dsm-firmenich expands intelligent sustainability service, Sustell™, to salmon farming

Royal dsm-firmenich, a global purpose-led science-based company, announces the introduction of its intelligent sustainability service Sustell™ to the aquaculture industry. Sustell™ delivers accurate, simple, and actionable farm-level solutions to improve the environmental footprint and profitability of animal protein production.

Increasing demand from retailers, consumers, investors and regulators for more sustainable animal protein, mean that producers need to show they have accurate, reliable and transparent methods to measure and credibly reduce the environmental footprint of farmed animal protein.

First introduced for terrestrial species in 2021, Sustell™ is the only environmental lifecycle assessment system with 3rd party, independent ISO certification by DNV and ISO assurance certified to ISO 14044/44.

Leading salmon producer and cooperation partner Bakkafrost, based in The Faroe Islands, was the development partner for the Sustell™ salmon module and is one of the first to utilize Sustell™ to model and reduce the environmental footprint of their salmon farming operations.

In extending the application of Sustell™ to aquaculture, dsm-firmenich underlines its aim to drive a robust and achievable transformation toward sustainable animal protein production, evidenced by its Food System Commitments and We Make It Possible strategic initiative. By leveraging digital and data-driven solutions such as Sustell™, dsm-firmenich helps the industry unlock the value of precision animal farming.

dsm-firmenich has developed Sustell™ together with Blonk, a recognized independent expert and leader in Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) in food and agriculture. The Sustell™ service is built around a state-of-the-art Intelligence Platform that is connected to the Blonk APS-footprint tool, together with an expert center made up of a team of dsm-firmenich and Blonk experts in LCA, animal nutrition, health and sustainability.

The Sustell™ expert center partners with customers, assessing the baseline environmental footprint of their animal production using their actual farm and feed data rather than industry averages and proxy data sets, and then developing case-specific intervention scenarios known as ‘what-if’ models to make measurable sustainability improvements. In this way, Sustell™ combines an advanced, powerful sustainability calculation tool that utilizes real farm data, with expert knowledge, tailor-made, practical solutions and business development projects to unlock the value of sustainability.

David Nickell, VP Sustainability & Business Solutions dsm-firmenich Animal Nutrition & Health: “Having real, credible and accurate data will unlock an entire set of opportunities for seafood producers and their value chain partners. We designed Sustell™ to simplify the complexity of measuring, validating and improving the environmental sustainability of animal protein transparently and scientifically, farm by farm, system by system. We put strong emphasis on a robust and great user experience that enables our customers to gain powerful insights into their business and make considered, targeted contributions to improving the sustainability of their animal protein production. Through SustellTM we make the invisible visible and unlock the value of sustainability.”

Regin Jacobsen, CEO Bakkafrost, commented: “The collaboration with dsm-firmenich underpins the commitment of both companies to significantly accelerate and future-proof sustainable salmon. With Sustell™ we will have access to science-based calculation and analysis of 19 different environmental categories for our operations. This will allow Bakkafrost to calculate, using real data from our feed production and farming sites, to model and then adopt interventions to reduce the environmental footprint of salmon farming.”

Hans Blonk, CEO Blonk Consultants & Blonk Sustainability Tools: “Fish plays an essential role in a sustainable diet. More and more fish is derived from aquaculture. Therefore, we are very excited with the launch of Sustell™ for salmon and support producers in continuously improving the environmental performance of aquaculture systems worldwide.”

Louise Buttle, dsm-firmenich lead for SustellTM Aquaculture: “dsm-firmenich have been a leading partner of the aquaculture industry for decades, and firmly support the drive to more sustainable aquaculture. The launch of Sustell™ for salmon is an important milestone in this respect and represents our latest innovation in aquaculture. During the development of SustellTM, we recognize Bakkafrost as a frontrunner in the sustainable production of salmon and have had an excellent collaboration. We are excited to bring this to the market now and look forward to introducing the service to the wider seafood industry.”