Aller Aqua and fishmeal producer team up on functional marine ingredient research

30-Aug-2019 - Last updated on 10-Sep-2019 at 15:09 GMT

Danish companies, fish feed manufacturer, Aller Aqua, and fishmeal and fish oil producer, TripleNine, have entered a research collaboration to identify components of marine raw materials that may benefit fish health and growth.

TripleNine has been working in this area for several years; the company has now managed to extract a highly concentrated source of phospholipids from marine resources for use in fish feed.

Aller Aqua will trial the newly developed ingredient in fry feed at its test facility in Germany, said Dr Hanno Slawski, Group R&D director, Aller Aqua.

These highly concentrated marine phospholipids mimic parts of the natural food of the fry very closely, he told us.

Fry grows fast compared to their size, and thus create a lot of cells. Phospholipids are considered the building stones of cell walls and thus it is important for the development of healthy, flexible and functional cells that the fry are well supplied with feed high in such ingredients, he explained.

Marine phospholipids, according to the literature, contain long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, among other components, and have a broad spectrum of health benefits for both animals and humans.

Trial work

Marine phospholipids could also work as a substitute for vegetable derived lecithin, said the R&D director.

Aller Aqua will now look to validate the benefits of the marine derived ingredient in feed formulations for freshly hatched rainbow trout, comparing marine phospholipids with vegetable lecithin sources.

The company will start producing the test feed in the next weeks and the trials will start in October: “It will take a couple of months before we have results to share,” he said.

Upgrading existing raw materials

“Due to the scarcity of fishmeal and fish oil, we need to make maximum use of what is available,” stressed Slawski.

He sees the optimization of by-products for feed as the more sustainable option.

“There is a lot of research going on, investment into the development of new raw materials such as insect, bacterial and algae derived meal, but, for the moment, we don’t see much in the way of big production volumes or affordable prices in relation to those. Very few [actors] are looking at refining or upgrading existing raw materials, whether that is fishmeal or soybean meal, or poultry meal or feather meal, and, yet, there is great value in doing that.”

Kenneth Storbank, chief commercial officer, TripleNine, in a release, weighed in on that: “As the aquaculture sector aims to increase sustainability, we, as marine ingredient developers, need to aid the process by introducing and actively collaborating to test product improvements and alternatives to the already known products.”