THE INFLUENCE OF FISH AND CRUSTACEA AQUACULTURE FEED ON THE FINAL QUALITY FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
By Dr Mustapha ABA, Aquaculture Scientific Expert. Fish Nutrition. Rabat. Morocco.
It is generally accepted that the quality of farmed fish and shrimp can be influenced by the formulation or composition of their feed. This is a potential advantage for farmed fish and shellfish over wild aquatic animals, but one that the aquaculture industry has been slow to exploit. In this sense, one of the major challenges for aquaculture is to present the consumer with an end product that is similar in nutritional and sensory terms to wild-caught fish that are rich in protein and unsaturated fatty acids.
This article examines the influence of nutrition in farmed fish and shellfish, and the importance of nutrition as a tool to improve nutritional quality and add value to fish and shrimp.
According to FAO (2024), global aquaculture production reached an unprecedented 130.9 million tonnes, of which 94.4 million tonnes were aquatic animals, 51 per cent of the total aquatic animal production feed-based aquaculture production has grown faster than the sub-sector of feed-free aquaculture. In terms of production, aquaculture fish and shrimp, aquaculture intensification has created challenges in terms of profitability, environmental sustainability and product quality that are ultimately linked to nutrition.For several decades, fish nutritionists have been striving to develop aquaculture feed formulations (aquafeeds) that promote or enhance the growth of farmed fish while controlling costs. Much of this effort has been focused on improving the flesh quality of fish and shrimp
One of the major challenges of aquaculture is to present the consumer with an end product that is similar in nutritional and sensory terms to fish caught in the wild. It is known that there are variations in nutrient composition and in physico-chemical and sensory properties between “wild” and aquacultured fish, with diet being one of the main factors affecting these properties
In other words, fish and Crustacea nutrition, in addition to directly influencing structural integrity, health, physiological functions, growth and water quality, also plays an important role in several fish quality parameters, such as colour, appearance, aroma, flavour, texture, nutritional value, shelf-life and contaminant levels.
Fish and crustaceans (shrimps) are high quality sources of protein and essential amino acids, essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals required for human nutrition. The flesh of these aquatic animals has been the subject of numerous studies related to its composition in fatty acids, which are directly associated with human health due to their protective effect, mainly against cardiovascular and rheumatic diseases.
The quality of farmed fish and shrimp can be controlled to a large extent by the level of feed, the levels of nutrients in the feed, the selection of ingredients and the protein to fat ratio of the feed given during the rearing period of production, and any changes in the nutrient content of the feed can improve the quality of the product in terms of nutritional quality attributes, specific nutrient content.
By using science-based nutritional approaches, farmed fish and shrimp can be produced to meet target quality characteristics consistently throughout the year, unlike fishery-derived aquatic animals whose nutritional qualities change throughout the year.
