San Isidro, Peru-based fishing company Austral Group has become the first firm in the country to validate its fishmeal and fish oil products in the Global Feed Life Cycle Assessment Institute’s (GFLI) database.
The GFLI database is an international platform that collects environmental information on inputs used in the production of animal feed. Registration in the database aims to provide accurate, verifiable, and globally comparable environmental information regarding marine products, granting stakeholders the ability to access primary, representative data rather than relying on industry averages.
“This milestone makes the environmental impact of our products transparent and allows us to provide reliable information to our customers,” Austral Group CEO Adriana Giudice said in a release. “As producers of fishmeal and fish oil, we are pioneers in providing primary, verifiable, and globally comparable data, reinforcing our commitment to an increasingly sustainable, efficient, and competitive fishing industry.”
The Peruvian Network of Life Cycle and Industrial Ecology (PELCAN) conducted the life cycle assessment (LCA) of Austral Group’s fishmeal and fish oil, updating the available scientific information on these marine ingredients in compliance with GFLI's methodology and review process, which itself is based on international standards such as the Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance under the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO-LEAP), the European Feed Manufacturers Federation’s Feed for Food-Producing Animals (PEFCR Feed), and International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14040 and 14044.
Unlike other databases that use secondary information or market averages, GFLI’s Branded Data provides access to specific data for each product. Austral Group said that the published information comes mainly from primary data that underwent GFLI's internal review process and an external third-party review, enhancing the reliability and transparency of the data.
Issues evaluated under Austral Group’s LCA included the prioritization of natural gas use over other fuels, suitable management of anchovy biomass, and the efficiency of the Peruvian fishing fleet in terms of fuel consumption.
Austral Group said the achievement comes as international markets increasingly demand greater traceability, transparency, and technical evidence on the impact of the products that comprise their value chains.
The company, which operates 19 fishing vessels and four processing plants in Peru and which is owned by Norway-based Austevoll Seafood, produces about 10 percent of the fishmeal and fish oil that Peru exports. It also produces canned fish and frozen fish.
“We have always led the sector in terms of sustainability and environmental stewardship, with a focus on the triple bottom line – social, environmental, and financial,” Giudice previously told SeafoodSource.
For instance, in Peru, Austral was the first company to use steam-drying at the beginning of the 1990s in making fishmeal, and it was also the first company to obtain ISO 14001 certification for all of its plants and fleet.
It has secured a number of other certifications, as well, such as Friend of the Sea and ISO 9001, and it has been a signatory to the United Nations Global Compact for over a decade. Its sustainable management practices are geared toward aligning with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
