Superior Fresh hopes Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification will help further the success of its unique land-based Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) for Atlantic salmon and trout.
The Hixton, Wisconsin, U.S.A.-based company, which operates the first aquaponics and RAS facility in the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s BAP program, is ramping up production after starting deliveries to a Wisconsin grocery chain in late June.
De Pere, Wisconsin-based Festival Foods is selling Superior Fresh’s antibiotic-free and hormone-free salmon in all 28 of its stores. Several Wisconsin restaurants also carry the salmon and trout.
While Superior Fresh currently operates a 160,000-square-foot aquaponics facility, it will soon expand to 300,000 square feet of production on a 720-acre native restoration project in rural Northfield, Wisconsin.
The expansion will bump up Superior Fresh’s annual production from around 160,000 pounds of Atlantic salmon and steelhead annually to more than one million pounds annually in the next two years, Brandon Gottsacker, the company’s president, told SeafoodSource.
“We believe that the BAP certification will help us demonstrate our commitment to excellence, ultimately setting the bar high,” Gottsacker added.
In addition to obtaining BAP certification, the supplier’s Atlantic salmon and steelhead trout are ranked as "Best Choice" by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.
The supplier’s fish are fed certified organic feed and are not administered antibiotics and hormones. Moreover, the fish never encounter sea lice, said Dr. Steven Summerfelt, Superior Fresh’s chief science officer, and possible escapes are a non-issue.
“These fish cannot escape,” Summerfelt said. “They aren’t even vaccinated, because the biosecurity barriers used have been successful excluding obligate pathogens.”
Around 50 percent of the company’s salmon and trout are sold to local restaurants, such as The Informalist and the Canadian Honker.
In addition to seafood, Superior Fresh also produces around 1.5 million pounds of organic leafy greens annually.
