DSM extends sustainability service to salmon farming

Health, nutrition, and bioscience company Royal DSM has introduced its tool – Sustell environmental lifecycle assessment service – to the aquaculture industry, with its partner Faroese salmon farmer Bakkafrost becoming one of the first aquaculture companies to utilize it.

Announcing the launch, DSM said increasing demand from retailers, consumers, investors, and regulators for more sustainable animal protein means producers need to show they have accurate, reliable, and transparent methods to measure and credibly reduce the environmental footprint of farmed animal protein.

Utilizing real farm data, with expert knowledge, tailor-made practical solutions, and business development projects, Sustell was first introduced for terrestrial species in 2021.

The service was developed by DSM and food and agriculture life cycle analysis (LCA) firm Blonk. It is built around an intelligence platform that is connected to the Blonk APS-footprint tool, together with an expert center constructed by DSM and Blonk experts in LCA, animal nutrition, health, and sustainability.

According to DSM Vice President of Sustainability and Business Solutions David Nickell, having access to accurate data will unlock an entire set of opportunities for seafood producers and their value chain partners.

Nickell said Sustell was designed to simplify the complexity of measuring, validating, and improving the environmental sustainability of animal protein transparently and scientifically, farm by farm, and system by system.

“We put strong emphasis on a robust and great user experience that enables our customers to gain powerful insights into their business and make considered, targeted contributions to improving the sustainability of their animal protein production,” Nickell said.

Bakkafrost’s collaboration with DSM underpins the commitment of both companies to significantly accelerate and future-proof sustainable salmon, the company's CEO, Regin Jacobsen, said.

With Sustell, it will have access to science-based calculation and analysis of 19 different environmental categories for its operations.

“This will allow Bakkafrost to calculate, using real data from our feed production, and farming sites, to model and then adopt interventions to reduce the environmental footprint of salmon farming,” Jacobsen said.