French supermarket chain Supermarché Match has begun selling Lingalaks salmon fed with marine algal oil produced by Veramaris, the company announced on 5 June.
The salmon are now available in 116 stores in northeastern France, according to a Veramaris press release.
“At Supermarché Match, we are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to fresh and healthy food. The salmon we are now able to offer to our customers is rich in omega-3 EPA and DHA from natural marine algae,” Supermarché Match Head of Procurement Nicolas Baroux said. “This is our contribution to conserving marine resources.”
Norheimsund, Hardanger, Norway-based Lingalaks is the supplier of the salmon. In October 2018, it adopted a diet for its salmon developed by feed producer Skretting, which includes algal oil made by Veramaris. Veramaris claims it produces the “the only commercial source of omega-3 fatty acids from algae that is rich in both EPA and DHA.”
“Producing natural marine algal oil through large-scale fermentation, Veramaris enables the aquaculture industry to become less dependent upon finite marine resources and continue to grow within planetary boundaries,” the company said.
In recent years, Delft, The Netherlands-based Veramaris has initiated a dialogue between feed producers, farmers, retailers, and NGOs, around the benefits of algal-infused feeds. The result has been a faster pick-up by Skretting to accelerate adoption of the Veramaris omega-3 product, Kurmaly said.
“Omega-3’s are among the most important nutrients that people need for a healthy life. Omega-3 EPA and DHA are at the very core of the salmon brand-promise, making salmon a food choice consumers can count on when it comes to health benefits. This is our contribution to differentiate salmon and support retailers in increasing their fair share index of the salmon category,” Kurmaly said.
In July, a USD 200 million (EUR 177.4 million), zero-waste manufacturing facility in Blair, Nebraska, U.S.A. will begin producing and delivering Veramaris oil on a larger scale, the company said. While small quantities of the Veramaris oil has been available for market development purposes over the past two years, the new production capacity will boost supply to about 15 percent of the total current annual demand for EPA and DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry, the company said.
A survey completed by Veramaris last year and released in March 2019 showed omega-3 content as a top reason listed by consumers for choosing to eat salmon. In France, 93 percent of salmon consumers say that omega-3 content is somewhat, very, or extremely important in their purchases of salmon.
Photo courtesy of Veramaris
