Santiago, Chile-based fishing and salmon-farming firm Blumar Seafoods has launched an antibiotic-free salmon brand that touts sustainability as its selling point.
The “Laguna Blanca” brand employs Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) standards to raise salmon without antibiotics throughout the entire cultivation cycle.
“This salmon is the result of the work of a team highly committed to caring for the environment and animal welfare,” Blumar Sales and Marketing Director Daniel Montoya said in a company statement. “It is a product free of antibiotic treatments, grown in the unique conditions that offer the purity and temperature of the waters of Magallanes.”
The Laguna Blanca brand is slated to be distributed in fresh and frozen varieties in U.S. retail stores and restaurants this month.
Miami, Florida, U.S.A.-based BluGlacier – founded in 2016 as a joint venture between Blumar and fellow salmon farmer Ventisqueros, one of Chile's largest salmon importers to the U.S. – worked “hand-in-hand” with Blumar to create Laguna Blanca, according to BluGlacier Chief Marketing Officer Evelyn Torres.
“Laguna Blanca is an amazing product and we can't wait to share it with our customers,” she said.
Last month, Blumar published its annual sustainability report, in which it outlined five corporate sustainability goals to be reached by 2027: a reduced carbon footprint, more sustainability certifications, lower use of antibiotics, adoption of circular waste management, and growing its energy efficiency.
One of the indicators highlighted in its report is the supply, since April, of non-conventional renewable energies to all operations, leading to a substantial reduction in emissions.
In its salmon-farming operations, the company said the use of antibiotics decreased 31 percent when compared to measurements made in 2017. Blumar's objective is to reach a total reduction of 58 percent in the next six years with the use of innovation and technology.
The company was one of three of the eight Chilean salmon farmers that belong to the Global Salmon Initiative (GSI) that actually decreased antibiotic use in 2020 when compared to levels from 2019, according to numbers available in the GSI annual sustainability report. Last year, the company lowered antibiotic use 4.6 percent to 274 grams of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) per metric ton (MT) of fish produced, versus 288 grams in 2019.
Photo courtesy of Blumar
