The French supermarket chain Supermarché Match, headquartered in La Madeleine, introduces fresh salmon sustainably fed with natural marine algal oil from Veramaris as one high-quality source of both omega-3 fatty acids EPA & DHA in all of its stores in France.

Supermarché Match sources the salmon from Norwegian salmon farmer Lingalaks, headquartered in Norheimsund, Hardanger. Beginning in October 2018, Lingalaks has been feeding a sustainable salmon diet developed and manufactured by feed producer Skretting which includes omega-3 EPA & DHA algal oil from Veramaris as an alternative to fish oil from wild-caught fish.

“At Supermarché Match, we are committed to ensuring that everyone has access to fresh and healthy food. The salmon we are now able to offer to our customers is rich in omega-3 EPA & DHA from natural marine algae. This is our contribution to conserving marine resources”, says Nicolas Baroux, Head of Procurement at Supermarché Match.

Feeding salmon with natural marine algal oil resonates strongly with increasing consumer demands for nutritious and yet sustainably farmed seafood. In France, 93% percent of salmon consumers say that omega-3 content is somewhat, very and extremely important when purchasing salmon (Veramaris Market Data 2016/2018). As a result, omega-3 content is among the top five reasons for consuming salmon.

“Omega-3’s are among the most important nutrients that people need for a healthy life. Omega-3 EPA & DHA are at the very core of the salmon brand-promise, making salmon a food choice consumers can count on when it comes to health benefits. This is our contribution to differentiate salmon and support retailers in increasing their fair share index of the salmon category”, Veramaris CEO Karim Kurmaly says.

Veramaris orchestrated the stakeholder dialogue of players along the value chain over the past few years, from feed producers, farmers to retailers and NGOs. Feed producer Skretting has, in turn, intensified its engagement along the value chain to accelerate adoption of the Veramaris omega-3 solution.

The Veramaris oil is the only commercial source of omega-3 fatty acids from algae that is rich in both EPA & DHA. Producing natural marine algal oil through large-scale fermentation, Veramaris enables the aquaculture industry to become less dependent upon finite marine resources and continue to grow within planetary boundaries.

The largest facility for the production of omega-3 EPA & DHA is located in Blair, Nebraska, USA. In July 2019, this US$200 million, zero-waste manufacturing facility will begin producing and delivering the innovative algal oil rich in omega-3 EPA & DHA at an industrial scale.

The initial annual production capacity of the Blair facility will meet roughly 15% of the total current annual demand for EPA & DHA by the salmon aquaculture industry. Pilot quantities for market development purposes have already been available for the past two years.