ASC – Feed Standard
Global
What is it?
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, international non-profit organization that manages a leading certification and labeling program for responsible aquaculture.
Together with their partners, they run a program to transform seafood farming globally and promote the best environmental and social aquaculture performance towards environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
- to align feed to farm greenhouse gas (GHG) reporting data with the new ASC Farm Standard requirements, and;
- to align with EU deforestation legislation requirements.
- Legal – The risk that primary raw material originates from areas affected by poor regulatory oversight resulting in either systematic illegal fishing within the fisher for marine-based ingredients or systematic violations of land use or environmental laws and regulations for plant-based ingredients.
- Social – The risk that primary raw material is produced using forced labor or worst forms of child labor for both marine and plant-based ingredients.
- Environmental – The risk that primary raw material originates from unreported or unregulated fishing, species that are IUCN endangered or critically endangered species, and species caught that appear in the CITES appendices for marine-based ingredients; or originates from areas resulted from illegal deforestation/conversion for plant-based ingredients. Plant-based ingredients used by the UoC also need to be assessed for their level of risk related to (legal) deforestation and land conversion.
What is it?
The ASC Feed Standard adopts a holistic approach covering both environmental and social responsibility within the feed mill and throughout its supply chain, covering all ingredients >1% inclusion.
The ASC Feed Standard was launched in June 2021, and feed mills were able to apply for certification in January 2023. The standard is applied to both the feed mill itself and the ingredients it uses.
The ASC Feed Standard has been revised to v1.1, taking into account feedback collected in a targeted consultation. Substantive changes have been made:
ASC Feed Standard v1.1 becomes effective and mandatory on November 1, 2025.
Under the ASC Feed Standard, marine ingredients should be increasingly sourced from responsibly managed (MarinTrust and MSC) fisheries, improving the sustainability level of whole-fish ingredients over time.
ASC-certified feed mills are also committed to transitioning towards a deforestation and land-conversion-free supply chain.
Mills must either source soy, palm oil, and plant ingredients from low-risk supply chains or have a public commitment to achieve low risk with an action plan, milestones, and target date (in accordance with the Accountability Framework Initiative).
Note that ASC-certified farms have until October 2025 to transition to ASC-conforming feed produced under the ASC Feed Standard to continue to meet the ASC Farm Standards.
Under Principle 1 – The unit of certification (UoC) has a management system to implement the ASC feed standard, including operating legally, and in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.
Criterion 1.21 – The UoC uses energy responsibly and monitors Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, the UoC shall identify all energy sources, calculate and report energy consumption, develop an Energy Efficiency Management Plan to improve energy efficiency, increase the proportion of energy from renewables, and identify responsible practices to move toward responsible practices within a meaningful timeline.
Feed mills can use the ASC Greenhouse Gas Calculator to facilitate calculations in line with ASC requirements for farms under the new ASC Farm Standard.
Under Principle 2 – The unit of certification (UoC) sources ingredients responsibly, the UoC shall conduct due diligence on ingredient manufacturers and primary raw material production – where due diligence is a pathway to understand the origins and potential impacts of the ingredients in aquaculture feed.
The UoC shall have a system to ensure it only sources from supply chains where the outcome of the due diligence on the ingredient manufacturer indicates low risk at least for the following risk factors:
Find an ASC certified feedmill here.