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Oberon FMR
The FMR Stands for Fish Meal Replacement
At the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in New
Orleans (March 2011), Andrew Logan, Ph.D., Vice
President of Research and Development at
Oberon FMR, Inc., said his companys product,
Profloc, performed identically to fish meal in
shrimp feeds and costs less!
Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, USA, Oberon
mixes agricultural byproducts with water, oxygen
and some common bacteria to produce bacterial
flocs. From those flocs, it produces Profloc,
which has crude protein in excess of 63% and an
amino acid profile similar to fish meal.
In an earlier interview with Shrimp News, Logan
said, We use the wastes that come from human
food production processes like brewing operations,
wet corn milling, sugar production and potato
processing. We dont use animal manures or
anything that is not food grade. The floc that we
produce is very similar to the floc in shrimp
ponds. He also said that Oberon cultures its
biofloc in outdoor concrete tanks. A small
production plant that produced 2,000 metric tons
of Profloc a year would be about the size of a
football field.

In his presentation at the WAS meeting, Logan

discussed a study that Oberon FMR did in
conjunction with Texas A&M University. Five feeds
were produced by replacing increasing amounts of
fish meal in a commercial shrimp feed with
Profloc. Results: Growth and survival were
identical for all animals, regardless of density or
inclusion rate of Profloc.

Telephone Interview with Andy Logan

Shrimp News: It appears that you are targeting the aquaculture feed marketespecially
the shrimp feed marketwith your new feed ingredient, Profloc. Why is that?
Andy Logan: We focused on the aquaculture feed market because it uses huge amounts of

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fish meal, and we have a product that replaces fish meal at a lower price. Weve targeted
shrimp because shrimp farms utilize one-sixth of the worlds supply of fish meal, and in their
natural environment, shrimp consume bacteria to meet their nutritional needs, so theyre
predisposed to performing well on Profloc, which is basically a bacterial product. Shrimp
have done especially well on our diets. We have focused on them as a species because we
are limited in the number of feed trials that we can run. Having said that, however, weve
also run trials with fish and poultry, and our product has done very well with them. As we
speak, were starting a new venture in China that will concentrate on swine feeds. Yes, were
focusing on shrimp right now, but were making a fish meal replacement that can be used in
all animal feeds.
Shrimp News: When do you expect to have product on the market?
Andy Logan: Sometime during the first half of 2012. Were working with MillerCoors (a joint
venture between SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing Company) on a project utilizing
brewers waste to make Profloc.
Shrimp News: How much feed will be produced from that project?
Andy Logan: About 6,000 metric tons a year.
Shrimp News: How much space will it take to produce that amount?
Andy Logan: About three football fields.
Shrimp News: Any other projects in the pipeline?
Andy Logan: Earlier I mentioned a project in China. Our partner there has sixty breweries
that could potentially convert their waste products into a high-protein feed. In India, were
talking with one of the biggest feed manufacturers. Its also in the food processing business
and generates the waste products that we need to make Profloc. We are talking with a
small brewer in the western USA, as well as a USA feed and commodities company that is
among the largest in the world.
Shrimp News: How much are you going to charge for Profloc?
Andy Logan: $1,100 a metric ton. Not only is that below the price of fish meal, we will also
be able to offer long-term prices on contracts that avoid all the price fluctuations in the meal
market.
Information: Andrew Logan,
Ph.D., Vice President of Research
and Development, Oberon FMR,
Inc., 831 Pearl Street, Boulder,
Colorado 80302, USA (phone
1-303-889-9123, email
andy@oberonfmr.com, webpage
http://www.oberonfmr.com).
Information: John Cooksey, World Aquaculture Conference Management, P.O. Box 2302,
Valley Center, California 92082, USA (phone 1-760-751-5005, fax 1-760-751-5003, email
worldaqua@aol.com, webpage https://www.was.org/Main/Default.asp).
Sources: 1. World Aquaculture Society. The CD/Abstracts of Aquaculture America 2011.
Replacement of Fishmeal with Bacterial Single-Cell Protein in Feeds for White Shrimp
Litopenaeus vannamei in an Outdoor Experimental Pond Production System. Andrew
Logan (andy@oberonfmr.com, VP of Product Development Oberon FMR, Inc., 831 Pearl
Street, Boulder, Colorado 80302, USA), Addison Lawrence, Albert Tacon, Joe Fox and
Dustin Wing). New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, March 2011. 2. OberonTodays Protein.

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Andrew Logans slide presentation at Aquaculture America 2011, New Orleans, Louisiana,
USA, March 3, 2011. 3. Andrew Logan. Telephone interview by Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp
News International. June 17, 2011.

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