IFFO welcomes Aquaculture Stewardship Council Responsible Feed Standard consultation

On 30th June 2015, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) issued their draft Responsible Feed Standard for public consultation. This is a welcome opportunity to comment on the proposals which form a wide ranging and demanding standard, encompassing environmental impacts, social and welfare requirements, energy usage and other criteria. The consultation document is well written, with clear guidance on where input is required and how this should be submitted.

Although the document also covers the ingredients used to manufacture compound feed, an obvious feature of the draft standard is that the vast majority of the criteria refer to ingredients from marine sources e.g. fishmeal and fish oil. The criteria for land based ingredients, whether vegetable or animal, are very brief in comparison. This is perhaps surprising given that the marine sourced raw materials are the minority of the formulation, typically 10-15% by weight.

However, the marine ingredients industry should see this as a compliment as the draft standard cannot ask for criteria that cannot be met or for standards that are not available. The marine ingredients industry have come a long way in recent years, establishing supplies with independent standards for traceability and environmental impact that are not available from other sectors. Over 40% of the world’s fishmeal supply is now independently certified, compared to less than 5% of the world soya production.

The ASC standards for farmed fish are well respected and provide valuable assurance for retailers and other buyers. However, until land based feed ingredients can offer similar levels of assurance to the marine sector, buyers need to recognise that the Feed Mill standard offers only a basic level of assurance for the land based ingredients which make up the majority of the feed.

Quote:

“I welcome this initiative from the ASC and when completed this new standard should provide harmonisation to the feed requirements within the current ASC farming standards for individual species. However, there is a clear difference in the expectations between land based feed ingredients, forming the majority of the feed, and the marine based ingredients where responsible and traceable production is now well established. It will be interesting to see if the land based industries follow our lead.” 

Andrew Mallison, Director General, IFFO

For further details on certified Fishmeal and Fish Oil, please visit http://www.iffo.net/iffo-rs

For further details of the ASC Consultation, please visit http://www.asc-aqua.org/index.cfm?act=update.detail&uid=324&lng=1

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Please contact:                   Georgie Harris, Communications and Membership Manager

T: +44 (0) 2030 539 195 - E: gharris@iffo.net

Notes for Editors

  1. IFFO represents the marine ingredients industry worldwide. IFFO’s members reside in more than 60 countries, account for over 50% of world production and 75% of the fishmeal and fish oil traded worldwide. Approximately 5 million tonnes of fishmeal are produced each year globally, together with 1 million tonnes of fish oil. IFFO’s headquarters are located in London in the United Kingdom and it also has offices in Lima, Peru, and in Beijing, China. IFFO is an accredited Observer to the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). For more information, visit the IFFO website - http://www.iffo.net/
  2. The Global Standard for Responsible Supply (IFFO RS) is a business-to-business certification programme that enables a compliant factory to demonstrate that it responsibly sources its raw material from well-managed fisheries and responsibly converts that into pure and safe products. To be certified fishmeal and fish oil factories must demonstrate sourcing from well managed fisheries and safe and traceable production. Assessments are conducted by an independent certification body and in just over two years, IFFO RS has successfully attracted over 110 certified factories, spread across nine countries. Most of the largest fisheries such as Peruvian anchovy, Alaskan Pollock, Blue Whiting in UK, Iceland and Norway, Gulf menhaden in USA and many more have been approved for supply into the manufacturing food chain including whole fish and by- product raw material to produce compliant fishmeal and fish oil. For more information visit the IFFO RS Website - http://www.iffo.net/iffo-rs
  3. Fishmeal is a natural, balanced, highly nutritious feed ingredient used in diets for farmed fish and crustaceans and as a high protein supplement in nutritionally demanding periods in the life cycle of pigs and poultry, as well as in pet food.
  4. Fish oil is the major natural source (97%) of the healthy long chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, EPA and DHA. Most fish oil is used in feeds for farmed fish and there is an expanding market for fish oil for human nutritional supplements and functional foods.