First certification under ASC Feed standard completed in Chile

PRESS-RELEASE

Control Union Services, the world’s leading certification body for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) scheme, has added a new accreditation to its commitment to sustainability, this time for ASC Feed certification

During 2023, Control Union underwent a rigorous accreditation process by the German entity Assurance Services International (ASI) which confirmed the competence and impartiality of the Control Union team for this new standard.

The first certification by Control Union under the ASC Feed standard was completed in January this year, in Chile.  This was the first ever certification for aquafeed for salmon and trout under the program, and the first Skretting certificate released globally.

Skretting, a NUTRECO Company and one of the world’s largest producers of feed for animal nutrition, have worked on the implementation of the ASC Feed standard for several years. Skretting developed the studies and gathered the evidence necessary to promote the supply of raw materials of sustainable origin (mainly marine ingredients and terrestrial plant ingredients), in relation to legal, social and environmental aspects. This demonstrated ASC’s commitment to improve the state of fisheries (source of fishmeal and fish oil) and plant-based ingredients free of deforestation or conversion of soils.

Regarding the most relevant challenges that this certification meant for the company, Skretting Quality Control Manager, Juan Manuel Leiva, comments that these were focused on the evaluation of ingredients and suppliers and said : “A great part of the work was based on the origin of the ingredients and in being able to determine which are eligible. But there is also a social component directly related with our policy of community relations.”

“We are extremely proud to have become the first salmon feed company in the world to achieve ASC Feed certification. As pioneers in this area, we can say that it was a path full of learning and challenges that, thanks to an articulated teamwork, we were able to successfully overcome”. 
Juan Manuel Leiva, Skretting

 

Talking about Control Union’s accreditation and their role in the first certification, Jorge Rios Alveal, head of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Team at Control Union said: “We are delighted to have contributed to this milestone and supported Skretting Chile, who are the pioneers for this first certification within the ASC Feed scope for salmon and trout.

“We look forward now to supporting clients across the Americas, Europe, Oceania and Asia as they look to become ASC Feed standard certified.”

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) was founded in 2010 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and the Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH) to provide a world-leading certification programme for the aquaculture industry. It covers a wide variety of aquaculture processes globally and considers both the environmental and social aspects of farming to ensure responsible production.

An ASC certified product must also be certified to the Chain of Custody (CoC) standard. This provides rules for the purchase, processing, and sale of certified ASC products.

ASC certified farms have until January 14th, 2025 (12 months) to transition to ASC-compliant feed produced under the Feed Standard in order to continue meeting the ASC Farm Standards

For more information on Control Union’s offering for the Aquaculture and Fisheries industry please visit here.

To find out more about the ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) Feedmills standard please visit here