Nutreco’s Skretting partners up with Klaas Puul, Protix, and Veramaris to supply European supermarkets with sustainable shrimp from Latin America

Nutreco’s Skretting partners up with Klaas Puul, Protix, and Veramaris to supply European supermarkets with sustainable shrimp from Latin America

(PRESS RELEASE) AMERSFOORT, 19-Jan-2023 — /EuropaWire/ — Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquafeed, announces that its subsidiary Skretting, a leading aquaculture business, has partnered with Netherlands-based shrimp importer Klaas Puul and Dutch sustainable feed ingredient suppliers Protix and Veramaris to supply supermarkets across Europe with more sustainable shrimp produced in Latin America. The initiative is being led by Nutreco, a global leader in animal nutrition and aquaculture feed, with the goal of “Feeding the Future” by working across the supply chain to achieve greater sustainability.

The first retailer to commit to the project is Albert Heijn, the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands and part of global retailer Ahold Delhaize. “We believe there is great power in working across the value chain to innovate and share the incremental costs of producing more sustainable seafood,” “This is why, in 2019, we approached Albert Heijn with a concept that would step up the sustainability characteristics of shrimp feed. Simultaneously, Albert Heijn had approached their supplier, Klaas Puul with a similar “ask” and suggested that they contact Nutreco and work together to make a joint proposal. We then brought in novel ingredient heavy hitters Protix and Veramaris and the consortium was born!” said José Villalón, Corporate Sustainability Director of Nutreco.

The new sustainable shrimp feed will be used by Klaas Puul’s suppliers to produce shrimp for Albert Heijn in dedicated ponds in Latin America. The feed will be formulated with a focus on traceability, animal welfare and sustainability, with the inclusion of insect meal, algae oil, and other alternatives to marine ingredients. The shrimp produced will also be certified by ASC and BAP or GlobalGAP.

“This could be considered a game changer by itself – but Albert Heijn asked for more!” said José. “The product must provide full traceability from larval hatchery to the store’s shelf and animal welfare issues addressed in the production cycle.”

As global demand for healthy protein continues to rise, farmed seafood is becoming an increasingly important source of food. However, the growth of the farmed seafood industry is currently constrained by its reliance on marine ingredients in aquaculture feed. Through this partnership, Nutreco and its partners aim to address this constraint by developing sustainable alternatives to marine ingredients.

“This was a 30-month effort, driven by the persistent will of all the consortium partners to deliver on their visions for the future, now,” said José. The partners will continue to improve the sustainability of the feed formulation in the coming three years and increase the inclusion rates of insect meal and algae oil to further reduce dependency on marine ingredients.

Media contact:
corpcomm@nutreco.com

SOURCE: Nutreco