The Feed of the Future for Fish, Pigs, Poultry and Laying hens

Circular protein ingredients produced in Sweden could help replace imported soy and fishmeal in animal feed, reduce its environmental impact, and strengthen Swedish food preparedness. These are the final findings of the Feed of the Future project, which tested mussels, insects, and mycoprotein in feeds for fish, chickens, laying hens, and pigs. More than 25 organizations worked together to test the entire value chain—from ingredient production and feed manufacturing to animal production and sales. Scaling up now requires investment, long-term commitments, and risk-based regulations.

The Issue

What animals eat matters more than many people realize. Today’s feed system relies on imported ingredients such as soy and fishmeal. Soy requires large areas of arable land and can contribute to biodiversity loss. Much of the fishmeal produced globally comes from wild-caught fish, placing demands on marine resources and potentially adding pressure on fish stocks. Import dependency also makes Swedish food production more vulnerable.

At the same time, large volumes of resources from Sweden’s forests, seas, and food system remain underutilized. Some residual streams are already used in animal feed, while others are used for energy or fertilizer even though they could be put to higher-value use in the food system.

Feed rarely gets the spotlight, but it is one of the most important levers for creating a resource-efficient food system.

– Madeleine Linins Mörner, Program Director, Future Food, Axfoundation

The challenge is not that all current feed ingredients are bad or that all residual streams are automatically the most sustainable choice. The challenge is that markets and regulations do too little to encourage the use of ingredients and residual streams where they create the greatest benefit for the food system, society, and the environment.

– Hanna Carlberg, Aquaculture Researcher, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU)

Soy and fishmeal in animal feed can be replaced using for example…

…insects raised on residual streams from the food industry

…mycoprotein produced from Swedish forestry industry

… farmed mussels that help reduce eutrophication in the Baltic Sea

Our Solution

The project tested three circular protein ingredients produced in Sweden:

Insects: Black soldier fly larvae convert residual streams from the food industry into protein.
Mycoprotein: Produced by fermenting residual streams from the forest products and food industries.
Mussels: Farmed blue mussels help reduce eutrophication in the Baltic Sea by taking up nutrients from the water. When harvested and processed into feed ingredients, these nutrients can be returned to the food system.

The ingredients were developed and tested by feed ingredient producers, feed manufacturers, farmers, aquaculture producers, researchers, retailers, and foodservice working together. The goal was to demonstrate how Swedish resources could improve resource efficiency, reduce the environmental impact of feed, and strengthen Swedish food preparedness and agriculture while meeting animals’ nutritional needs and maintaining food quality.

The Feed of the Future connects forests, seas, agriculture, and the feed industry in a circular system.

What the Project Accomplished in 2023–2026

Developed, tested, and evaluated feed ingredients for fish, chickens, laying hens, and pigs.
Established pilot-scale production of novel protein ingredients and feeds, and tested the feeds in research and commercial animal production settings.
Evaluated nutritional value, digestibility, growth, egg production, environmental impact, food quality, market potential, and economic viability.
Brought fish, eggs, chicken, and pork from the project to market through retail and foodservice.
Identified barriers and opportunities for wider use of circular feed ingredients.

Read the final report and explore the findings

Results

The project demonstrates that novel circular protein ingredients can be produced in Sweden, used in industrial feed manufacturing, and work in commercial animal production, while the resulting food products can reach the market.

Growth and Digestibility

The trials showed comparable growth in fish and pigs and maintained egg production in laying hens. The chickens grew more slowly, an outcome believed to have been influenced by limitations in pilot-scale ingredient production and several simultaneous changes in the feed supply chain. This should not be interpreted as evidence that mycoprotein or insect meal is generally unsuitable for chicken feed.

SLU studies found good protein digestibility of mycoprotein in pigs, comparable to soybean meal and rapeseed meal. In chickens, mycoprotein and mussel meal showed digestibility of protein and several amino acids comparable to the control feed.

High Food Quality

Sensory evaluations conducted by the School of Hospitality, Culinary Arts and Meal Science in Grythyttan found that fish, meat, and eggs from animals fed the project feeds were of comparable or, in some respects, higher quality than the reference products. Rainbow trout raised on feed containing insect protein also impressed some of Sweden’s leading chefs in tasting sessions. The fish was described as tasting like wild-caught fish and having a better texture than the reference fish.

Fish, eggs, chicken, and pork from the project have been sold in stores and served in restaurants. The products drew interest from both customers and restaurants, and the eggs sold out. Sales demonstrated market interest, but sustained demand and willingness to pay will be needed to reach larger volumes.

Future Feed shows how Swedish side streams from forests, the sea, and the food industry can replace the soy and fishmeal used in today's feed.

