The four-year project will use novel ingredients from the circular economy with a low carbon footprint

Nofima, the Norwegian Institute for applied research within the fields of fisheries, aquaculture, and food research, has launched the Millennial Salmon Project with partners across the value chain to accelerate the development of sustainable solutions for the future of farmed salmon.

The goal of the four-year project is to create the most sustainable-farmed salmon using novel ingredients from the circular economy and with a low carbon footprint while addressing the initiative’s “millennial principles of life” – living healthy; leading a purposeful live; trusting peers; and considering their societal and environmental impacts.

With a €1.3 million budget, the Millennial Salmon Project is primarily funded by the Research Council of Norway and is made up of leading organisations, Nofima, InnovaFeed, Corbion Algae Ingredients, Cargill, SINTEF Ocean and Auchan.

The project will study two alternative feed ingredients – protein-rich, insect-based feed ProtiNova from InnovaFeed, and algae-based omega-3s, AlgaPrime DHA from Corbion, both of which offer minimal land use.

The evidence-based study will test the levels that are required to optimise the physical and nutritional needs of salmon, discover the practical and functional properties of both alternatives, as well as demonstrate the environmental and societal aspects of the suggested innovations. SINTEF Ocean will be conducting a life cycle analysis of the resulting Millennial Salmon feed.

The Millennial Salmon Project addresses the industry demand by working to provide by 2025 an integrated solution to salmon farmers that balances the raw materials in the feed basket and provides greater flexibility from the use of finite marine resources and land-demanding resources. The Millennial salmon will be a healthy product for the consumer, but also a healthier farmed animal, fed with and grown with higher levels of omega-3s derived from microalgae.