What Are Big Glory Bay Salmon Fed?

Feed does not contain any chemicals or preservatives dangerous to human health.  Aquaculture feeds are subject to strict checks to ensure that they do not pose any threat to human health. Any preservatives used must comply with laws and regulations governing their use. 

As we take potential contamination of our feeds very seriously, Skretting has a global, comprehensive feed and food quality programme whereby we monitor for unwanted substances in both raw materials and feeds. 

Aquaculture feeds contain essential nutrients that should be delivered in the right quantities to keep fish and shrimp growing well and healthily. These nutrients come from a variety of different sources. In addition to fish meal and fish oil, they often contain other vegetable-based meals and oils, fish trimmings and processed by-products from land animals. 

Skretting feeds can contain up to 50 ingredients to ensure a complete and balanced nutritional profile. These could include:  

Agricultural crops such as wheat gluten, corn gluten, soybean meal, soy protein concentrate, rapeseed meal, sunflower meal, lupin and faba bean  
Wild-capture fish and crustaceans for ingredients such as fish meal, crustacean meal and fish oil 
By-products from farmed land animals such as poultry meal, feather meal, blood meal and poultry oil 
By-products from wild-capture fish and crustaceans such as fish meal, crustacean meal 
By-products from farmed fish and crustaceans such as fish meal, crustacean meal, fish oil and salmon oil 
Novel ingredients such as insect meal and algal oil 
Micro-ingredients, including vitamin and mineral premix and pigment

Much like humans, fish and shrimp have specific nutritional requirements, including protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals. The nutrients in our feeds come from a range of natural raw materials, depending on the species and the life stage they have reached. Aquaculture feeds, most commonly provided in the form of dried pellets, contain all of the essential nutrients needed to keep fish and shrimp healthy and growing and support the needs over the different life stages. 

Fish meal and fish oil are two of the more commonly known marine ingredients sometimes used in aquaculture feeds. Fish meal is a powder obtained after cooking, pressing drying and milling fresh raw fish, while fish oil is a liquid pressed from the cooked fish. Both are produced from harvesting short-lived, fast-growing stocks of small, bony and oily fish for which there is little or no demand for human consumption. Offcuts not suitable for human consumption, and resulting from seafood processing, are an increasingly large contributor to fishmealfish meal and fish oil production. Skretting has strict policies in place for sustainable sourcing of raw materials.   

Fish meal is a powder obtained after cooking, pressing, drying and milling fresh raw fish, while fish oil is a liquid pressed from the cooked fish. Both are produced from harvesting short-lived, fast-growing stocks of small, bony and oily fish for which there is little or no demand for human consumption. By-products or trimmings from seafood processing are an increasingly large contributor to fish meal and fish oil production. 

With excellent nutritional value and containing high levels of polyunsaturated fat, they are among the most nutritious and digestible ingredients for aquaculture feeds and species. As such, they are recognised to provide health benefits to farmed animals and to the consumers of these products. These marine ingredients are currently in good supply, but they are also in very high demand from multiple sectors which is why Skretting undertakes extensive ingredient R&D at Skretting Aquaculture Research Centre (ARC)

Skretting feeds do not contain any growth-promoting hormones. Antibiotics are never included in our aquaculture feeds without veterinary prescription for the specific purpose of treating sick fish. Antibiotics are not used to enhance growth. Antibiotic use is reported by the farming companies. Skretting is committed to helping reduce antibiotic use in aquaculture.

The pink colour of salmon flesh, wild or farmed, results from the retention of carotenoids in the fish flesh. Astaxanthin is a naturally occurring carotenoid and is the major carotenoid naturally found in wild salmon and crustaceans (prawn, lobsters) and is responsible for their pink-red pigmentation.  

Pigments are biological substances that impart colour to the tissues of organisms. Carotenoids are classed as pigments. Carotenoids are naturally present in the diet of most animals. Astaxanthin is an essential nutrient for salmon; salmon require it to remain healthy and disease free. Astaxanthin supports good reproduction and skin health in salmon. Salmon cannot make their own astaxanthin, they consume it via their diet. The wild salmon diet includes krill, zooplankton, small fish and crustaceans all of which naturally contain astaxanthin.   

The main source of astaxanthin used by the aquaculture industry is synthesized, yielding a molecule that is identical to that found in nature. There is no difference between the two (natural vs synthetic) in terms of how they impact fish growth performance or final quality as the natural and synthetic version share an identical chemical structure. In terms of their manufacture as feed ingredients they can be sourced from yeast, algae and bacteria or via chemical synthesis. Astaxanthin is made in the same way as for vitamins that you might purchase from a health food shop.