Skretting Aquaculture Innovation (AI): Where science meets industry

Skretting AI is a nexus of knowledge. We develop innovative and sustainable solutions that meet the needs of the rapidly changing aquaculture industry. We conduct scientific and market research focused on fish and shrimp nutrition, health, and feed production that leads to new sustainable products and solutions, supported by digital tools and the breadth of innovation found within the Skretting business. We are more than our headquarters.

Skretting AI cultivates close relationships with academic and industry partners and is one of the best places to work for world-class researchers and marketing experts. Skretting AI was first established in 1989 and was renamed in 2021. Our employees work in our headquarters Norway, plus our satellite research stations in Chile, China, Ecuador, Italy and Japan and support activities for over 60 fed aquaculture species on five continents. Our goal is to enable Skretting to maintain its position as an industry and innovation leader and deliver on its purpose of Feeding the Future.

Our people

To ensure the success of our efforts, an international group of 140 experts make their outstanding knowledge available to the company. Skretting ARC’s experts have diverse specialist backgrounds and continuously look beyond their own field, working in close collaboration with different departments as well as external partners to deliver meaningful innovation. They’re inspired by a sustainable world and driven by our mission of Feeding the Future.

Our research focus

Health

With a focus on prevention and an integrated approach, Skretting ARC investigates the utilisation of new functional ingredients and methodologies to advance fish and shrimp well-being. Our specialised team of researchers have backgrounds in biochemistry, microbiology, metabolomics, genetics and histology.

Nutrition

Our nutrition researchers work to continuously improve our understanding of gut and fish physiology, and how feed intake and gut functionality can be optimised. We are constantly testing raw materials to establish nutritional value and functionality during the production process, as well as to gauge potential risks with regards to food safety and quality and sustainability.

This research takes species, size, biology, environment and health conditions into careful consideration when analysing nutritional needs.

Feed production

Changing formulations change the requirements for our feed production techniques. Our feed production researchers develop technologies and new methodologies aimed at further increasing the efficiency and quality of our formulations while also delivering a more sustainable supply chain. Our team also works to document best practices and train global colleagues to ensure consistent high quality production.

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Delphine Crappe at Skretting's The Bubble — The Skretting Bubble, based in Stavanger, Norway, adds pioneering radical technologies to our R&D facilities. Here, we test and develop radical methodologies focused on biology and biochemistry.

Forklift at Skretting AI FTP — At our pilot-scale feed technology plant (FTP) in Stavanger, Norway, we explore the latest production technology, new feed formulations, and potential raw materials. We produce sample batches of prototype feeds and supply a wide range of experimental feeds to our research stations and cooperating research institutes for further optimisation.

Lab worker at the Skretting AI laboratory — The Skretting AI laboratory in Stavanger, Norway, is an internationally-accredited aquaculture lab where we conduct precise measurements of the nutritional value of our feed components and evaluate the composition, performance, and quality of our products with the help of NIR calibrations and state of the art equipment and methodologies.

The Skretting ARC Lerang Research Station, based in Norway, is one of the most advanced aquaculture research facilities in the world. Here we specialise in increasing the performance of Atlantic salmon. This research station is also home to a laboratory dedicated to sea lice and our RAS knowledge centre.

Skretting AI Guayas research station — Our world class Skretting AI Guayas Research Station in Ecuador is fully dedicated to shrimp farming to further expand our knowledge of shrimp nutrition and health, and to apply this intelligence on-the-ground in one of the global seafood economy’s most important shrimp producing regions.

Feed plant in Pargua — The Skretting AI Pargua Research station in Chile conducts research focused on salmon and trout, and is home to state of the art recirculation systems with full environmental control for salmon and trout.

Kagoshima facilities — The Skretting AI Kagoishma Research station in Japan specialises in yellowtail kingfish and red sea bream and is located within the premises of Kagoshima University, offering a unique advantage of combining academic competence with our knowledge and network.

Mozzecane research facilities — Feed advancements for freshwater trout are assessed in Skretting AI Mozzecane Research Station in northern Italy.

Our state-of-the-art facilities

Our facilities are fundamental to achieving trusted results that can be applied to the development of innovative feed concepts for our customers worldwide. Comprising indoor and outdoor facilities, our fish and shrimp research and validation stations enable us to closely monitor and control environmental conditions in order to conduct precise experiments on our latest formulations with a variety of aquaculture species. To ensure we fully meet the local needs and challenges of the industry, we have established units in several countries.

Dedicated aquafeed testing laboratory

Skretting ARC internationally-accredited aquaculture laboratory analyses the results of all of our trials. With the help of NIR calibrations, which are centrally coordinated by ARC and exist for almost all the raw materials that we source globally, our local units conduct precise measurements of the nutritional value of all our feed components. Our formulators use this information to establish the best formulation recipes.

The laboratory also evaluates the composition, performance and quality of our products to ensure the specific requirements of each customer are being fully met.

At the same time, we operate a global monitoring program for all finished products, whereby samples produced by all our companies are sent to the same laboratory, approved for the methods, to be compared like-for-like.

Feed technology plant

Our pilot-scale feed technology plant (FTP) incorporates small-scale feed production equipment that explores the latest production technology, new feed formulations and potential raw materials. It enables us to efficiently optimise equipment and evaluate new production methods, as well as producing sample batches of prototype feeds.

Adhering to our strict production specifications, the FTP supplies a wide range of experimental feeds to our research stations and to cooperating research institutes with a view to further fine-tuning and optimisation based upon the results.

The facility also enables us to conduct practical training and share competence across our business.