Chile: Development of new products such as protein ingredients and oily mixtures for their addition in fish feed, among other projects, is part of the work of the Chilean company.
Recently, the Aquaculture Innovation Club in Chile announced the new companies that became part of this initiative, one of them being the company from Concepcion, Innocon. According to what was explained to Salmonexpert by its Sales Manager, Carlos Mendez, Innocon was created in 2012 and is part of the business holding Setop SA in the Bio Bio region, having work experience in human and animal food industry, chemical industry, construction, mining and consultancy. Mendez explained that Innocon was created “as a scientific group to support these companies, but growing so fast led us to go on the market. Since 2012 we have been working on R&D and as a company today we are more than 70 people working on innovation.” To learn more about Innocon’s work and its connection with the salmon farming business, Mendez provides more details about it. Which of Innocon’s work areas is related to the aquaculture industry? We have an R&D department. The R&D project area contributes with its laboratories and pilot plants, adding a great team of researchers aimed at advising, seeking and developing solutions for aquaculture food companies. Within our specialization, we evaluate the use of antioxidants in salmon feed, with its specific determination and its impact on the finished product, through an accelerated assessment. What project are you working on specifically with the industry? Currently, we are working on the development of new products such as protein ingredients and oily mixtures for their addition in fish feed, developing bioassays with nutritional challenge and control of raw materials, with finished products that are carried out by our laboratories and pilot plants. We have worked with companies like Cargill and BioMar. While together with NATPRO we have developed a project in which it was sought to evaluate insect proteins as an alternative raw material for use in food. What are the objectives that you set out in terms of being part of the Aquaculture Innovation Club in Chile? Our clear objective is to actively pursue and strengthen our innovation capacities in the aquaculture area, which, through the Club, we understand that we will be provided with the support for the effective achievement of this. We also plan to obtain feedback from them; our scientific team is available for seminars and conferences, among others. Why did you decide to be part of this work? Our decision was based on the fact that we clearly understand that collaborative work is extremely important, making efforts to a common purpose will always be profitable, clearly it will be a mutual benefit. The idea is to join forces, contribute our experience and obtain the experience of companies that are strongly working in the aquaculture area. Source: https://www.salmonexpert.cl/article/el-trabajo-en-id-en-alimentacin-acucola-de-compaa-nacional-innocon/