Promising to tell you the Prawn, the whole Prawn and nothing but the Prawn…….here I shine a light on global shrimp aquaculture and downstream markets……for those looking in from outside and those inside interested in the wider outside. Food trends, intelligence, tech, regulatory, investment and some fun, way out, or even wacky, shrimp material….
While alt meat (plant based and lab grown) is set to rise to anywhere from 10-30% of meat consumption for the planet’s human population in the next decade – the driver is a more health conscious consumers cutting down on red meat….and not necessarily a full move to vegetarianism.
Farmed shrimp will continue to grow as a more efficiently grown healthy option in that space.
Alternative animal protein culture – as in lab based – has also shown promise in the insect space…
I’m Ok with insect development. No, I am an active supporter.
So very happy to see the new Bioflytech project develop.
Also glad to see Santos took advice and got business expertise that understood to target carnivorous fish and not omnivorous shrimp as the initial target off take market for industrial level trials.
Advice included that one must not forget insects are descendants of shrimp – closest to marine insects we have, and insects eating insects seems a negative going forward in markets. Another culture to feed a culture.
Current shrimp industry push is towards fishmeal replacement yes but using similar raw materials that can be used to grow land based insects. After all shrimp, like insects, are efficient protein converters with low conversion rates.
Shrimp industry, with vannamei, should be able to tap into same raw materials as needed to grow insects so not sure advantages/benefits of insect meal in diet?
Furthermore current shrimp industry direction is a towards vegetarian raised shrimp via plant/algal/bacterial land based options.
So for all those going for insects and looking at aquaculture for your markets then best stay away from competing with current shrimp feed raw materials unless you have a special angle you think can deliver a benefit.
That said plenty potential for insects in fish, especially Africa, just look at Agriprotein ZFIFO and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Small niggle with Bioflytech is the bio-availability statement on the website. It is common for insect companies looking through the fish focus but we are seeing max figures of 10% inclusion in commodity grown shrimp before it becomes an inhibitor – so 83-86% is high for shrimp. That said 100% could be “available” – so what does bio-availability really mean? No explanation on website.
The picture of the prawn below is not of the pacific p. vannamei (wrong rostra and thorax too big relative to body) – perhaps p. setiferus? Have other shrimp been looked at by the feed research guys?
Insects are non sentient. Says so on CNN.
Shrimp are the ancestors of insects…shrimp are, effectively, marine insects.
Farming shrimp is good coastal blue carbon capture as well as minimal water usage for protein production.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/25/business/gourmet-grubb-insect-ice-cream-intl/index.html
….so why not just eat the shrimp?
…and potentials in shrimp feed sector.
Get your future Omega 3 here…. new source of more affordable long-chain omega-3 fatty acids could give fish oil, krill, and microalgae a run for their money and open up new fortification opportunities for food manufacturers, claims Barcelona-based start-up Cubiq Foods, which has developed a platform to produce EPA and DHA from fat tissue cultured from poultry stem cells…
….investors here are same guys on to my friends at Bioflytech insect platform.
Interesting for salmon feed and to compete on fish oils, krill and microalgae ( currently) but cannot see mileage yet for vannamei shrimp aquaculture whose requirements are not so carniverous.
Insect inclusion rate in shrimp feed max 10%. Will not replace fishmeal but algae can 100%.
