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Our goal: to replace fishmeal with spirulina
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Fishmeal is mainly used for aquaculture (57%), but also for pig (22%) and poultry farming (14%).

 

Global fishmeal production was 5 million tonnes in 2020 and is expected to reach 7 million tonnes ($ 10.65 billion) in 2026.

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Main market: aquaculture feed

Aquaculture is a growing market. Its volume should soon exceed that of traditional fishing.  In 2018, aquaculture represented 45% of total production. In China, this percentage had already reached 75%. 

The most cultivated species to be fed include:  

  • White-legged shrimp ( Penaeus vannamei ): 4.966 million tonnes (2018)

  • Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ): 2.435 million tonnes (2018)   (source: FAO, 2020)  

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Composition of an aquaculture feed

The main function of formulated foods is to meet the needs of the species for proteins and essential amino acids. Following the example of the Pacific white shrimp, feed intended for aquaculture generally consists of:  

  • Fish meal: approx. 40% 

  • Soy flour, corn, wheat: approx. 40% 

  • Cellulose: approx. 7% 

  • Brewer's yeast: approx. 5% 

  • Fish oil: approx. 2% 

  • Vitamins, minerals: approx. 2% 

  • Other additives: approx. 4%   (source: Poersch et al. 2014)  

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Raw materials

The fish used to manufacture them may have been caught at sea especially for this purpose (milling) or it may be waste from the fish industry (rejection from the filleting line, recovery of unsold surplus catches or fish. damaged during fishing or transport.
Knowing that about 5 kg of fish are needed to produce 1 kg of meal and that it takes 2 kg of concentrated feed to produce 1 kg of farmed fish, the demand for fish meal has contributed to increasing the phenomenon of overfishing and pressure on the global fishery resource.
Faced with the growing demand for aquaculture and the foreseeable stagnation in the production of fishmeal and oil, it appeared necessary several years ago to reduce the proportion of fishmeal in feed intended for farms. aquaculture.  

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Plant-based alternatives 

Food manufacturers have stepped up initiatives and research to find and develop substitutes for fishmeal. Research has been directed towards other protein sources of plant origin making it possible to preserve the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of farmed fish.
Today's commercial foods generally contain 30-40% plant-based products. 
The main drawbacks of these alternative sources, however, are their generally lower protein content, poor digestibility and the presence in reduced amounts of certain essential amino acids.
The protein rate of vegetable raw materials is low compared to that of fish meal: 26% for peas, 41% for rapeseed meal, 48 to 55% for soybean meal against 65 to 72% in flour of fish.
The amino acid composition of plants is different and less complete from that of fishmeal.
The fibers present in certain plant products used as protein sources are not digested by fish regardless of the species.
Plants also contain substances of various kinds which can interfere with the appetite, digestion, absorption of nutrients and metabolism of animals, affecting their growth and sometimes their health.

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Animal alternatives (insects)

The production of protein from insects is limited by two fundamental factors: the availability of protein-rich wastes for their diet and the cost of production. 
Indeed, only a free supply of protein can produce insect meal at a reasonable price. And even in this case, its production cost remains much higher than that of fishmeal.

In addition, it has been shown that some insect meals contain high levels of heavy metals and that their chitin concentration can act as a brake on the development of farmed fish.

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Benefits of spirulina over fishmeal

Spirulina has many advantages for aquaculture, even at low doses:  

  • Improved food intake, 

  • Improved growth and survival rate, 

  • Strengthening the immune system,

  • Improvement of the color and firmness of the fillets,

  • Reproduction improvement,

  • Decrease in the use of antibiotics,

  • Cost reduction.

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Spirulina also has three other important benefits over fishmeal:  

  • Its composition is stable and does not vary according to the categories of fish or waste used.

  • It does not contain heavy metals, while fishmeal always contains them in sometimes high doses. 

  • It does not contain PCBs, whereas fishmeal may contain them depending on the fishing grounds.

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Benefits of spirulina over plant-based alternatives

Spirulina offers significant advantages over other sources of vegetable protein.

  • It produces around 20 tonnes of protein per hectare per year, or 16 x more than soybeans and 20 x more than corn or wheat.

  • It consumes less water per kg of protein produced: 4 x less than soybeans and 6 x less than corn or wheat.

  • It does not require the use of pesticides, fungicides or herbicides.

  • It does not require the use of fertile soils

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Benefits of spirulina over other microalgae

Unlike other microalgae, spirulina is grown in open tanks in a very alkaline medium (pH 10), which makes it practically immune to the problems of contamination by other organisms.
Thanks to its large size, it can be harvested economically by filtration, while harvesting other microalgae requires significant and expensive means (centrifugation, flocculation, etc.).
Finally, it contains neither cellulose, nor calcium shell (haptophycea) or silica (diatomea) and therefore does not require post-harvest treatment to improve its digestibility.

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