Dainichi Corp takes category lead in fish free feed contest

The competition is designed to spark innovation in the aquafeed industry to find viable, cost-competitive replacements to fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture feed.

It awards prize monies to the contestants that produce and sell the most ‘fish-free’ feed within their designated category. Prize winners in the Carnivore Edition of the long-running event will walk away with US$100,000 in each of three categories—salmonid, shrimp, and other carnivorous species.

Dainichi Corporation has taken the lead in the Other Carnivorous Species Category for its fish-free feed for red sea bream. The contestant teams Star Milling Co/The Scoular Company (salmonid category) and Empagran/Veramaris (shrimp category) maintain their leads in their respective categories.

Future-proofing supply chains 

The Future of Fish Feed (F3) is a collaborative effort between NGOs, academic institutions, and private partnerships to accelerate the commercialization of innovative, substitute aquaculture feed ingredients to replace wild-caught fish in an effort to boost global food security.

Those stakeholders are looking to reduce the aquaculture industry’s reliance on fishmeal and fish oil derived from small forage fish such as menhaden and sardines and to future-proof it against shocks to the supply chain.

Eight qualifying F3 feeds were submitted by the six contestants competing toward the $300,000 in prizes. Contestants began recording sales as of October 1, 2020 or after submitting their feed.

Criteria 

The qualifying F3 feeds for all prize categories must not contain any ingredients consisting of or derived from marine animals, including but not limited to fish, squid, shrimp, or krill.

All sales reported by companies remain unverified, said the organizers. F3 Challenge judges will verify F3 feed sales prior to announcing the winners, as per the contest rules.

Sponsors of the F3 Challenge include the University of Arizona, The Campbell Foundation, Synbiobeta, The Nature Conservancy, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Anthropocene Institute, Dawson Family Fund, Sustainable Ocean Alliance, Tides Foundation, Cuna Del Mar, the National Renderers Association and Shanghai Jiao Tong University.