Marine Ingredients Denmark har den 30. juni 2025 fremsendt høringssvar til fødevarestyrelsen høring over EU maksimalgrænseværdier for MOAH/mineralolie i fødevarer.

Vi ser reguleringen af MOAH-niveauer i fødevarer som et vigtigt led i arbejdet med at beskytte forbrugernes sundhed. Vi bakker op om indførelsen af grænseværdier, så længe de afspejler de tekniske og analytiske realiteter, særligt for marine olier, hvor analysemetoder stadig er under udvikling. Vi anbefaler en trinvis og fleksibel implementering, der muliggør løbende metodisk videreudvikling og validering af analyser tilpasset marine matricer. Endelig vil vi understrege behovet for en toksikologisk vurdering og prioritering af MOAH-komponenter, så reguleringen målrettes de forbindelser, der udgør den største sundhedsrisiko.

Læs hele høringssvaret her: MID høringssvar til høring over EU maksimalgrænseværdier for MOAH-mineralolie i fødevarer June 2025

A major long-term study from the Institute of Marine Research in Bergen has revealed how the quality of farmed Atlantic salmon has changed over the past 16 years. Published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Research, the study highlights a clear trade-off: salmon fillets today are safer to eat, with lower levels of harmful contaminants, but they also contain fewer important nutrients—especially the omega-3 fatty acids EPA and DHA.

In the past, feeds for Atlantic Salmon were based on high inclusion of marine ingredients like fishmeal and fish oil, sourced from pelagic fish, which are rich in the long-chain omega-3s that are important to both fish health and human nutrition. But as global aquaculture expanded and marine resources became more limited and costly, feed producers began replacing fishmeal and fish oil with plant-based ingredients such as soy and rapeseed oil. By 2020, the share of marine ingredients in the diets of Atlantic Salmon was down to 24% from, 90% in the 1990s.

To understand this in detail, researchers at IMR analyzed nearly 7,000 salmon fillets, 900 feed samples, and 600 samples of raw feed materials between 2006 and 2021. The researchers found that omega-3 levels in feed dropped significantly between 2006 and 2014, then stabilized, which mirror a steep decline in marine oil inclusion in feeds between 2000 and 2020. The stabilization after 2014 likely reflects industry efforts to ensure salmon still receive the minimum levels of omega-3s needed for healthy growth and performance. At the same time, the study found contaminant levels—such as dioxins, PCBs, mercury, and arsenic— decreased significantly over the same period in both feed and fillet samples. These contaminants were associated to marine-based ingredients, which, like all natural sources can be exposed to environmental pollutants.

Trends in selected nutrients and contaminants in fish feed and Atlantic salmon fillets from 2006 to 2021

Since 2002, the European Union has enforced strict feed and food legislation that sets maximum limits for undesirable substances in feed materials. The implementation of this regulatory framework has played a central role in ensuring that products entering the aquaculture value chain meet stringent safety standards.

In parallel, the European marine ingredients industry has made substantial progress in eliminating contaminants such as dioxins and PCBs from fishmeal and fish oil. Through rigorous sourcing practices, improved processing technologies, and industry-led quality assurance schemes, the sector has significantly enhanced the safety profile of marine-derived feed ingredients. As a result, the situation today is far more controlled and transparent, with industry and regulators working together to ensure that marine ingredients continue to be both safe and nutritionally valuable components of aquafeeds.

While the biggest shifts in nutrient and contaminant levels took place between 2006 and 2014, the period since then has been marked by greater stability and consistency. These findings serve as a reminder of the strategic role marine ingredients play in aquafeeds—not just for supporting fish growth and health, but also for delivering nutritious seafood to consumers.

A newly published report from RISE Research Institutes of Sweden, “Fishmeal and oil from Baltic Sea herring: current uses and challenges for full transparency” , provides a detailed examination of how herring caught in the Baltic Sea is processed and utilized across sectors, particularly aquaculture. Commissioned by WWF Sweden, the study draws on both industry data and stakeholder input from across the fishmeal, feed, and aquaculture supply chain.

