Consumers do not formulate aquafeed, but their perceptions can influence ingredient choices

Aquafeed formulations must meet fish nutritional requirements and production objectives. Cost and availability also shape the choice of ingredients. Consumer perceptions can add another factor, influencing the supply chain indirectly through the purchasing requirements set by brands and retailers.

That raises a question: when an ingredient is rejected or restricted because of fears of consumer resistance, is the decision based on measured preferences or on what the supply chain assumes consumers will accept?

For this reason, the views of retailers and consumers matter when a new ingredient is considered. New raw materials should be assessed across the supply chain, not only at the formulation stage.

A useful starting point is to understand what consumers know about what farmed fish are fed. A lack of information can create fertile ground for groups opposed to aquaculture’s expansion to shape the debate.

Transparent information can help prevent them from dominating the narrative as consumers learn more about the sector.

For feed manufacturers and producers, the challenge is not to anticipate a reputational crisis that these studies do not demonstrate. It is to better understand responses to each ingredient in each market, and to explain the role of each raw material, where it comes from, and what is known about its safety and its effects on the fish and the final product.

Transparency can help put changes in aquafeed into context, but it does not guarantee acceptance. A Nofima study found more favourable assessment when the feed was not specified; it did not test whether an information campaign would change opinions or purchasing behaviour.

Consumers do not decide the formulation, but their perceptions can influence the commercial rules that shape it. To avoid decisions based on assumpted rejection – or on acceptance that has not been tested – the supply chain needs to distinguish between measured preferences, purchasing requirements and its own expectations.