For the first time, insect-fed trout will now be available to French consumers.
The trout, produced and processed by Truite Service and fed Skretting feeds containing insect meal from Innovafeed, will be initially made available in 52 supermarkets in the north and Ile-de-France with plans to expand to the whole of the country by the end of 2019.
Elodie Petit, marketing manager at Skretting France explained that ‘insect-fed’ applies to aquaculture fish meeting two criteria - that their diet is at least 50 per cent insect meal, and that the fish have doubled in weight after the insect protein has been applied.
“Fish quality was an essential part of the process for us,” said Elodie Petit. “Skretting research has enabled us to fully understand the impacts of changing raw materials on fish nutrition and final product quality, and we are very happy with the outcome.”
Natural part of diet
Laurent Terninck of Truite Service said that the fish have performed well pointing out that insects form a natural part of the wild trout diet.
“We have been delighted that the new feed has been received well by the fish and shown great results in terms of growth, health and flesh quality,” he said.
For InnovaFeed, this marks an important step in the development of the insect sector, and InnovaFeed is keen to continue pioneering the commercial implementation of insect meal.
“A key focus for us is meeting the needs of one of the most dynamic sectors in the food industry - aquaculture. We are making a new source of protein from insect rearing and the protein produced is high-quality and able to replace more traditional ingredients,” said Maye Walraven, InnovaFeed.
