads and tilapia in a still water body of Karnataka. The growth of cage farming got momentum during 2010-2012 with funding support from National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), National Mission on Protein Supplementation (NMPS), Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY), etc. This paved a way for the dissemination and adoption of this technology in a number of reservoirs belonging to more than 15 states in ‘Mission Mode’ through NMPS scheme. The states of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have widely adopted and upscaled cage culture technology.

Read more HERE.

Kaeser Kompression company profile

Kaeser Kompression provides products, services and complete systems for supplying production and work processes with quality compressed air. The system solutions comprise compressed air generation and treatment and are designed for optimal overall efficiency. The company was founded in 1919 and is represented throughout the world by a comprehensive network of branch offices and strong partners.

Visit the Kaeser Kompression website, HERE.

Tuesday, November 20, 2018

How wood can bridge the protein gap

by Amélie Drouault & Emily Glenn, Arbiom, USA

Projections indicate that, by 2050, animal-derived protein is expected to double to more than 465 million tonnes of meat and one billion tons of milk. As demand continues to expand, there are growing concerns about the availability of resources—including fish meal and fish oil—to safely and sustainably feed the world.

Considering fish protein already contributes 17 percent of the global human population’s intake of animal protein, it is safe to say this trend is a major societal concern. Aquaculture, due to its high feed conversion ratio and low land utilisation, must step up to the challenge of feeding our growing global population and increasing appetites for more animal protein. In order to sustainably and economically expand production of farmed fish and shellfish, aquaculture producers are fast searching for new solutions and innovations to improve their operations across the production process.

In particular, feed is one area that offers a host of opportunities to both improve animal and, thereby, human nutrition, as well as reduce agriculture’s impact on the environment. There are several challenges currently facing feed formulators when it comes to sourcing raw materials – including volatile pricing, inconsistent quality, toxicity and rancidity risk, lack of transparency/traceability, biodiversity and environmental concerns. These challenges are encouraging aquafeed producers to find new solutions that deliver improved animal nutrition and cost-performance and have minimal impact on biodiversity and the environment.

As we approach the limits of conventional agricultural production systems, alternative protein sources are emerging and could expand to encompass up to a third of the market by 2054. In this article, we will explore the advancement of alternative protein sources to complement fish meal with a focus on Single Cell Proteins (SCPs) derived from an unlikely source.

Introducing Single Cell Proteins
As aquafeed producers have searched for new resources to meet protein demand, much of the focus has centered around a two-fold question: How can we produce more food using less resource inputs while also reducing agriculture’s impact on the environment and biodiversity?

Single Cell Proteins (SCPs) include microbes such as yeast, fungi, bacteria and microalgae, which can be produced via fermentation, requiring less land, water and fertilizer than traditional plant or animal sources. Several strains of SCP’s can serve as high-quality protein sources for aquafeed, with high protein content and essential amino acids, along with micronutrients.

Wood as a solution
Until recently, SCP’s potential was limited due to production challenges. Producing a high-protein SCP product in commercially-relevant volumes for animal feed in a way that is both economical at a commercial scale and safe in terms of feedstock and production inputs simply has not been achieved.

Read more HERE.

Visit the Arbiom website, HERE.

FishFarmFeeder company profile

FishFarmFeeder is a company founded in 2008 that only manufactures aquaculture feeding systems with a complete catalogue of solutions.

Feeders can be customised for each fish farm and species:

- Centralised Feeders
- Hatchery Feeders
- Feed Barges
- Cannon Feeders

FishFarmFeeder can customise their feeders adapting the performance to each fish farmer.

Visit FishFarmFeeder website, HERE.

Kaohsiung hosts the fourth Taiwan International Fisheries and Seafood Show

The Taiwan International Fisheries and Seafood Show 2018, jointly organised by the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) and My Exhibition Co Ltd, will be held at the Kaohsiung Exhibition Centre for three days, starting from November 21st, 2018.

www.taiwanfishery.com

The event this year is the fourth showcase of the exhibition, with more than 160 exhibitors from a total of 18 countries participating, both from home and abroad, and over 300 booths occupied. In addition, the Cross-Strait Fisheries and Seafood Show is also being held there concurrently, which makes this years TIFSS undoubtedly the best platform for domestic and international exhibitors and buyers from the fishery industry to arrange businesses with one another.

