Lallemand Animal Nutrition and BioMar extend their collaboration

The feed additives and specialty functional feed ingredients manufacturer, Lallemand SAS and fish feed supplier, BioMar, have signed a formal research, development and commercial collaboration agreement aimed at expanding the knowledge and use of probiotics in fish feeding.

“This agreement is a natural continuation of the excellent relationship forged with Lallemand Animal Nutrition for more than 10 years, which has led to important innovative landmarks such as the approval for the first time of the use of a probiotic in fish feeding by the European Food Safety Authority - Lallemand’s BACTOCELL® for use in fish feed*” said Mr Torben Svejgaard, CEO of the BioMar Group at the occasion of the sealing of their latest agreement. BioMar has since 2010, when the first EFSA approval was given, been the only feed supplier to offer fish feed with BACTOCELL®. With the extension of the EU approval earlier this year to all fish species, BioMar has launched additional new products with BACTOCELL®. These include the highly successful LARVIVA ProStart targeted at early weaning for fish larvae, as well as other types of fish feed such as the INICIO Plus fry feed for Mediterranean fish species. 

”Lallemand Animal Nutrition sees a natural ally in BioMar with both companies equally devoted to funding robust research and development aimed at effective commercialization of products” said Dr Yannig Le Treut, GM of Lallemand Animal Nutrition. “We are also both committed to seeking sufficiently high level of understanding and well documented support for the natural solutions we offer to our customers. BACTOCELL® is still the only zootechnical additive approved by the European Food Safety Authorities for use in fish feed, having unequivocally demonstrated beneficial animal performances. Dr Le Treut added: “On the development stance, a partnership with BioMar gives us access to both trial facilities for fish feeding as well as access to the extensive network BioMar has among fish farmers; providing willing sites and capabilities to enable testing of new feed solutions in “real life” situations. This has proven to be very effective and beneficial e.g. in the approval of BACTOCELL® where laboratory results were subsequently confirmed in field trials under industrial production conditions.”

The current agreement consolidates an already substantial research and development collaboration between the two companies. “We have from both sides allocated significant amounts of resources in a bid to continue to fund research which provides tangible, natural and economic solutions with regards to optimizing fish health, nutrition and welfare. In particular and at the moment we are looking at the effects of probiotics on the microbiome and on gut function, which has been hypothesized to be linked to the prevention of viral and bacterial outbreaks”, voiced by Dr Patrick Campbell and Dr Mathieu Castex in charge of the joint R&D programmes.

The agreement grants BioMar an exclusivity partnership with Lallemand on the use of BACTOCELL® in fish feed in all the key markets where BioMar operates. “We see a huge potential for the use of probiotics in fish feed, and we are therefore of course extremely pleased with this collaboration, which will extend our lead with these kinds of products” says Mr Torben Svejgaard.

Whilst the current agreement focuses on the use of probiotics, both Lallemand and BioMar admit that future agreements could extend to other areas of research, development, additives and animal categories of mutual interest. Lallemand Animal Nutrition already supplies several other important additives and ingredients to the fish feed industry and new actives are currently being evaluated in aquatic species.

The BioMar Group is one of the leading suppliers of high performance fish feed to the aquaculture industry. The turnover in 2012 was 1.1 billion Euro, an increase of 13% compared to 2011. BioMar supplies feed to fish farmers in more than 60 countries worldwide and produces feed to more than 30 different fish species.