Why We Use Animal Proteins
Like all animals, fish need protein for growth, energy, immunity and other metabolic functions. Protein comes from animal or plant sources. However, since most cultured fish have some degree of carnivory in them, they will generally utilize animal protein sources better than plant protein sources. Overall, animal protein sources are more palatable, higher in digestible nutrients, have minimal antinutrients and negligible carbohydrates. We use proven animal protein products from specific suppliers because variation in quality occurs even among similar ingredients.
Label Rules for Ingredients
Animal feeds follow set regulations, including ingredient definitions, label standards, and laboratory standards based on the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). When it comes to ingredient lists on a feed label, each ingredient is required to exist in the AAFCO database. Some ingredients have to be listed individually and some can be put together under a collective term, allowing manufacturers to combine various animal protein ingredients on a label without having to list each one individually. Along with how ingredients are labeled on a feed tag, the order of ingredients is a descending list based on their inclusion by weight. An ingredient list starts with the ingredient with the highest percentage inclusion and then followed by ingredients with progressively smaller amounts.
#1 Ingredient Fish Meal
What started out as a clever marketing plan to differentiate a fish feed from the competition was to build marketing campaigns touting fish meal as the #1 ingredient in a fish feed. At its root, it makes complete sense, using fish meal in aquafeed mimics what happens in nature. But as we touched on in a previous article, the term “fish meal” on an ingredient label can be misleading. It would be easy to make a cheap fish food with fish meal as the #1 ingredient if the fish meal was from a low-grade source. Think fish processing waste (bones, heads, and scales). It would also be pretty easy to discover low-quality fish meal in the feed if you have issues getting fish to eat it or you do not clearly see the health and growth results directly resulting from feeds. In fish farming, an important metric used to evaluate the quality and performance of feeds is called feed conversion ratios, or FCR. FCR is a calculation of how many pounds of feed it takes to grow a pound of fish. When feed is supplemental, like in a pond, FCR’s become much less useful as fish can eat any number of things in addition to the supplemental feed thrown out. High quality fish meal is expensive. Expensive enough that it has spawned a massive industry over the last couple decades devoted to creating ingredients capable of replacing it in animal feed rations. This means another metric to consider when trying to spot a feed with low-quality fish meal is cost. Quality fish meal is expensive and high inclusions will always result in higher cost feeds.
With the cost and sustainability of fish meal sources under public scrutiny, many fish farmers have tried to limit the amount of fish meal in their diets. A “fish in, fish out” (FIFO) ratio is a commonly used metric that many aquaculture producers have to monitor in order to stay in compliance with many certification requirements. This becomes a very interesting area when we compare our aquaculture customers to our pond and lake management customers and a constant source of new information on how to improve diets while also keeping them cost effective.
How Companies Market with Ingredient Lists
Look at the following two examples of the first four ingredients on a feed tag. Based on the marketing idea of Fish Meal as a #1 Ingredient. One would assume that Company A must have a better feed and Company B is cheap because it has Soybean Meal as its first ingredient.
Company A
- Fish Meal
- Wheat
- Corn
- Soybeans
Company B
- Soybean Meal
- Fish Meal
- Krill Meal
- Poultry Meal
But let’s say you were able to see inside the formulation and really see the percent of each ingredient within the diet. Below shows an example with inclusion numbers.
Company A
- Fish Meal 14.2% (low-grade fish meal)
- Wheat 14% (wheat middlings)
- Corn 14% (dried distillers grains)
- Soybean Meal 10%
Company B
- Soybean Meal 18%
- Fish Meal 17% (high-grade fish meal)
- Krill Meal 11%
- Poultry Meal 10%
While Company A has fish meal first, Company B has more fish meal as well as additional animal proteins that make for a more robust and complete diet based on amino acid profiles. This doesn’t even take into the account that it could be possible that not only does Company A have a lower level of fish meal, no other animal proteins, but the quality of that fish meal could be low-grade causing additional reasons that diet would not perform as well as Company B.
Hopefully this example gives you a little more understanding of the inner workings of an ingredient list. There is a whole field of study, research, and industry which meticulously decide how an ingredient list will look regardless of if it is on animal feeds, human foods, or even fish food.
We, at Endurance Feeds, chose to use the term “Animal Protein Products” on our labels. The main reason for this is we utilize multiple “fish meals” and marine proteins that vary between each specific diet. We also use other protein sources, like chicken meals, to help ensure we hit or exceed the amino acid requirements of targeted fish species. Next, we will post about all the various animal protein products we use, what they are, and why use them.
