Sustainable functions, supply chain drives Akraborg to enter human-grade pet foodstuff industry
8 min read
AKRANES, ICELAND — With an comprehensive track record in canned seafood solutions for humans, Akraborg is hoping to leverage its functions to increase its company into pet nourishment. The corporation now generates complementary pet food items solutions, but has significant hopes that its sustainable operations, optimized offer chain and high-quality formulations will pave the way for buyers trying to find far more sustainable and more healthy pet food stuff formulation.
Started in 1989, Akraborg is the world’s largest maker of quality-high-quality canned cod liver products and solutions for manufacturers and non-public labels all through the world. Lýsi, the world’s major producer of entirely refined fish oils for people, owns a the vast majority stake in the business, though repeatedly considering new alternatives for its oils within just the pet phase. Officer operates as the company’s component proprietor, delivering promoting and gross sales capabilities.
“We see ourselves as incredibly market place driven and we’re pretty excellent at scaling up,” reported Rasmus Thomsen, organization enhancement and gross sales supervisor at Officer. “If you appear at our record in cod liver, we began as a little organization and received pretty good by investing in the correct machines, know-how and technologies to provide our canned seafood all about the planet.”
According to Thomsen, Akraborg and Officer are hoping to do the very same within just pet meals.
Akraborg operates two services in Akranes and Ólafsvík, Iceland, as perfectly as a pet nutrition facility, which lately opened in 2021. Situated wall to wall with the facility in Akranes, the state-of-the-artwork pet food facility functions the very same creation processes for Akraborg’s canned seafood goods.
The reason-built pet foodstuff facility residences large-speed products, boasting an hourly ability of 5,000 models of merchandise and a recent yearly capacity of 10 million pouches. It can deal with a variety of packing sizes from 60 to 300 grams (about 2.12 to 10.58 oz) and can bundle pet food items products in lithographic doypacks and shelf-all set exhibit boxes.
With worldwide pet ownership skyrocketing and consumer need for additional higher-high-quality goods growing, Akraborg observed an option to place its capabilities to the take a look at with entire-and-balanced pet diet, even though also contributing to sustainability.
Akraborg’s pet food facility has an hourly potential of 5,000 units. (Supply: Akraborg)
“The world’s growing inhabitants is in want of proteins, and we see a probable way of making human-grade quality pet foods products based mostly on refreshing fish products that had been formerly frozen and downgraded high quality smart,” Thomsen stated.
Sustainable operations
Akraborg’s functions are designed with sustainability leading of intellect. From material souring to generation, the company’s intention is to offer significant-good quality items centered on refreshing uncooked components when cutting down its effect on the environment.
Starting with its supply chain, Akraborg uses secondary offer streams, like individuals for cod liver which the moment would otherwise be wasted, to make its canned seafood solutions for human beings.
“Our majority proprietor, Lýsi, is by considerably the most important fish oil producer in Iceland,” Thomsen spelled out. “They employ fish goods from all all around Iceland and Akraborg benefit from the liver from the cod fisheries.
“We do not buy the main uncooked product from the fishermen, we buy the secondary,” he included. “It’s not secondary excellent, but [fishermen] never go out to sea to capture cod liver, they go out to catch the cod and we take the liver. The mentality in our team [of companies] is all about entire utilization.”
Akraborg’s uncooked products are sourced from many regional suppliers through Iceland, from significant fisheries and tiny boats to gutting stations. Because of its proximity to many fisheries and suppliers, Akraborg does not want to depend on frozen seafood supplies. In reality, the organization strictly utilizes refreshing materials to reduce its electrical power intake.
“Our way of thinking is intent on realizing the ideal excellent out of the raw products that are out there from capture and manufacturing,” Thomsen shared. “This goes all the way back again to operating with the fishermen on how to retain, pack and retailer our raw products on the fishing vessels, to reducing the total time in our offer chain just before the product is developed and packed.”
The organization does not just depend on neighborhood suppliers to lower its environmental footprint it also makes sure that its materials come from additional eco-pleasant implies.
“The cod we use is all sustainable authorised by the Maritime Stewardship Council (MSC), while the trout and salmon are both farmed beneath sustainable and environmentally targeted amenities,” Thomsen shared.
The company’s pet foodstuff facility offers many certifications. (Supply: Akraborg)
According to Thomsen, the pet food aspect of the company will make even further more use of Akraborg’s secondary supply chain, advancing the company’s plans for finish use of its raw products.
“Our uncooked products are never the most important products from the fish, so our utilization element is the most sustainable component [of our operations],” he said. “Fresh is a search term, as we do not use frozen raw supplies where by vitality has been utilised to freeze merchandise, and our uncooked components are all nearby.
“We feel it is our responsibility to make the most out of every single kilogram of fish that is caught or farmed, and we believe in making products from clean uncooked content in the spot in which the raw substance originates, employing the most affordable sum of CO2 possible,” he added.