Kaohsiung is an important international fishery harbour situated in Taiwan, facing the vast ocean. It plays an important role in Taiwan's high-yield production industrial chain.
Holding a fishery exhibition in Kaohsiung is of special significance, exhibiting the government and the industry's intention to further expand the international marine economy. Taiwan is a major fishery nation in Asia, ranking the world's 20th in catch numbers and with the 17th largest aquaculture industry, also leading the world as the country with the most foreign fishing vessels. The exhibition integrates the entire upstream and downstream industry chain, including the following five exclusive areas:

Fishing equipment and technology,

Aquaculture,

Seafood and value-added seafood,

Seafood processing equipment,

Marine biotechnology,

The 2018 Results Presentation by New Generation of Aquaculture and the 2018 Aquaculture Youth Forum event was held for the first tie today also. Lu Jingying, nicknamed the Queen of the Milkfish, and over 100 major young breeders were invited to share their experiences, and also to participate in discussions and interact with one another, which was received with a great response. This fully represents the diversified development of Taiwan's fishery industry and the integration and innovation of different generations.

Read more about the event HERE.

Monday, November 19, 2018

Wynveen International company profile

Wynveen International B.V. is a leading Dutch company, specialising in the design, manufacture and installation of complete mills for the animal feed industry.

With a knowledgeable, experienced and enthusiastic team, the company focuses on the development and construction of high-quality innovative equipment and installations for animal feed, aqua feed and pet food manufacture.

In addition to turnkey projects, their core products are hammer mills, ribbon and paddle mixers, double-shaft paddle mixers, rotary sifters and coaters for liquids (vacuum and atmospheric).

Approximately 80 percent of their products are exported. In order to guarantee its high quality standards, Wynveen assembles and tests all its key equipment in-house.

Wynveen always aims to fully understand customer requirements, working in partnership with customers and using all their accumulated knowledge and experience to deliver the optimum, often highly innovative, technological solution.

That’s why their company motto is: ‘Versatility in feed processing’.

Visit the company website, HERE.

NOAA awards $11 million to accelerate US aquaculture research

In October the NOAA announced 22 research grants totalling $11 million for projects around the country designed to expand sustainable US ocean, coastal and Great Lakes aquaculture.

"Growth in the domestic aquaculture industry holds great promise to create jobs and reduce our dependence on seafood imports," said Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross. "With such vast coastlines, there is no reason the United States should be importing billions of pounds of seafood each year."

Joe Harned hauls in a line of floating oyster cages at Morris Family Shellfish Farms in Sea Level, North Carolina, where he is sampling oysters grown using various gear tested by the Sea Grant National Aquaculture Initiative
Image credit: NOAA

The aquaculture research grants, conducted through the 2018 Sea Grant National Aquaculture Initiative, will help address priorities set by the US Department of Commerce and NOAA to support research to advance marine aquaculture.

The grants are for three-year projects that will address priorities such as:
• supporting new domestic aquaculture systems or technologies
• communicating accurate, science-based information about the benefits and risks of marine aquaculture to the public
• increasing the resiliency of aquaculture systems to natural hazards and changing environmental conditions

"Aquaculture is gaining momentum as a reliable, safe and sustainable source of food in the US, and we are excited to contribute to the growing industry and body of knowledge that supports it," said Jonathan Pennock, National Sea Grant College program director.

The grant recipients must also match 50 percent of their funding with non-federal funds. Reflecting the growing interest in the aquaculture industry, NOAA received 100 proposals in total requesting nearly $48 million in federal funds.

For a full list and short descriptions of the 22 grant projects, visit the NOAA Sea Grant website, HERE.

BAP two stars for The Scottish Salmon Company

With the certification of two of its processing plants, The Scottish Salmon Company is the first salmon producer in the United Kingdom eligible to offer two-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) salmon.

