KnipBio, a Lowell, Massachusetts, U.S.A.-based animal feeds firm, has announced its successful development of a new aquafeed ingredient containing a biologically produced ingredient that gives salmon, rainbow trout, and shrimp their characteristic pink color, as well as significant health benefits.
The company was able to extract the ingredient, a carotenoid named bio-astaxanthin, from a strain of the microorganism Methylobacterium extorquens, in commercially relevant quantities. The breakthrough will provide the aquaculture industry a new source of biologically produced astaxanthin that is competitively priced with synthetic versions of the product derived from petrochemicals, the firm said in a press release.
“This is great news for salmon, trout, and shrimp farmers looking for an affordable and natural alternative to synthetic astaxanthin. It’s also great news for consumers, as our research shows they prefer food products made from natural ingredients,” KnipBio CEO Larry Feinberg said.
The company said it will be introducing the ingredient into its KnipBio Meal line, the company’s premium aquafeed product.
Astaxanthin is an antioxidant approved as an additive for salmon, trout, and shrimp whose reported health benefits in animals include faster growth, better feed conversion rates, improved disease resistance, and reduced embryonic mortality, the company said.
The aquaculture industry currently consumes more than USD 300 million (EUR 244 million) per year of astaxanthin. Feinberg said the company is now seeking to scale up its production of its naturally derived astaxanthin, which he said is produced via a fermentation process using ethanol, methanol, and other waste feedstocks.
In a separate announcement, the company said it had also developed another new product combining immunonutrients with a single-cell premium protein. The company’s research has shown KnipBio’s ProteinPlus product contains a protein that closely resembles the amino acid profile of fishmeal, “making it a promising alternative,” Feinberg said.
“The combination of premium proteins plus immunonutrients plus natural astaxanthin is an ideal solution for salmonid and shrimp aquaculture,” he said. “In fact, this trifecta of benefits could be the ‘killer app for aquaculture.’”
KnipBio has successfully scaled up its production of the single-cell protein in preparation for full commercial operations in 2019, Feinberg said. The scale-up, which allowed the company to reach the metric-ton production milestone for the first time, enabled KnipBio to cut its production costs significantly, Feinberg added.
Adding to the company’s good news, KnipBio recently raised USD 2 million (EUR 1.6 million) in a Series B funding effort, according to FeedNavigator.com.
The company’s longer-term goals include establishing facilities capable of manufacturing about 150,000 tons of the ProteinPlus product and a move toward initial commercialization in 2018, said Feinberg. The company has not decided whether to pursue its sale as a complete fishmeal replacement or as an additive, he added.
“Whether it’s a replacement or complement, time will tell,” Feinberg said. ”The use of a single-cell protein in feed also may offer a way to reduce some of the inflammation vegetable-based ingredients can provoke. If you blend in single-cell proteins, then you have a healthier animal, and that we’re really excited about.”
