In early 2015, Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and fish and shrimp feed, plans to launch a shrimp feed called “MicroBalance” with reduced-fishmeal!

The feed has been in the works for years, but commercial trials in Ecuador, Brazil and Vietnam were successfully completed in 2014, and a launch is expected in the coming months, said Nutreco CEO Knut Nesse.

This product is expected to be “commercially meaningful” for Skretting, Nutreco’s fish feed division, for a number of reasons, he said. One is that, with fishmeal prices at an all-time high, a switch to reduced fishmeal diets is in the interests of the whole production chain. Having already lowered the fishmeal content in its salmon feed to 5% from 30%, Nutreco has lowered the amount of fishmeal in its MicroBalance shrimp feed to 15% from 25%.

“Some markets will be more accepting of a new product than others,” admitted Nesse. “But we think fishmeal prices at an all-time high will be a positive trigger in getting customers to make the switch.”

Another factor would be the demands placed on producers by Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standards. “More and more producers want that certification, they’ll likely need it in future if they want to export to the USA or Europe, and it requires a low fishmeal content in the diet.” This can be a boost for technologies such as this, he added.

[Source: Shrimp News International. Full article]