The company's processing plants at Marybank in Stornoway and at Loch Fyne in Cairndow. This announcement comes about six months after The Scottish Salmon Company became the UK's first salmon producer to be awarded BAP certification for all its marine farm sites, which total 46.

Image credit: BAP Certification

"Our processing facilities at Marybank and Cairndow are incredibly important to our operations. To be awarded a two-star certification just six months after our first BAP [certification] not only recognises the commitment and expertise of our people, but also reinforces our exacting standards in producing the best quality Scottish salmon," said Craig Anderson, CEO of The Scottish Salmon Company.

He continued, "Developing a platform for responsible business growth continues to be a core priority as we look forward. These new BAP certifications will help strengthens our commitment and passion for Scottish provenance and quality and continue to drive our international export strategy."

"This is a major milestone for BAP certification in Europe and in particular for the Scottish salmon-farming industry," added Mike Berthet, BAP market development manager for Europe. "Not only does this reflect the importance that The Scottish Salmon Company places on producing nutritious aquaculture to BAP's exacting standards but it also enables more retailers and foodservice operators around the world who subscribe to Global Sustainable Seafood Initiative (GSSI) within their sourcing policies, to add BAP Scottish salmon to their range."

Administered by GAA, BAP is a third-party aquaculture certification program, with standards encompassing environmental responsibility, social responsibility, food safety, animal health and welfare, and traceability. The BAP program covers the entire aquaculture production chain – processing plants, hatcheries, farms and feed mills.

Additionally, the program is compliant with the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI), Global Social Compliance Programme (GSCP) and GSSI. The number of BAP-certified processing plants, farms, hatcheries and feed mills currently totals more than 2,100 worldwide.

Visit the BAP Certification website, HERE.
Visit the Scottish Salmon Company website, HERE.

Sunday, November 18, 2018

Seaweeds: A multi-purposed bioresource well-suited for Integrated Sequential BioRefinery (ISBR) processing

by Dr Thierry Chopin

For the last six decades, westerners have been eating/using seaweeds without really knowing it because it has been through extracts known as phycocolloids – the gelling, thickening, emulsifying, binding, stabilising, clarifying and protecting agents known as carrageenans and agars (extracted from red seaweeds) and alginates (extracted from brown seaweeds) – used in the food, brewing, textile, pharmaceutical, biotechnological, coating, drilling, etc industries.

Why is your ice cream smooth and not full of big ice crystals? It contains carrageenans! The cocoa powder of your chocolate dairy drink is not all at the bottom of the bottle and you believe the product has not been on the shelf long: the microscopic carrageenan mesh did it again! Green olives with pimento strips inserted in the pit hole? Sorry, these strips are made of a carrageenan paste with a colourant and antioxidant (asthaxanthin from microalgae) and two drops of artificial pimento flavour! For fast relief of heartburn, you can take alginate tablets or liquids, which block acid reflux from your stomach. Some breweries have a clarifying step for your beer that involves the red seaweed called Irish moss.

Fine printing on textile/silk is only possible if the material has been soaked in a carrageenan or alginate solution, which will then keep the dye in place. All the DNA analyses used to identify who did the crime on the CSI television series: banding patterns on agar gels! How is the gyprock in your garage flame-retardant certified? It is coated with alginates. Wonder why the water does not go through the paper goblets of your water fountain at work? They are coated with carrageenans. Underground drilling is quite tough on bits; they need to be cooled down with alginate mud.

Read more HERE.

Liptosa company profile

LípidosToledo SA began in 1996 as a family business and under the guidance of a group of professionals with extensive experience in the Animal Nutrition field.

From the outset, the company's mission has been to provide its clients with personalised service and efficient, natural products that are able to meet the demands of the sector.

In 2000 Lípidos Toledo SA moved its facilities, building a modern manufacturing plant in Talavera de la Reina (Toledo, Spain). In 2012 it acquired a new industrial warehouse in the vicinity of the main facilities where the manufacturing of the powder additives takes place and a third storage warehouse.

