IFFO looks into the protein challenge at its Members’ Meeting

Complementarity was a key theme of presentations at the IFFO Members’ Meeting held in Madrid from May 2 to 3, 2023, attended by 220 Members from 29 countries. 

IFFO’s Director General, Petter Martin Johannessen stated, “Marine ingredients are central to every discussion on feed because of a combination of factors, among which: growing nutritional needs, demands for improving the food production system’s carbon footprint; and constant progress on assuring traceability and responsible practices. Looking at each of these factors, marine ingredients check all the boxes: a stable global volume of supply, an unmatched nutritional package, a very low carbon profile compared to other feed ingredients and the highest certification credentials, at 50 percent of global production.”

The protein challenge is underpinned by a deficit in feed ingredients of 30-40 million tons to meet FAO’s goal of fed aquaculture production in 2030. 

Diversity is the way forward, with several implications: by-products utilisation must be encouraged and the use of fishmeal and fish oil combined with that of additional feed ingredients. 

Multiple parameters have to be taken into account so as to meet the nutritional needs of fish produced by the aquaculture sector while minimising environmental impacts. A panel discussion on novel ingredients addressed the need for a step by step approach to achieve production to scale up and also addressed ideas around collaboration between feed ingredients producers. 

Complementarity doesn’t apply only to ingredients profiles but also to the way ingredients should be assessed: it is not the case of using isolated metrics such as feed conversion ratios but to consider a wide range of parameters which complement each other in order to provide a holistic view. 

Finally, the environmental and the social approaches complement each other nicely when it comes to setting standards for the industry and driving positive changes. Environmental concerns first pushed the responsible sourcing agenda but public reporting documenting commitments to ESG policies and covering the supply chain are now demanded. 

Summaries of discussion are now available here. 

The Aquaculturists

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