Feed Technology
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Advances in fish meal and fish oil replacements Production and technology development of insect proteins and soy based raw materials
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he F3 Challenge began a series of webinars in 2021 bringing together groups of producers of alternative ingredients to replace fish meal and fish oil. In February, it was Insects in Aquafeeds: Progress towards fish meal/ fish oil substitution. In the follow-up webinar in March, it was the turn of producers of soy based raw materials. The third webinar in April featured innovators of singlecell and novel proteins for aquafeeds and in the fourth in May, algae and seed oil manufacturers will discuss latest research, and fish oil replacement successes for their products. Reports on the latter two webinars will be published in issue July/August 2021. The moderator was Professor Kevin Fitzsimmons, Chair of the F3 Challenge and Judge, Professor and Director of International Programs at The University of Arizona, USA. Future of Fish Feed (F3) is a collaborative effort between NGOs, researchers, and private partnerships to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative, substitute aquaculture feed ingredients to replace wild-caught fish.
Black soldier fly larvae. Picture credit: Nutrition Technologies
Insects in aquafeeds
Fitzsimmons introduced six major insect protein producers from the US, China, Southeast Asia and Europe. US based Chapul Farms is a current contestant in the F3 challenge, carnivore edition, salmonid category. Chapul Farms was started 9 years ago. It works with the black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens (BSF) and is building and scaling modular insect farms. There are seven projects in development. Patrick Crowley, CEO said, “Our strategy is a low variability feed stock as the starting point of our systems design. However, a crucial element of project development is offtake from the farms. We focus primarily on BSF in aquafeeds. In terms of trials, there are numerous academic studies, even up to 100% replacement fish meal, demonstrating at least no negative growth factors. “We are seeing price limiting inclusion rates more than nutrition itself. We are also seeing some of the immunological stress tolerance benefits of the BSF even at lower inclusion rates,” added Crowley.
Guangzhou FishTech Biotechnology is in insect meal production since 2009 working on the BSF. Production capacity is >10,000 tonnes which can be easily expanded. It wants to build up insect meal production in China. The company has various types of BSF products such as hydrolysed insect peptides. Numerous application research for BSF in aquafeeds have been conducted such as with the vannamei shrimp, Japanese seabass, hybrid snakehead, largemouth bass, etc. Dr Wingwang Lu, CEO emphasised the functional value of BSF. “BSF can replace a certain level of fish meal in different aquatic species without affecting growth, but the amount will vary with species. There is a strong growth-promoting effect too. BSF could replace squid and fish paste and other attractants to improve palatability. There is an immunity effect such as improving the survival rate of fish and shrimp and disease resistance.” Nutrition Technologies, founded in 2015, is Southeast Asia’s leading insect meal producer. Nick Piggott, CEO and Co-Founder, said, “Southeast Asia offers vast access to agro-industrial by products and the ideal climate for BSF larvae production.” After extensive R&D, Nutrition Technologies opened its first factory in March 2018 in Malaysia. Here, it is ramping up its industrial scale facilities. “Our long-term objective is to produce a sustainable and staple ingredient for the feed industry which can compete with fish meal and soybean meals.” The company has pioneered a new and more efficient insect rearing process using its own bacterial inoculants. “In order to offer high quality, sustainable and competitively priced products, our research and innovation team is actively pushing the boundaries conducting trials for and with customers while testing new formulas and ingredients,” said Tom Berry, Co-Founder. Future expansion plans are to Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia. Kees Aarts, Founder and CEO, set up the award-winning Protix in the Netherlands in 2009. In the last couple of years, the trend is towards innovative products and system changing with reduced production footprint. “At Protix, for every kg of protein we produce, we can reduce well over 4kg of CO2 out of these systems as well as reducing land and water use by 80 to 90%. At our world class flagship facility in Bergen op Zoom, we are already producing beyond design capacity. Protix recently introduced an improved strain of insect that is fast improving production.” Aarts gave three main reasons for insect meals in aquafeeds. Composition and quality where insect meals have suitable amino acid and fatty acid profiles, high digestibility as well as high palatability. Inclusion levels at 20-60% have successfully replaced dietary proteins and helped promote liver and gut health and immune response modulation. “The body of evidence in peer reviewed scientific publications are mounting. We are committed to mass adoption of insect based nutrition.” A recent article showed improved antioxidant activity of BSF proteins. Insect based proteins have proven themselves in terms of productivity and
May/June 2021 AQUA Culture Asia Pacific
