With confidence and credibility at stake, the demand for responsibly-produced feeds to raise fish and shrimp is in rapid ascendence 

With 70% of the aquaculture production being fed, from a sustainability standpoint, feeds are a very complex input into the world’s fastest growing food production sector. It’s widely recognised that the ingredients used in feeds can represent up to 80% of a farm’s carbon footprint, with most of that occurring at the feed ingredient production level through, amongst other things, deforestation, land conversion, agricultural practices and fisheries management. There’s also the risk of forced labour and child labour in certain supply chains.

Ensuring and accessing responsibly-produced feeds and feed ingredients was the focus of a special panel event at this year’s Seafood Expo Global (SEG) in Barcelona. Organised by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), with the theme “Feed Responsibly: Why Responsible Aquaculture Needs Responsible Feed”, key industry players shared how they are adopting the new ASC Feed Standard to drive transparency, social and environmental improvements in feed supply chains.