❓Recently, people asked us this interesting question: “Why does VNF – a shrimp by-product processing company – have too many different research and applications, even unrelated to shrimp?” 🤔🤔🤔. Honestly, even we – “those who have been through the storm together” for nearly 10 years – are still amazed at the potential of by-products and always want to discover more 😂😂😂.
🔎 From the early days of establishment, we were inspired by how the world processes and adds value to by-products.
A prime example is Iceland and how they transformed cod fish by-products 🐟 into functional foods, nutraceuticals, cosmetics, and more (see illustration). Or how Americans extensively utilize corn by-products 🌽 for animal feed and human food. Even the functional food industry itself “thrives” on by-products 🌱 (collagen from fish skin, glucosamine from shrimp shells, and many plant extracts…).
All shows that by-products have immense potential, but they need the right direction, development, and investments.
💡With that strong belief, we applied the same approach to shrimp by-products in Vietnam. After nearly a decade of research, development, and trials with many international & local partners, we have owned:
💡Products: 5️⃣ groups of bioactive ingredients:
– Food ingredients 🟠
– Peptides (highly digestible protein hydrolysates) 🔵
– Chitosan (multi-functional biopolymer) 🟢
– Astaxanthin (king of antioxidants) 🔴
– Probiotics 🟣
💡Applications: Over 8️⃣0️⃣ solutions deployed across 6️⃣ main application sectors:
– Animal Farming & Aquaculture🦐🐟 🐖🐤
– Horticulture 🌱
– Pet Food & Care 🐕🐈
– Food Ingredients 🍜
– Human Health & Care 💊🧴
– And many other industries 🏭
🍀 A “cosmos” of applications from shrimp by-products has been created like this, and our journey continues. So, the next time you see shrimp heads turned into bio-fertilizers or bio-control agents for rice, vegetables, fruit trees… don’t be surprised! That’s the circular economy coming to life ♻️♻️♻️.
🍀We hope that our story will inspire & provide insights for other by-product processors, together we can build a new “Made by Vietnam” industry – more circular and sustainable 💚💚💚!