The report’s primary focus is to assess the fate of industrial landings of Baltic herring and to identify the key barriers to full traceability through the value chain. The findings confirm that while fishmeal and oil producers are able to deliver detailed sourcing data, the next stages—particularly feed production—remain a critical bottleneck in efforts to trace raw materials to specific species, stocks, or end markets.

Measurable Use of Baltic Herring in Aquaculture

New estimates presented in the report suggest that Baltic herring can indeed play a traceable and measurable role in supporting salmonid aquaculture in both Norway and Sweden. One Norwegian producer reported that approximately 0.015 kg of live-weight Baltic herring was used per kg of live-weight salmon or trout in 2023. In Sweden, the estimated use of Baltic herring in aquafeeds was approximately 650 tonnes in 2023, corresponding to around 0.08 kg of live-weight Baltic herring used per kg of live-weight rainbow trout produced in Swedish aquaculture.

This use represents a form of net protein production from a local marine resource that is not generally recommended for direct human consumption in large quantities due to persistent contaminants such as dioxins. Through processing, the fishmeal industry is able to reduce these contaminants and valorize the raw material into a high-quality source of protein and lipids for aquafeeds that is then safe to enter the value chain. Although not a central focus of the report, the data suggest that Baltic herring processing contributes in a measurable way to regional food security.

Sector-Level Destinations: Aquaculture Dominates

Using mass-balance data from selected processing facilities, the report finds that the majority of Baltic herring fish oil is used in aquaculture (approximately 99.8%), with fishmeal also predominantly going to aquaculture (69.3%), followed by pet food and agriculture.

The report also highlights that while multiple factories around the Baltic Sea process pelagic species into fishmeal and oil, the level of detail in reported data varies substantially by country and company. In one case, only one national dataset (from Denmark) provided estimates sufficient to support downstream analysis of aquaculture use.

Traceability Bottlenecks in the Feed Sector

The report notes that while feed producers are legally required to maintain records of raw material sourcing, detailed stock-specific information is often difficult to extract from current internal systems. In most cases, data on the use of Baltic herring was either unavailable or only shared as rough estimates, often requiring manual compilation. This variation in data accessibility and reporting practices presents a challenge for full transparency

Moving Toward Improved Transparency

The report recommends feed producers to adopt more structured data management to enable better traceability, and that certification schemes consider stronger requirements for marine ingredient disclosure. While new standards, such as ASC’s updated Feed Standard, may offer improvements in the future, their effectiveness in delivering stock-level transparency remains to be seen. Importantly, the report also notes improvements compared to earlier studies, citing more granular data from some industry participants and a more detailed picture of Baltic herring’s contribution to aquaculture supply chains.

Tobissæsonen startede i år den 1. april. De gældende vilkår for tobisfiskeriet i 2025 fremgår af bekendtgørelse om straksregulering nr. 12, som kan læses på Fiskeristyrelsens hjemmeside – klik her. 

ICES’ rådgivning om fangst af tobis i de enkelte forvaltningsområder i 2025 kan læses og downloades fra ICES’ hjemmeside – her. 

DTU Aquas tobisskrabetogt, gennemført i november-december 2024, viste en relativt lav tilførsel af yngel til bestanden. På baggrund af dette og den biologiske rådgivning er den samlede danske tobis-kvote for 2025 fastsat til 102.639 tons, hvilket svarer til en reduktion på 17,2 % i forhold til sidste års fiskerimuligheder.

Nyt i voldgiftsagen UK-Sandeel (The European Union v. the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland), i tvisten mellem EU og Storbritannien om den manglende adgang til britisk farvand for fiskeri efter tobis er her.

Tobis landet i uge 26 6.492 tons
I alt (uge 14-26): 67.468 tons

Tobis landet i uge 26 i Norge:  1.170 tons
I alt (uge 14-26): 19.756 tons

i alt landet: 87.224 tons

61,29% af den samlede europæiske kvote (110.078) er blevet landet i Danmark. Den Danske andel af landingerne er 77,35% og den Norske andel er 22,65%.

