SORGAL lead sponsor of a R&D project with a duration of 3 years
The project "ANIMAL4Aqua - New Range of Compound Feeds for Seabass using Animal Ingredients" (ANIMAL4Aqua - Nova Gama de Alimentos Compostos para Robalo com Recurso a Ingredientes Animais) is a project in which companies in the SOJA DE PORTUGAL group are directly involved (SORGAL, AVICASAL and SAVINOR). Its main goal is to guarantee the sustainability of European aquaculture, whether economic or environmental, which depends by and large on the compound feed industry's ability to place "premium", high quality diets in the market that are able to meet consumer needs, at more competitive prices and respecting the environment.
SORGAL, with one of its business areas being compound feed for aquaculture, together with AVICASAL and SAVINOR, involved in the treatment and valorization of agri-food by-products of animal origin, seeks to promote and foster business innovation through 1) identifying and valorizing land ingredients of animal origin, produced locally, with a profile that is better suited for seabass, species with high commercial value; and 2) the development of a new range of more sustainable compound feed that is more specific to seabass, with better performance and more competitive prices. As final products, ANIMAL4Aqua will acquire new scientific knowledge and find technical solutions that will allow for identifying and adding value to ingredients and/or combinations of low value resulting land ingredients, whether in the processing of agro-feed by-products of animal origin, or in the production of insects, so as to substitute the traditional fishmeal and fish oil as much as possible in diets for seabass. There will be certain maximum levels of inclusion, as well as the economic and ecological impact associated with the use of various ingredients. Selecting the most sustainable and economically viable raw materials will preserve natural resources and significantly lower the carbon footprint, and thereby the environmental impact, of aquaculture, allowing the sustainability strategies of producing and processing companies to be substantiated. The knowledge put forth by the project will have important economic repercussions for these industries, promoting the commercial valorization of these raw materials in new customer segments and in the domestic and foreign markets. Moreover, identifying sustainable ingredients, locally produced, will minimize the importing of raw materials to the EU and will make the activity more competitive and impervious to global market fluctuations. Incorporating the best technical solutions will create a compound feed prototype, which will bring about a new range of high quality products for seabass, products that are more sustainable and different from those that are already on the market.
This new product will allow increased zootechnical performance for this species, while never disregarding the animal's well-being and always guaranteeing the final product's nutritional and organoleptic characteristics for the customer. In marketing this new range of "premium" high performance products for seabass, the sponsor hopes to increase the diversity of what it offers and consolidate its prominent position in the national market, as well as to expand to the international markets, reaching new customer segments and new market niches.
Partners: ICBAS-UP; Sorgal; Avicasal; Savinor | Amount: 471,843.09 Euros | Duration: 15 September 2016 to 14 September 2019
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