Everyone wants fish meal in fish food, and it’s easy to see why. Most cultured fish species naturally eat other fish, making fish meal a prime ingredient. It’s considered a high-quality protein source that is very palatable, digestible high in minerals and contains residual oil that is composed of omega 3 fatty acids EPA and DHA. However, any ingredient that is high in protein and also offers other significant nutritional benefits, will come at a cost.
Fish meal is interesting because it encompasses a wide variety of variations. If you were to examine the composition of several fish meals without knowing their origins, you might mistake them for entirely different ingredients based solely on their makeup. Fish meal comes in many forms, influenced by its source and processing methods; with each aspect affecting the overall quality, palatability, and digestibility of the final product.
For instance, would you consider Atlantic salmon and common carp equally appealing choices for dinner? Does eating a fillet feel more satisfying than consuming the heads, fins, and scales? Additionally, how does the difference between freshly caught fish and one that has been stored in a bag on a shelf for some time impact your choice? All these factors are crucial when deciding what fish, we want to eat for dinner, and they significantly influence our preferences and the prices we’re willing to pay. However, when it comes to fish meal included in fish food, all these factors are unknown to the consumer of the feed, making it challenging to understand precisely what type of fish meal you are getting in your fish food.
Fishmeal is a broad term that encompasses a wide range of products and quality levels. It can be made from any fish or part of a fish, including everything from wild-caught marine fish to the bones and scales that are left over after filleting and processing.
The quality and price of fishmeal are influenced by additional factors determined by the producers as well. These include the distance from where the fish were caught to the processing location, as well as the different techniques and temperatures used during processing.
While these variables play a significant role in deciding which fish meal to use in a specific formulation, consumers typically have no way of assessing the quality of the fish meal themselves.
High-quality ingredients can be costly, especially good fishmeal, which tends to be quite expensive. Therefore, the final price of the feed, may provide insight into the potential quality of the ingredients used. Also, when fish is fed feed with high-quality fish meal mixed with other high-quality ingredients, the overall result will be improved palatability, digestibility, growth and other performance parameters.
We plan to post more information where we dig deeper into the ingredients we use in our formulations, including fish meal, and explain the rationale behind each ingredient’s inclusion in our diet. Every ingredient is carefully selected and sourced based on its ability to aid in the overall palatability, digestibility, performance, and its impact on feed manufacturing.
Use of inferior ingredients as a way of lowering input costs, generally reduces the quality of feeds and it means that the priority is increasing margins over feed quality. At Endurance, we are dedicated to crafting the finest fish food possible. We honor the contributions of other fish feed companies and strive to make a positive impact in the industry, for our customers and for their fish.
Questions or want to learn more contact us at: facebook.com/endurancefeeds or visit our contact page
