Businesses look to turn Great Lakes Asian carp invasion into profit through petfood, oil

A group of businesses in the Great Lakes area is developing a business plan to make Asian carp, an invasive species found in the Great Lakes, into a profitable food and byproduct.
Some restaurants already serve the fish on their menus, but food processing plants now have the idea of turning the carp into petfood and fish oil. State officials have said they will look at the plan when completed.

Good news from the Gulf, but not quite clear sailing yet

Petfood is once again proving to be a harbinger, as reports say scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), as well as industry, are finding no signs of contamination from the Gulf oil spill in menhaden. Menhaden is a fish commonly used in many industries and foods, including petfood ingredients like fishmeal or omega-3 oils or powders, such as those supplied to the industry by Omega Protein.The good news is that results of a two-step testing process (involving officials smelling the catch of menhaden and other species and testing it for chemicals) have been favorable. Steve Wilson, chief quality officer for NOAA, says because menhaden tend to move around and swim away from problems in the water, the fact that the fish themselves have tested favorably means there is even less concern regarding the products made from them.Ben Landry, spokesperson for Omega Protein, says the company has also conducted its own tests of both menhaden and its own products and found no problems -- and some of its customers have even done their own testing."Nothing came back that would cause any concern either in our own testing or state or federal government testing," says Landry in an article on Al.com. "The products we're making are completely safe."But we can't breathe easy just yet: A bigger fallout from the oil spill might be a decline in the menhaden population.Perhaps because his company's future depends on it, Landry again offers a positive outlook, saying the company's spotter planes and captains report seeing a "tremendous amount of fish out there ... Now again, this is anecdotal, but a lot of these captains have 30-plus years' experience."The commercial fishing season closes in less than a month, November 1, when menhaden begin their spawning season. Let's hope that brings good news, too.

Information on fish and fishmeal from the Gulf

At Daybrook Fisheries, one of the two Menhaden fish meal and oil processors in the Gulf of Mexico, product safety is our primary concern. We understand the importance of the questions raised concerning Gulf of Mexico fish-based ingredients on Petfood-Connection.com and offer the following in response.
First and foremost the petfood industry can rest assured that Daybrook values the petfood business and will prioritize their safety concerns and tonnage requirements, you will receive fishmeal and it will be tested to comply with known contaminant limits.

1) PETFOOD VOLUME: The US petfood industry is a very large consumer of menhaden meal but still only makes up about 25-35% of the total annual menhaden fishmeal sales. All contracted sales to date have received timely shipments and nobody has had any shipment problems.

2) FISHING: Fishing is continuing and has thru-out the Deep-water Horizon oil spill; however it has been restricted to areas away from any oil impact zones. Daybrook only fishes in open areas that have been tested by the NOAA Fisheries Service found to be free of contamination. Additionally EPA is testing water quality and Louisiana departments of Health and Hospitals as well as Wildlife and Fisheries are routinely analyzing the seafood throughout our fishing areas and none have found any results of concerning levels.

3) SAFETY CONCERNS: No fish are being caught in closed areas. No fish kills have been reported; menhaden are filter feeders and are not being observed in areas of oil. We are testing our catch and have not found any concerning results. Weekly samples of fishmeal production are submitted to an outside certified laboratory for testing contamination elements related to the oil spill. Analysis for individual polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and total aliphatic hydrocarbons with detection limits down to the ppm and ppb levels have shown very low levels or below detection levels. While regulatory authorities have not set maximum limits on most of the PAH’s, the EU has set a limit for both fresh and smoked fish for human consumption on one PAH, Benzo(a)pyrene, and all of our tests have shown that this chemical is below detection limits. The US has set some criteria for reopening closed fishing areas which covers 8 different PAH’s and all of our results are 1 to 4 orders of magnitude below those limits or below detection limits.

4) US FISHMEAL INDUSTRY: There are two companies operating four menhaden processing plants in the Gulf and one on the Atlantic. Two of the Gulf plants “traditional fishing grounds” have been closed by federal and state authorities. Until such time that they are re-opened those boats will travel much further west in order to fish. The increased travel time and greater competition in the reduced open areas has led to a decrease in the catch.

5) PRODUCTION VOLUME: The menhaden industry normally produces between 150,000 and 200,000 ST of meal and 70,000 to 100,000 ST of oil per year over the past decade. The global production is typically around 6 million MT of meal and 1 million MT of oil so the US only makes up about 3% of the world’s meal and 7+% of the world’s oil.

6) BOTTOM LINE: Neither the petfood manufacturers nor consumers should have any concern about the supply or safety of Menhaden fishmeal. There is no doubt that this catastrophe is having a significant impact on our industry but as it relates to the petfood segment we currently have and expect to continue to have ample supplies of safe, high quality, meal for our friends and loyal customers in the petfood segment.

Scott Herbert
VP - Market Development
Daybrook Holdings

CRN, GOED and fish oil company say nothing is wrong with product

In response to the lawsuit filed against fish oil supplement manufacturers and retailers due to alleged polychlorinated biphenyl contamination, the Council for Responsible Nutrition, the Global Organization for EPA and DHA omega-3s and the Omega Protein Corp. are assuring consumers that the lawsuit is unfounded.
CRN said the information disclosed during the announcement of the lawsuit “danced around the details,” and offered “a lack of specificity … about the levels of polychlorinated biphenyl compounds found in the fish oil products that were tested.”
Adam Ismail, executive director of GOED, said his organization has “complete confidence in the safety of the fish oil supplement market, which has been validated through multiple third-party reviews by industry watchdogs on thousands of products.”
Omega Protein Corp., a producer of omega-3 fish oil and specialty fish meal products, said it disagrees with the plaintiffs, including methods of measuring PCBs, the level of PCBs at which a warning would be required, testing protocols, and applicable industry standards.

Fish oil supplement makers face lawsuit over contamination

A lawsuit recently filed in California, USA, claims some fish oil capsules sold as health supplements have illegally undisclosed and unnecessary high levels of contamination with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) compounds.
The lawsuit names eight makers and sellers of fish oil, shark oil, fish liver oil and shark liver oil supplements that have PCB contamination above the so-called “safe harbor” limits set for human PCB consumption under California’s Proposition 65. That law requires consumers to be warned about such exposures.

Fish oil good for pets

Fish oil supplementation may be helpful for pets with inflammatory diseases including allergies, arthritis, kidney disease and heart disease and has been shown to slow the growth of cancer, according to a recent article from www.examiner.com.
However, the article claimed eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), which are omega 3 fatty acids found in fish oil, are too fragile to survive the shelf life of commercial petfood.
The only reliable source of EPA and DHA is salmon oil in capsules, according to the article.