With these new facilities Lípidos Toledo SA is able to have separate manufacturing lines for the different products they manufacture, avoiding the risk of cross contamination.

Furthermore, the new facilities enable the company to manufacture products with fishmeal derivatives, allowing the company further expansion, mainly in the aquaculture range.

The facilities allow the manufacture of nutritional products, liquid and powder based phytobiotic additives, nutraceutical products and nutritional and specialty products without any risk of the products becoming cross contaminated.

In 2010, Lípidos Toledo SA acquired a large office space at C/ San Romualdo 12-14 in Madrid, Spain where all logistics work is carried out. This enables Lípidos Toledo SA to fulfil its objective of manufacturing products of the highest quality and providing its clients the best service.

Visit the Liptoaqua website, HERE.

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Do not fool yourself!

by Sven-Olof Malmqvist

Just arrived back from China and made some reflections. The cuisine they have in Eastern China, or at least in Nanjing, the capital of the Jiangsu province, is very fresh and tasty, much better than in many other places in China.The Moutai, the distilled Chinese liquor produced from fermented sorghum, can taste very different depending on the brand. Another note in my book is the number of people, even in a remote city, is massive. When taking the high-speed train from Shanghai to Nanjing I asked someone about the population and the reply was that it is not a big city, just seven to eight million people.

In Sweden we have a total number of nine million, so you understand where I am coming from! Walking around in these cities feels quite safe even during the evening/night but one thing you have to be observe is the silent electrical vehicles suddenly turning up behind you.

I´d really like to have a couple of those at my farm, very practical ones, worked like small trucks. Another fancy one I saw, in an office, was very tiny and could be folded and carried on the train and onto other mean of transportation.

Read more HERE.

IFIF and FAO strengthen collaboration on critical issues at 17th annual meeting

The International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) held their 17th annual meeting at FAO Headquarters on 8 – 9th November 2018 to further strengthen their collaboration on critical issues to ensure safe, nutritious and sustainable feed and food.

Mr Bukar Tijani, FAO Assistant Director-General for Agriculture and Consumer Protection, welcomed delegates and highlighted the importance of private partnerships to support the FAO goals to the IFIF delegates representing over 80 percent of global compound feed production.

Image credit: IFIF

The meeting was officially opened by Dr Berhe G. Tekola, Director of the FAO Animal Production and Health Division and Dr Daniel Bercovici, IFIF Chairman, who welcomed delegates and reiterated their commitment to this longstanding partnership and agreed to continue to strengthen their work together to tackle the challenges facing the feed and food chain.

Mr Bercovici said, "our joint meeting with the FAO once again underlined our strong partnership and IFIF is committed to continue to support the FAO initiatives on capacity development for feed safety, the Global Agenda for Sustainable Livestock and LEAP, as well joint efforts on feed and food safety at the Codex Alimentarius. IFIF looks forward to our upcoming 6th Global Feed & Food Congress and 12th International Feed Regulators Meeting (IFRM) in Bangkok on 11 – 14th March 2019, which is another great example of IFIF FAO collaboration positively impacting the feed and food chain."

Mr Bercovici added that, "together with the dedicated colleagues at the FAO we contribute to building a solid science-based approach to support safe and sustainable animal nutrition to bring quality and affordable food to a growing world population, producing more with less and even better under diverse production systems. The high quality of exchanges and cooperation towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) continue to build on our achievements and together with all IFIF members I am pleased our relationship continues to strengthen year to year."

Daniela Battaglia, Animal Production Officer at the Animal Production and Health Division of the FAO, said, "FAO and IFIF have a long standing partnership and this meeting addressed a number of critical issues of common interest, such as the need for capacity development to ensure feed safety and the importance of collaborating to tackle the containment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). FAO is committed to work with the private sector and the feed operators and believes that they can valuably contribute to make the livestock and food sectors more responsible and sustainable to achieve important goals such as public health, and animal health and welfare."

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Visit the FAO website, HERE.

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