Lerøy Seafood Group Uses Chicken Feed to Cut Salmon Costs

Lerøy deploys poultry byproducts across coastal operations

Norwegian salmon producer Lerøy Seafood Group has integrated chicken processing byproducts into the feed used across all its coastal farms, according to Novinky. The shift comes as producers across Europe confront surging prices for traditional fishmeal, driven by climate disruptions and tightening supplies.

El Niño impacts and shrinking wild fish populations

Fishmeal derived from wild-caught marine species has nearly doubled in price over the past two years. The steep climb stems from shrinking wild fish populations alongside surging import demand from China. The El Niño weather pattern worsened conditions by warming surface waters in the tropical Pacific, severely disrupting anchovy harvests off the coast of Peru, which accounts for roughly one-fifth of global fishmeal output.

Scaling alternatives to meet high-volume demands

Poultry meal costs less than half the price of fishmeal per ton, prompting major aquaculture firms to rethink their supply chains. Lerøy selected the chicken components to satisfy large-scale volume demands that traditional fishmeal could no longer meet affordably.

Jørgen Skeide, head of feed operations at Lerøy, stated that the company needed an alternative to fishmeal given its business scale, adding that chicken meal was the only raw material meeting all requirements.

Mowi introduces poultry ingredients to European salmon farms

The transition introduces animal-derived proteins into fish diets, breaking a long-standing European taboo. Competent authorities in Britain maintained a strict ban on feeding farmed fish with livestock byproducts until 2013 due to transmissible spongiform encephalopathy concerns, commonly known as mad cow disease. While producers in Chile and Northern America fed poultry derivatives to farmed fish for years, European operators previously rejected the practice.

Mowi, the world’s largest salmon producer, plans to introduce poultry ingredients to farms in Norway and Scotland. Grieg Seafood initiated the practice in July, and SalMar tested the approach beginning in March.

European supermarkets restrict animal byproducts in salmon feed

Major European supermarket chains maintain divergent positions regarding the practice. Tesco and Waitrose banned the use of animal byproducts in salmon feed by 2024, though neither retailer clarified their current stance. Sainsbury’s confirmed to the Financial Times that it prohibits poultry ingredients in its own-brand salmon feed, though the policy regarding third-party branded fish remains unspecified.