Three Years of Positive Change: ASC Feed Certification Programme Continues Global Momentum

Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is celebrating three years since the implementation of the ASC Feed Standard. Since January 2023, ASC has seen growing global uptake and strong engagement across the aquafeed sector with 91 ASC-certified feed mills across 28 countries – as of 12 January 2026.

These feed mills are driving industry change through having a direct influence on upstream suppliers and downstream customers, through greater transparency and responsibility, as well as continuous improvement across feed supply chains.

Aisla Jones, Feed Engagement and UK Markets Manager at ASC, said, “Feed is one of the most powerful levers for change in aquaculture. The progress of the ASC Feed Certification Programme over the past three years shows what is possible when collaboration sits at the centre of sustainability efforts. From feed mills to ingredient producers, fisheries and certification partners, the programme is helping align expectations and create credible pathways for improvement across complex global supply chains.”

The ASC Feed Certification Programme is a cornerstone of the ASC vision of driving positive impact across aquaculture. It was developed to ensure that environmentally and socially responsible practices are embedded all the way back to the feed ingredients, and key challenges such as deforestation and land conversion, IUU fishing, overfishing, forced labour and more are addressed.

ASC requires the use of responsibly produced ingredients in aquafeeds, and for marine ingredients the Standard contains a unique improvement model that requires feed mills to source from increasingly well managed fisheries over time. MarinTrust and Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), both full ISEAL Code Compliant members, play a crucial role in this mechanism and form the key steppingstones for improvement.

The second half of 2025 saw two major milestones for the ASC Feed Certification Programme:

• On 31 October 2025, it became a requirement for ASC-certified farms to use ASC-conforming feed from ASC-certified mills, strengthening integrity and transparency across supply chains.
• On 19 December 2025, ASC Feed Standard V1.2 and Feed Interpretation Manual V1.2 were published, with changes that reflect the complexity of ingredient sourcing, unblock ingredient supply and support global uptake of ASC Feed Certification. Transparency, data reporting, and improvement expectations continue to be the most robust, maintaining integrity of the standard.

The ASC Feed Standard and ASC Farm Standard are integral parts of the broader ASC Certification Programme, ensuring that responsible farming is underpinned by responsible feed and reinforcing ASC’s holistic approach to transforming seafood farming across the value chain. From 2 February 2026, ASC Feed Standard V1.2 becomes effective and mandatory; any feed mill audits announced on or after this date must be conducted against this version and audited in conjunction with the ASC Farm and Feed CAR v1.0, further strengthening alignment between feed and farm requirements.

Throughout 2026, ASC will continue to focus on engagement, collaboration and alignment with a wide range of feed ingredient manufacturers, raw material producers, certifiers and supply chain actors across marine, plant and emerging ingredient sources, including insects, algae and others.