Consultative meeting on aquafeed standards

AQD scientist Dr. Relicardo Coloso took part in a Consultative meeting to draft a Philippine National Standard (PNS) for aquaculture feeds.

The meeting, which took place last July 16, was held in Bacolod City to present the draft PNS and solicit feedback from stakeholders.

Dr. Coloso presented an Overview of Philippine aquaculture feed industry. Future prospects, according to Dr. Coloso, include improved formulations for environment friendly feeds for sustainable aquaculture, more information on micronutrient requirements, additives and enhancers. He also mentioned that new areas for aquaculture development and new formulations of feeds for various species will expand the aquaculture feed market by at least 5% that would cause more pressure on feed resources. Inadequate formulation of aquaculture feeds may affect the income of aquaculture farmers/operators and eventually the quality of the environment. The need for quality control in aquaculture feeds is very important to safeguard the health of the consumers. Aquaculture feed millers and aquaculture farmers/operators must be responsible to make sure that the feeds they manufacture or use pass certain standards.

The development of this standard was started in 2007 when the National Agriculture and Fisheries Council–Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture (NAFC–CFA) created a group to work in identifying fish and fishery commodities for standardization.

Aquaculture feeds was identified and recommended by the NAFC-CFA Working Group on Fisheries Product Standardization because of its economic importance.

This activity is one of four meetings as a prerequisite prior to the approval of the standard as PNS. – by Mark Matubang, DA-Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Product Standards