The Third China International Companion Animal Food Ingredients Conference was held in Suzhou city of China in August 2022. Its theme was “How functional ingredients improve health and intelligence of companion animals”.
This conference, held by Aimu (Beijing) Agricultural Consulting Co., Ltd was a two-day conference featuring 31 speakers. Presentations focused on the application of novel protein sources, functional ingredients and additives in pet foods, with IFFO’s presentation being the only one on marine ingredients. More than 100 delegates attended this conference. IFFO's Technical Director, Brett Glencross, spoke at the event and the IFFO China Technical Manager, Xiaowen Ling, participated in person.
Dr. Brett Glencross, IFFO's Technical Director, delivered a Review of Global Fishmeal Resources and Progress with Application in Petfood.
Please contact the IFFO China Office via [email protected] should you need further information.
A summary of Dr Brett Glencross’ presentation is available below.
His presentation was based on three platforms; Global Marine Ingredients: Where are we now? Global Marine Ingredients: Where are we heading? And then a specific overview on where things are at with progress with Application in Petfood
In terms of where are we now? It was presented that most fisheries in developed nations of the world are now managed by independently set quotas that are generally designed to target maximum sustainable yield (MSY) of those fisheries. As such modern fisheries are regulated to operate within those quota systems. It was emphasised that there has been a BIG shift in fisheries management over the past 20 years, and that practices of the 20th century are well behind us now. Recent independent assessments of global fisheries are showing that in those fisheries where modern management practices have been enforced, there has been a notable recovery in stock biomasses. However, it isn’t all good news. Recent evidence has also clearly demonstrated that the greatest threat to all marine ecosystems and fisheries is climate change.
To address the climate change challenge, it is increasingly recognised that everyone needs to become more accountable for their carbon-footprint. It is also recognised that all food production activities require some resources in terms of land, water, raw materials, and energy, and that this use can lead to harmful emissions. The globally accepted way to account for these emissions is through using a Lifecycle Assessment (LCA) approach so a more objective assessment can be made on the full impact on sustainability. When using such an LCA approach we have observed that environmental (carbon) foot-print for fishmeals and fishoils is most influenced by fuel use during fishing operations. However, the high volume catch per unit effort (CPUE) and a predominance of purse-seine fishing results in most forage (small pelagic) fisheries having very low fuel use per tonne capture. This means that compared to all other fishing types and fisheries, such forage fisheries have among the lowest impacts. This further translates into the environmental footprint of feed ingredients, which is also becoming increasingly important. To standardise the environmental footprint of feed ingredients the Global Feed Lifecyle-Assessment Institute (GFLI) has been developed to act as an independent database, and it presently has close to 1000 ingredients in its publicly accessible database. A simple examination of the Global Warming Potential (Carbon footprint) in that database of a suite of common feed ingredients shows that marine ingredients compare very favourably.
Another key development in the marine ingredients sector is the increasing use of the by-products of food production from both fishery and aquaculture. Increasingly we are seeing that there is “no such thing as waste”, with a growing trend towards circularity of resource use in food and feed production. In terms of circularity in fishmeal and fishoil production, we are presently seeing that about one third of all marine ingredients are coming from such by-products. This is just over a total of around 2 million tonnes annually and growing. Of that production, it is the fish oils where this circularity dominates with over 50% of all fish oils now derived from by-products. By contrast just over 30% of total fishmeal production is from by-products.
In terms of application to petfoods, typically marine ingredients are applied according to the type of finished product in which they are used. We are also seeing extensive product labelling detailing the use of marine ingredients in petfoods, as the sector increasingly recognises the nutritional values of these resources. Of the two main types of petfoods, both dry kibbles/pellets and wet canned products are using marine ingredients. While there are other product types used in the petfoods sector as well, it is the two main products where we are seeing the majority of marine ingredient use in the sector. Fishmeals tend to be included in the dry kibbles as a powder, being included in with the other ingredients prior to mixing and extrusion, similar to what is done with feeds for other sectors. For petfoods, fishmeal is included for a range of reasons; including being valued as an ingredient with a high protein content, provision of essential amino acids and a range of other micronutrients to meet nutritional needs of the various pets (mostly dogs and cats) being fed. Fish oils on the other hand are mostly sprayed on the outside of the pellets, though in some cases I t too is added to the kibble during mixing. Fish oil also has notable palatability benefits and like fishmeal is included to meet certain nutritional needs, like those for essential fatty acids. This is further allowing producers to make certain products claims, like their products being “rich in omega-3’s”. In terms of volumes, the petfood sector currently uses about 200,000 tonnes of fishmeal each year. The majority is used by North America and Europe, though both Latin America and Asia are growing consumers. In terms of fish oil volumes, only a little over 50,000 tonnes is used, with the majority of fish oil use similarly being in Americas and Europe. One of the reasons why we are seeing marine ingredients used by the petfoods sector is to meet the nutritional needs for essential nutrients like those of certain amino acids, nucleotides, choline and omega-3 long-chain fatty acids. Notably many of these nutrients are considered critical for early-stage nutrition of puppies and kittens. Indeed, one of the relatively unique benefits of marine ingredients is their long-chain omega-3 fatty acid content. The two key omega-3 fatty acids here are EPA and DHA, both of which have various health related claims, such as benefits to the skin, coat, brain and immune system.
Overall, marine ingredients are increasingly being used by the petfood sector to contribute important nutrients, like protein, amino acids and omega-3’s. They also play an important role in improving palatability, and increasingly we are seeing how certain nutrients, like omega-3’s in particular, are being promoted in terms of their important health benefits to many animals.