Salmon producers start feeding chicken to fish

{"text":[[{"start":6.28,"text":"Europe’s biggest salmon producers are beginning to feed chicken to their fish, breaking a longstanding taboo in the hunt for cheap protein."}],[{"start":14.44,"text":"Supermarkets in Britain and other European countries have for years declined to stock salmon raised on livestock byproducts for fear of a backlash from consumers who may find the practice “unnatural”."}],[{"start":25.28,"text":"However, Lerøy Seafood Group, one of Norway’s biggest farmers and a supplier to Tesco, told the FT that it had now introduced chicken byproducts at all of its offshore salmon farms."}],[{"start":37.4,"text":"Mowi, the biggest salmon producer and a supplier to UK supermarkets including Sainsbury’s and Asda, is planning to introduce poultry-based feed at its farms in Norway and Scotland, according to people familiar with the matter."}],[{"start":49.4,"text":"“This is a very sensitive issue,” said Margareth Øverland, professor of aquaculture nutrition at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences."}],[{"start":58.28,"text":"“Consumers have historically been very sceptical. But the market seems to be more ready now.”"}],[{"start":62.96,"text":"Norway’s Grieg Seafood introduced chicken meal and oil in July, while SalMar, the world’s second-largest salmon producer, started testing poultry’s use in feed in March."}],[{"start":73.6,"text":"The use of livestock byproducts as fish feed was banned in Britain until 2013, over concerns that it could spread diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy."}],[{"start":83.96,"text":"Salmon producers have now heralded the use of chicken as a way of cutting costs and carbon emissions."}],[{"start":89.84,"text":"The price of traditional fishmeal, made of wild fish, has almost doubled over the past two years amid falling fish stocks and increased demand from China. Poultry feed is less than half the price per tonne."}],[{"start":102,"text":"“Salmon are carnivores and eat other fish in the wild, so feeding them chicken is entirely natural,” said an executive at a major salmon-feed producer."}],[{"start":110.12,"text":"Some of the chicken Lerøy uses as feed is sourced from Britain, according to the company’s sustainability disclosures. This means byproducts from British chicken farms are shipped to Norway for processing and fed to salmon, which are then exported to the UK."}],[{"start":120.6,"text":"Tesco said in 2021 that it prohibited poultry-derived meal and oil in fish feed, while Waitrose said in 2024 that it did not permit the use of processed animal proteins in fish feed."}],[{"start":134.08,"text":"Tesco did not respond to a request to comment regarding any change in position. Waitrose declined to comment."}],[{"start":141.08,"text":"Jim Bligh, director of food policy at the industry group, the British Retail Consortium, said: “Retailers work closely with their suppliers to source more sustainable feed, taking into account factors such as the environmental impact of ingredients and alternative options that can reduce the pressure on wild-caught fish species.”"}],[{"start":159.56,"text":"Justine Butler, head of research at British animal rights campaign group Viva!, said of the use of poultry feed, “Consumers who are trying to avoid chicken because of animal welfare or environmental concerns may reasonably expect to be told.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":173.72,"text":"The shift could prove lucrative for Britain’s chicken industry."}],[{"start":177.2,"text":"Alistair Collins, a director at animal byproducts processor J G Pears, said growing demand from salmon farmers is driving up the value of chicken remains. “Aquaculture has become an important market,” he said."}],[{"start":190.52,"text":"The need for alternative protein has been intensified by this year’s unusually strong El Niño, which has disrupted anchovy fishing off Peru, the country that normally produces a fifth of the world’s fishmeal."}],[{"start":202.2,"text":"As of this month, salmon feed producers are expected to reduce their use of blue whiting; it lost its sustainability certification as a result of the failure of European countries to agree quotas."}],[{"start":213.84,"text":"Jørgen Skeide, feed manager at Lerøy, said: “With the scale of our operation, we needed an alternative to fishmeal . . . poultry meal was the only raw material that checked all of these boxes.”"}],[{"start":225.72,"text":"Stein Alexander Aukner, head of equity research at bank DNB Carnegie, said: “The advantage is that the chicken market is growing in line with consumption, while wild fish catches have been flat since the 1980s.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":239,"text":"Chicken byproducts are parts of the bird deemed not fit for human consumption, including bone, liver and brain, although some parts, such as feathers, are excluded."}],[{"start":248.32,"text":"Salmon farmers in Chile and Canada have used these byproducts for years, but European producers have been slower to follow."}],[{"start":254.64,"text":"A 2026 study by food institute Nofima found that consumers in the UK and France thought it was “unnatural and disgusting” to feed salmon chicken, according to Florent Govaerts, a researcher at the organisation."}],[{"start":267.84,"text":"Shoppers are unlikely to know whether salmon is chicken-fed as retailers are not legally required to list fish-feed ingredients on packaging."}],[{"start":276.24,"text":"Asda did not respond to requests for comment. Sainsbury’s told the FT that poultry-derived ingredients were prohibited in feed for its own-label salmon but did not say whether that applied to third-party brands."}],[{"start":291.69,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1792047654_3788.mp3"}