Foods of Norway

The main goal of Foods of Norway is to develop novel local protein sources for livestock and farmed fish. The centre focuses on using woody biomass, seaweeds and grass, which are all abundant resources in Norway. The centre’s work to develop sustainable feed resources was honoured in 2023 with a Foods of Norway postage stamp. Yeast as a feed ingredient Developing yeast from forest biomass such as spruce trees by biorefinery processing and enzyme technology and documenting yeast as a novel protein source in diets for Atlantic salmon and farmed animals is a main research area. A major milestone was reached with successful large-scale production of autolyzed C. jadinii yeast grown on spruce sugars. The yeast was used in two large-scale feeding trials: one with NMBU and Biomar on salmon in seawater fed diets with 0, 6, 12 and 18% yeast and one with Felleskjøpet on piglets fed diets with 0 or 8% yeast. Growth performance, health and welfare were registered and in 2023 most samples have been analysed. Results show that salmon fed diets with up to 12% yeast and piglets fed the yeast-based diet performed well under field conditions. Due to increased demand for bioethanol, the cost of tree sugars has increased, so the production cost of yeast as a feed ingredient has also increased. Consequently, the centre has lately focused on a more cost-efficient microbial protein source, filamentous fungus (PEKILO® mycoprotein) that can grow on cheaper forest-based side streams. The PEKILO® was produced by enifer, while Borregaard provided the substrate. To evaluate the health effect of PEKILO®, the centre performed a laboratory-scale trial with immune cells isolated from salmon head kidney and spleen that were exposed to PEKILO® and fractions. Results showed that PEKILO® gave a strong immune stimulating response, especially when the cells were also exposed to a common salmon pathogen (Moritella viscosa), suggesting that PEKILO® has positive health effects and can increase the protection against bacterial pathogens. Two trials with Atlantic salmon have been conducted, in cooperation with the NordicFeed project, to evaluate the effect of PEKILO® on growth performance and health. Results showed that salmon fed increasing levels of PEKILO® had high feed intakes, grew well, and had a significant better feed utilization and nitrogen and energy utilization compared to the control. Feeding PEKILO® based diet also had a positive dose-dependent effect on immunomodulation and gut morphology, suggesting a positive effect on health. In 2023, a pathogen challenge trial was performed with salmon fed PEKILO® to evaluate effect on fish survival. Samples are now being analysed. The centre examined the milk quality of cows fed yeast-based diets, resulting in a PhD thesis defended in 2023. Results showed that the yeast resulted in a similar product quality of milk and cheese yield compared with cows fed the soy-based diet. Seaweed as a feed ingredient A major part of the research is to evaluate the potential of using seaweed in feed applications where the seaweed is processed by a biorefinery approach as a fermentation media to produce yeast or as a high-value bioactive component such as fucoidan for functional feeds. We have in 2023 shown that the use of fucoidan in functional feeds during sea water transfer improved growth performance, health and robustness of Atlantic salmon. Our results suggest that fucoidan is an interesting candidate for functional feeds, but the effect depends on the processing method and inclusion level. Trials with low-processed brown seaweed (sugar kelp) in diets for growing-finishing lambs and beef cattle have been conducted in collaboration with Nortura, Seaweed Solutions and Felleskjøpet. Results showed that seaweed improved the meat quality of the lamb, while a similar trend was found for beef cattle with respect to increased tenderness and iodine level in the meat. A trial with seaweed in diets for dairy cows in collaboration with TINE, Seaweed Solutions, Felleskjøpet and NMBU showed that seaweed increased feed intake, milk yield, milk fat content and energy corrected milk yield, confirming some of the results observed earlier with seaweed in diets for dairy goats. Grass TINE and NMBU have been working on increasing the nutritional value of grass. In 2023, samples from a trial with late harvested grass, where different enzyme cocktails were added to increase the digestibility of the grass, have been analysed. Feed efficiency In collaboration with AquaGen, the centre has developed a method to select salmon with increased feed efficiency. The method is to use natural isotopes in feed for the property to be analysed in slaughter tests. This has been evaluated in rainbow trout, and a validation experiment with large salmon will be conducted in 2024. After completing the validation experiment with large salmon, the method can be included in AquaGen’s breeding program from 2025 onwards.

Foods of Norway will contribute to growth and increased value creation in the Norwegian aquaculture and agriculture industries by developing sustainable feed ingredients from natural bioresources that are not suitable for direct human consumption. New feed products will be developed from forestry, agriculture, and marine resources through industrial exploitation of cutting-edge research on processing and (bio)technology. The center also aims at improving feed efficiency by innovative feed processing technology, and by combining important phenotypic traits, new biomarkers for feed efficiency and advanced genomic analysis to support genetic adaptation to the novel feed resources. Today, Norway relies largely on imported feed ingredients, mainly due to insufficient land area suitable for agriculture and challenging climatic conditions. The center will have a special focus on developing new innovative processing technologies that allow conversion of national bioresources into feed for farm animals and fish. The development and introduction of the novel feed resources will be accompanied by comprehensive biological verification in fish and farm animals, as well as evaluation of food quality, using state of the art methods. The consortium comprises 9 academic and 14 industrial partners with broad and longstanding multidisciplinary expertise in the fields of (bio)processing, feed technology, physiology, nutrition, health and genetics, food production and food quality, and resource economics and sustainability assessors. The potential value creation from use of novel feed resources and increased feed efficiency is substantial, and will secure growth and competitive advantages for all industrial partners. Foods of Norway will make a major contribution towards strengthening national food security, overall bioeconomy and sustainability along the production chain from basic resources to final food products, and minimize the environmental impact of aquaculture and agriculture.