Fighting Malnutrition Around the World with Salmon By-Products

Loch Duart has always believed that sustainability is a multi-faceted objective. One essential is to maximise the effective use of the salmon with minimum wastage.

Currently, when the salmon are prepared for customers, the guts are safely disposed of through insilation, and, once filleted, the heads and frames are used in low-grade applications such as fertiliser and pet food.

Now, in a groundbreaking agreement which significantly increases the value extracted from farmed salmon, Loch Duart has agreed to supply CellsUnited with up to 450 tonnes of salmon viscera (guts), heads

The salmon by-product will be used to produce CellperTM, a new nutritional compound that has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of malnutrition in people who cannot otherwise digest protein.

The arrangement has important implications for Scotland’s salmon farming industry, as Loch Duart director, Andy Bing, explains: "The CellperTM process, derived from technology developed for long-distance space travel, adds significant value to those parts of the salmon usually discarded or used for fertiliser and pet food. Now the full nutritional benefit, including that of the viscera, frames and heads, can be used to combat malnutrition in developing countries and to speed the recovery of many categories of hospital patients in the developed world. We are delighted to be part of this important breakthrough.”

The CellperTM process transforms the value of salmon waste which, for quality, freshness and reliability of supply, has been identified as the ideal protein source for this new product. The result, after a long and complex refinement process, can be used in two forms:

1. as a dietary supplement in basic granular form, where it is the most compact form of ‘pre-digest’ protein and therefore easily transported to remote parts of the world
2. as a liquid nutritional supplement for many types of hospital patient.

CellsUnited Managing Director, Andy Smith, is enthusiastic about the arrangement: “We see an important future working with the aquaculture industry worldwide - and where better to start than with Scotland’s most innovative, quality salmon producer? We plan to spend the next 18 months working closely with Loch Duart before establishing volume production which will need a minimum of 4,500 tonnes of salmon waste a year. Our relationship with Loch Duart will continue as part of our permanent R&D base in Dingwall.”