Sustainable Nutritional Feed Supplements

Scotland’s seafood processors currently pay to dispose of protein-rich waste that could instead be turned into animal feed. This project will test whether oils, proteins, and even discarded mollusc meats recovered from processing plants can replace conventional fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture diets. The problem is twofold: seafood waste costs the industry money to remove, and the fish farming sector relies on wild-caught fish for feed ingredients—an unsustainable loop. By applying industrial biotechnology to capture nutrients from processing effluent and trimmings, the researchers aim to create a new biomass supply chain within Scotland. The key step is quantifying the feed value of these recovered materials through controlled feeding trials across multiple farmed species. If successful, this could shift a costly waste stream into a revenue-generating resource for Scottish processors, while giving fish farmers a lower-impact alternative to wild-caught feed ingredients. The project does not promise a finished commercial product—it is the first systematic test of whether recovered seafood proteins and oils actually support healthy fish growth. That evidence is the necessary foundation for any future investment in sustainable manufacturing technology.