Lower Environmental Impact

Life cycle assessments show that the project feeds can help reduce environmental impact. All four feeds required less land. Three of the four also had a lower climate impact, and three contribute less to marine eutrophication, compared with commonly used feeds on the market. The comparisons are per kilogram of feed and show that environmental benefits vary by animal category and formulation.

New Opportunities for Sweden’s Protein Industry

The project has helped develop an emerging Swedish industry for circular protein ingredients:

At its insect protein facility in Orsa, Ragn-Sells demonstrated that several side streams not currently used in animal feed can be converted into valuable feed ingredients by raising black soldier fly larvae.
Ecopelag completed the next stage of development at mussel meal facility in Västervik.
RISE has opened a development center for bioreactor-grown ingredients, including mycoprotein made from forest industry residual streams.
Cirkulär produced Swedish mycoprotein through submerged fermentation of residual streams from the forest products industry.
Dapibuset developed solid-state-fermented mycoprotein that was evaluated in the project, helping broaden Sweden’s base of circular protein ingredients.
Seaqure Labs developed solid-state-fermented mycoprotein using food industry side streams. It was used in digestibility studies and feeding trials with laying hens.

The project also explored decentralized protein production through container-based insect rearing trials in Boden and Klippan, development of on-farm fermentation, and feeding whole, live larvae to laying hens and fish. These approaches could bring feed protein production closer to both feedstock sources and the animals.

This could create new business opportunities for Swedish protein producers, feed manufacturers, and food retailers, while adding value to residual streams.

Significant Potential to Reduce Import Dependency

If the project’s feed formulations were used throughout Swedish chicken, pork, and egg production and to produce the farmed salmon and rainbow trout consumed in Sweden, annual demand for circular protein ingredients would amount to:

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thousand metric tons of mussel meal

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thousand metric tons of insect meal

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thousand metric tons of mycoprotein

These volumes could replace 155,000–165,000 metric tons of soy and approximately 7,000 metric tons of fishmeal annually. The reduction in soy use corresponds to roughly 40,000 hectares of soybean cultivation, while the reduction in fishmeal use corresponds to approximately 17,000–26,000 metric tons of whole fish. Producing the mussel meal would require about 140,000 metric tons of farmed mussels. Harvesting them could remove approximately 1,120 metric tons of nitrogen and 106 metric tons of phosphorus from the sea each year. The nitrogen removal is on the order of one-tenth of Sweden’s remaining required reduction in nitrogen inputs to the Baltic Sea.

A single Swedish industrial residual stream examined in the project could theoretically yield approximately 360,000 metric tons of mycoprotein annually. By weight, that exceeds Sweden’s total annual soy imports for animal feed. This is an estimate of theoretical production potential, not actual production or a claim that mycoprotein can replace soy on a kilogram-for-kilogram basis.

These new proteins have good potential to help replace soy and fishmeal. Our results show that the nutritional value of mycoprotein can vary depending on how it is produced. The ingredients therefore need to be further developed and quality-assured to become viable alternatives to today’s imported ingredients at scale.

– Emma Ivarsson, Researcher, Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, SLU

The feed worked well in day-to-day feeding, and the pigs grew at a rate comparable to the reference pigs. This shows that we can use more Swedish circular ingredients in pig production. To move forward, the feed needs to be available in larger volumes and at a price that works for farmers while also reflecting its environmental benefits.

– Peter Toll, Pig Farmer, Tå Gård

Recommendations

The project has demonstrated that circular protein ingredients produced in Sweden can work across the value chain. But moving from pilot production to industrial scale is costly and risky. Ingredient producers need customers to justify investment, while feed manufacturers and farmers need reliable supplies, and retailers need products at workable prices. Supply and demand must therefore develop together.

Reaching greater volumes will require long-term purchasing commitments, shared investment risk, investment in Swedish production capacity, and clearer, risk-based regulations. At the same time, environmental and societal benefits – including reduced eutrophication, lower land use, and stronger preparedness – need to be valued so they can influence how feed ingredients are priced and purchased.

Recommendations for Industry and Policymakers

Develop a national sustainable feed program.
Create stable demand through public procurement.
Strengthen innovation and investment support.
Strengthen the coordinating and enabling role of regulatory authorities.
Introduce compensation for mussel farming as an ecosystem service.
Strengthen Nordic and European cooperation.
Prioritize high-value uses of bio-based residual streams.

Our Work

Axfoundation and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) jointly led the project, bringing together more than 25 organizations from research, ingredient production, feed manufacturing, agriculture, aquaculture, retail, and foodservice. Our role was to bring stakeholders together across the value chain, bridge research and practice, and help test solutions in real-world production and market settings.

The project ran from 2023 to 2026. Work continues to share the findings, address barriers, and create the conditions for wider adoption of circular protein ingredients.