The Icelandic place of Akraborg’s pet food facility also aids in the company’s environmental plans. According to Thomsen, Iceland is at this time 1 of the “frontrunners of the earth when it comes to eco-friendly electrical power,” like geothermal electrical power, wind energy and hydropower, some of which the facility employs to develop its merchandise.
“About 85% of the overall main vitality source in Iceland is derived from domestically generated renewable power sources,” Thomsen explained. “This is the greatest share of renewable power in any national complete power funds. Producing pet food items in a region like Iceland, where by we play a aspect of lowering the usage of CO2 to feed the animals of the entire world, tends to make us sure that we are on the ideal route and in the suitable place.”
Substantial-high-quality, licensed formulations
Although Akraborg is at present making complementary moist pet meals products, the organization hopes to enter the completed-and-well balanced segment of the marketplace in 2023. By way of Officer, Akraborg will generate, provide and sector its pet meals to non-public labels throughout Europe.
Akraborg now uses Atlantic cod, Atlantic salmon, redfish and Atlantic trout to formulate its pet diet items. In accordance to Officer, the Atlantic cod and redfish are wild caught in Iceland and the Atlantic salmon and trout are farmed. These species of fish boast quite a few wellness rewards, which include a minimal stages of calories and fat and a substantial amounts of Omega 3 fatty acids.
By working with the exact same supplies for its complementary products and solutions, Akraborg’s entire pet foodstuff will also carry the same substantial-top quality characteristics, according to Thomsen.
To deliver its pet meals merchandise, Akraborg options to leverage the similar offer chain it employs to manufacture its human seafood goods. (Resource: Akraborg)
“The superior detail about our complementary products and solutions is that they are 100% all-natural, grain-cost-free and based mostly on 96% to 99% new single protein fish supply,” he described. “This would make our solutions unique, superior-quality, simply digestible and prosperous in Omega 3 fatty acids.”
Not only are Akraborg’s pet foods items large-excellent and created to ensure sustainability, but they are also built with meals protection in thoughts. The company’s pet food stuff facility carries a lot of certifications, which include those from the United States Food and Drug Administration (Fda), the Maritime Stewardship Council (MSC) and the International Showcased Common (IFS Foodstuff). These certifications also let the company to sector its pet food products as human-quality.
“Recently, our pet meals manufacturing was additional to our IFS-7 Food stuff certification wherever we achieved a better-degree grade,” Thomsen explained. “We are significant believers that top quality certifications are really crucial in a turbulent earth. Also, we imagine that it is important to have an bold corporate climate action system, so that equally pets and people can take pleasure in our solutions with self esteem and good conscience.”
Like its human seafood and complementary pet goods, Akraborg hopes to include things like an elevated level of superior-high quality seafood substances to increase its pet foods products’ over-all protein content material.
“We did a equivalent thing in the human sector we boosted the genuine fish articles in very well know price-additional solutions and that actually boosted our gross sales and industry consciousness,” Thomsen shared. “That’s some thing we’re seeking to seem into [for pet food].”
Consumer traits fueling the foreseeable future
Together with its know-how in human meals manufacturing, Akraborg’s entrance into pet meals is also becoming fueled by purchaser demand through Europe and around the world. According to Thomsen, pet mother and father all through Europe are seeking food stuff solutions designed with renewable strength and far more sustainably sourced elements, and this will be related for what is purchased for their pets as properly.
“Awareness from pet owners… is getting bigger and more substantial to buy sustainable and to get solutions with a lower carbon footprint,” he shared.
In expanding its pet nourishment business, Akraborg strategies to totally make use of its raw elements, selling sustainability. (Resource: Akraborg)
“We are enduring an power crisis all above in Europe, so it would make it very appealing to deliver in Iceland,” Thomsen included. “Eighty-five percent of all electrical power, such as warmth, water and gasoline, is renewable in Iceland, so we have an advantage appropriate now, also keeping stability in head. But, at the same time, we also see an chance in branding and our customer’s branding to point out that we are really applying renewable energy and maintaining carbon footprint down”
Akraborg is also eyeing other chances to develop its reach throughout the globe.
“Our goal is to increase our market place in Europe, but definitely to also enter the US marketplace,” Thomsen mentioned. “Since our factory is by now Fda-authorised and we previously export our canned cod liver to the United States, we see this as a all-natural following stage.”
Thomsen shared the enterprise will preserve optimizing its source chain by in search of additional techniques to thoroughly benefit from raw components and advance its sustainable functions, even though also catering to its latest clients.
“Firstly, our target is to improve our current market by means of new and current buyers on the complementary range that we do currently,” he claimed. “But we are hunting into what other prospects our community uncooked resources are capable to give us by utilizing secondary uncooked supplies in main high-quality.”
As Akraborg continues to scale up and enhance its current manufacturing, the business proceeds to check out much more possibilities in pet diet, including treats, to aid its buyers supply bigger-high-quality items to shoppers.
“We see a trend of building far better pet food merchandise that are eco-friendly and not pushing the protein wants of the environment, and we want to help that,” Thomsen concluded.
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