Entobel, the Vietnam-based supplier of insect protein feed ingredients, has won the first ever Aquaculture Innovation Challenge. According to the jury, Entobel “has a really good business approach, has been proven to be successful in the world already and is part of the race for a sustainable protein supply.\" The winning team received the $10,000 cash prize and met with investors, both of which will help them scale up their business.

A new project led by Luke\'s Research Scientist Risto Korpinen is investigating the possibility of using sawdust as a protein ingredient in fish feeds. The project, called \"MonoCell – High-quality single cell protein for fish feed,\" is aiming to make high quality single-cell protein out of sawdust, which could later on be developed into fish feed. Korpinen believes that wood-based protein has a realistic chance of becoming a serious option for fish feed. Pulp mills have the right facilities to develop and use the MonoCell innovation and, thus, create new business for themselves.

Olam International Limited has begun production at its integrated fish feed and poultry mill at Ilorin in Kwara State, Nigeria. Olam’s advanced new fish feed manufacturing facility will boost feed supply to help meet rising demand in Nigeria for fish, which is currently two million metric tonnes per year. The Kwara mill has an initial capacity of 75,000 metric tonnes of fish feed per annum that can be further scaled up. Olam estimates that its local sourcing of raw materials such as soybeans, corn and cassava for its animal feed operations will positively impact more than 300,000 smallholder crop farmers.

During a recent training program on aquaculture, the Director of Fisheries for emphasized the importance of preparing farm-made feed using locally available ingredients. He stressed that an economically viable feed will be essential to growing the regional aquaculture industry.

Earlier this year, the Zambian government acquired a US$50 million loan from the African Development Bank to boost the fish industry in Zambia. The government has already begun using the funds to build the capacity of the aquaculture industry, including providing funding for research on nutrition and aquatic feed formulation.

BioMar has announced that the acquisition of Alimentsa is now completed, and as of September 13 the company is officially part of the BioMar Group. BioMar will take over 70% of the shares of Alimentsa, representing an investment of 119 million USD. “It is our strong belief that we through an integration of Alimentsa in BioMar Group will be able to deliver a new high-end value proposition to the Latin American farmers by merging the highly recognized products and technical services from Alimentsa with our innovative and proven approach to R&D, sustainability and feed efficiency.\"

Ridley Corporation Limited has announced the successful results of recent L. vannamei shrimp feed trials, in which a Novacq™ inclusive diet significantly outperformed the same Ridley diet without Novacq™. The trial delivered strong growth and survival rates, and target harvest weights were reached after only 50 days compared to the traditional 70 day cycle. This biomass improvement would enable farmers to increase their production cycles from the typical current three harvests per annum to four, which equates to a 33% combined improvement in biomass and productivity.

The “global hub of excellence for aqua research” will accelerate collaborative work in more aquaculture species

IFFO has published a letter to The Economist and position paper in response to a scientific paper indicating there is a potential for fishmeal used in aquaculture feed to be a vector for antibiotic resistant genes.

Animal health and nutrition company, Alltech, and Danish agribusiness player, the DLG Group, have announced a tie-up in the Russia market. “We have been in collaborative talks with DLG for the past few months. We are awaiting the go-ahead from the Russian authorities before we can reveal more about the joint venture.

Danish firm Aliga is seeking cooperation with the major fish feed players to use its microalgae-derived products in aquafeed formulations. “One big problem for feed manufacturers when it comes to microalgae-derived ingredients is finding steady and reliable supply of sufficient volumes. With our technology, we believe we can provide those volumes, as we have a continuous production of high quality biomass, which we harvest daily.\"

BioMar earned the top ranking in the 2017 benchmark report on Salmon Industry Transparency for their transparent reporting on sustainability. Being sustainable has become a ‘ticket to trade’ for BioMar and they have increased the sourcing novel raw materials to help drive their sustainability agenda. The benchmark report states that BioMar has a ‘can and must do’ attitude towards sustainability. “Sustainability has always been at the core of BioMar operations however only in recent years have we seen the importance of qualitatively reporting what we have done and what we are planning to do.”

KnipBio Inc. announced it has completed the development of a novel microorganism capable of providing taurine missing from many commercial fish feeds. “We have been refining our synthetic biology toolkit for the past 3 years, with the goal of developing multiple strains of microorganisms capable of producing SCP as protein source alternative that can meet the unique immuno-nutritional needs of specific targeted aquaculture species like salmon and shrimp. As a demonstration of the power of the synthetic biology tools, our research team undertook the task of developing a microbial strain able to produce taurine in meaningful amounts. We were able to do so within three months, much less time than originally anticipated. Importantly, our scientists achieved this result while still retaining the microorganism’s ability to produce protein and anti-oxidants at the desired levels.”

There has been considerable confusion over extralabel use of VFD drugs as described by the Compliance Policy Guideline (CPG) released in December 2016. What may be of most interest in this document is the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) Medicated Feed subsection that covers what a veterinarian must do when authorizing the extralabel use of a VFD medicated feed for a minor species such as fish. 

The American Feed Industry Association\'s third-party certification program, FSC36 Safe Feed/Safe Food, has released a new guidance document that helps pet and animal food manufacturers better understand what is required of them through the Food Safety Modernization Act. The updated guidance document-version 7.0-now includes a section on current good manufacturing practices (CGMP) and FSMA record-keeping requirements, as well as instructions on how to develop a site-specific food safety plan and hazard analysis.

A new contest to innovate a fish oil alternative that doesn’t rely on wild-caught fish officially launched this week. The F3 Fish Oil Challenge will award a $100,000 prize to the company or team that makes and sells the most fish-free “fish oil” to aquaculture operations or feed manufacturers. The goal of the Challenge is to accelerate the availability of cost-competitive, viable alternatives to fish oil that provide the essential nutritional components for fish that at the same time help reduce demand for wild-caught for fish feed and enhance food security. “We are seeking innovators who do not accept business-as-usual and will apply their ingenuity to make aquaculture industry more feasible, and more environmentally responsible now and in the future.”

Whole Foods will offer lower prices on a selection of best-selling grocery staples across its stores, including responsibly-farmed salmon and tilapia. “We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality. We will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards.”

The European Commission is seeking comments on the existing EU feed additive regulations to asses if it is still relevant. The legislation is open for public comment until September 25, 2017. 

The National Aquaculture and Fisheries Authority (AUNAP) is conducting research on freshwater artemia as part of its work to validate new technology and innovations to reduce production costs in aquaculture. Freshwater artemia can be used as live food as native fish feed such as \"bocachico\" (Prochilodus magdalenae) and \"dorada\" (Brycon moorei sinuensis), in their larval phases. After several analyzes and studies, researchers found two different types of freshwater artemias and are working to determine their behavior in captivity and how they would be helpful to feed larvae.

A team of researchers in China has found 132 antibiotic resistant genes (ARG\'s) in commercially available fishmeal. The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology, investigated high-throughput ARG profiles in representative fishmeal products and the impact of fishmeal on the sediment resistome. \"Our study has revealed for the first time that fishmeal itself is a major reservoir for ARGs, and the shift in the bacterial community induced by the nutrients in fishmeal is the main driver shaping the resistome in mariculture microcosm sediment. Our findings caution against the previously unperceived risk of ARG propagation in fishmeal-receiving ecosystems.\"