 

Tobisfiskeriet starter officielt og markerer begyndelsen på en ny sæson i et af de vigtigste fiskerier i Nordsøen. Sæsonen begynder uden adgang til britisk farvand, hvilket fortsat lægger pres på de samlede tilgængelige fangstområder. Ikke desto mindre er der en forventning i erhvervet om, at det vil være muligt at fiske den tildelte kvote.

En afgørelse i voldgiftssagen om adgang til britisk farvand afventes stadig. Afgørelsen forventes at få væsentlig betydning for fremtidige sæsoner og for mulighederne for en mere fleksibel forvaltning og planlægning af fiskeriet.

I år er kvoten (t):

1r: 70.807
2r: 39.159
3r: 0
4r: 0
6r: 112

Fangstniveauerne i tobisfiskeriet har varieret over de seneste fem år og giver et indblik i fiskeriets udvikling:

2020: 169.783 tons, 2021: 69.603 tons, 2022: 73.212 tons, 2023: 111.870 tons, 2024: 69.128 tons

Udviklingen i landinger pr. uge og de akkumulerede mængder over de seneste fem år viser sæsonforløbet og den variation i fiskelandinger, der kan forekomme.

Data viser, at udbyttet pr. fangst af tobis er højere senere på sæsonen, hvilket giver et højere indhold af værdifuld fiskeolie. Denne forskel i udbytte afspejles typisk også i afregningspriserne, hvilket har betydning for både mængden af ​​landinger og den samlede økonomiske værdi af fiskeriet gennem sæsonen.

MID påbegynder samtidig den ugentlige rapportering om tobislandinger, som løbende vil blive opdateret. Rapporteringen vil give et overblik over fiskeriets fremdrift og mængderne, der landes, hen over sæsonen.

Omega-3 fatty acids—long valued for their cardiovascular and anti-inflammatory benefits—are also becoming a key player in the science of longevity.

The question of how fast we age biologically—rather than just chronologically—has been a growing focus in scientific research. While the number of years we have lived is easy to measure, the actual pace of aging at the cellular level can vary significantly from person to person. Lifestyle factors such as diet, exercise, and nutrient intake play a crucial role in this process, and recent advances in DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks have provided a way to quantify these effects. A large clinical study has now provided compelling evidence that omega-3 supplementation, vitamin D, and regular exercise can slow the progression of biological ageing. Over three years, more than 2,000 older adults were monitored to assess whether these interventions could influence four key DNA methylation clocks (PhenoAge, GrimAge, GrimAge2 and DunedinPACE), which serve as biomarkers for aging at the molecular level, over 3 years.

You cand read more about the study here

Slowing the Clock: Omega-3’s Distinct Role

Among the findings, omega-3 supplementation stood out for its measurable impact on biological ageing. Individuals taking omega-3 alone showed notable reductions in PhenoAge, GrimAge2, and DunedinPACE—three of the measured epigenetic markers associated with aging-related health risks. The effect was further amplified when combined with vitamin D and exercise, with the combined intervention reducing biological aging by an estimated 2.9–3.8 months over three years. Beyond its influence on aging markers, omega-3 supplementation was also linked to a 13% reduction in infections and a 10% decrease in falls, reinforcing its broader role in supporting resilience and overall health. Interestingly, those with lower baseline omega-3 levels experienced the most pronounced improvements, pointing to the potential for targeted nutritional strategies based on individual needs.

Shifting Perspectives on Nutrition and Aging

The notion that diet can influence aging is not new, but studies like this provide tangible, clinical evidence that specific nutrients actively modulate the aging process at a fundamental, genetic level. While research into biological aging is still evolving, the findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that omega-3 intake is not just beneficial but potentially essential in maintaining long-term health. With an aging global population increasingly focused on preventive health measures, the role of marine-derived omega-3s in slowing biological aging may soon become as widely recognized as their benefits for heart and brain health.