Protein gap: dsm-firmenich talks single cell proteins at North Atlantic Seafood Forum

25 Mar 2024 --- Off the back of the 19th North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) attended by 964 investors, specialists and scientists of the industry in Norway earlier this month, we catch up with Dr. Louise Buttle, dsm-firmenich’s lead for Sustell, the company’s intelligent sustainability service to find out more about the crux of the latest industry measures to ensure healthy, sustainable seafood sources.

“We are working on a very exciting single-cell protein project with the potential to deliver net-zero carbon single-cell proteins in the long term and have the potential capacity to meet the demand for sustainable raw materials. In addition to the carbon footprint, other attributes will include high protein level (>70% protein) and is attractive in terms of other sustainability metrics such as water use, land use and biodiversity,” Buttle tells Nutrition Insight.

Food loss and waste are essential for sustainability and the critical baseline goal of ensuring sustainable production of aquaculture that provides robust nutrition, health and welfare for fish and shrimp, which are constantly exposed to pathogen pressures and environmental fluctuations. 

“dsm-firmenich offers solutions to protect aquatic animals, reducing the risk of health and welfare challenges throughout the production cycle. With unique nutritional tools, dsm-firmenich can support survival rates, boost productivity and profitability while tackling antimicrobial resistance and reduce disease risk for a more predictable and consistent harvest,” says Buttle.

Bracing for the era of transparencyThe roundtable discussion "Insect Feed" was held by Frédérique Glazener, sustainability manager, Albert Heijn; Lissy Smit, CEO, Aqua Spark; Christophe Derrien, secretary general, International Platform of Insects for Food and Feed, Bert Wecker, co-CEO/CTO, Oceanloop and Erik-Jan Lock, research director, Nofima.
NASF provides a platform to keep industry professionals updated on the latest technologies, sustainability strategies and industry challenges. Industry players discussed promising technologies for improved aquaculture, opportunities in the single-cell protein and marine ingredient markets, research programs and improving the quality of seafood such as white fish and shrimp. 

According to Buttle, who presented “Bridging the Protein Gap with Single Cell Proteins,” dsm-firmenich’s Smart Protein project, the most pressing issue for industry players to prioritize is the availability of novel raw materials along with aquaculture health and welfare to improve survival commercially.  

“Both these factors will contribute to ensure global food security and to help close the protein gap. Collaborating across the value chain is key to driving the continued sustainable production of aquaculture. Every member of the value chain, from investors to producers, has a role to make this happen and enable the future production of sustainable aquaculture,” she outlines.

Another pressing issue is the preparedness of seafood companies to meet the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which imposes new requirements on sustainability reporting. Sustainability reporting is considered equal to financial reporting, and companies must provide comprehensive and balanced information about their operations and focus more on the entire value chain. 

“Sustainability is the core of the discussions and a focus on feed and raw materials, as well as health and welfare. Salmon farming companies from Chile and Norway, for example, shared insights and plans from their business. The environmental impact of farming is a key focus, especially GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, with a focus on science-based target reductions by 2030,” Buttle continues. 

“Single-cell proteins have been highlighted as having a great potential to improve the sustainability of aquafeeds and aquaculture production. Their production has a lower land, water and carbon footprint compared to conventional protein sources. With rising environmental pressures and a growing population, exploring scalable single-cell protein production technologies is vital to enhancing the long-term viability of the aquaculture industry.”dsm-firmenich's Louise Buttle. 

Meanwhile, dsm-firmenich recently launched a marine fish module for Sustell that measures the complete life cycle of animal protein production. The company also expanded the service to salmon farming, sea bass and sea bream. Grupo and dsm-firmenich have joined forces to boost sustainable shrimp farming using Sustell. Many companies in the salmon sector have signed up to science-based targets. 

Marine health and welfare
NASF discussions focused on accelerating research, development and commercialization of alternative protein sources. Sustainable aquaculture is primarily driven by aquaculture health and welfare and recent reports of mortality in Norwegian aquaculture have received considerable attention.

Nutritionally balanced and highly digestible feeds are essential to increasing robustness. The availability of protein-rich and sustainable raw materials is a critical area that needs to be addressed in the sector. Aquafeed accounts for around 70% of production costs and up to 80% of the total environmental footprint.

“Due to geopolitical events and environmental phenomena such as El Niño, aquafeed prices have increased in recent years by up to 30%, which has been driven by the price increases of commodities such as fish meal and fish oil and vegetable raw materials such as wheat and soy protein concentrates,” says Buttle.

“Currently, the aquaculture industry relies on a relatively small raw material basket and diversifying the basket with novel or alternative raw materials would reduce risk. Alternative protein sources like insects and single-cell proteins have been explored, but the route to scale up has been challenging, and today commercial scale volumes are limited.”  

Aquaculture is vital in meeting the protein gap and feeding the global population. The need for a sustainable supply of nutrient-rich (protein) raw materials for aquafeed production is a crucial driver for the future. Sustainable raw materials can be defined by their footprint, including carbon footprint, full life cycle assessment, water and land use and biodiversity impact. 

“With the world’s population expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050, aquaculture will need to increase production by 30–40 million tons per acre by 2030 to keep up with the current consumption rate. Ensuring we have a diverse range of sustainable raw materials for aquafeed production is vital to ensure global food security and produce this seafood protein within planetary boundaries,” Buttle concludes.  

By Inga de Jong