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Luca Papa, vice president of Assograssi
Circular Economy: From Land to Sea, More Space for Animal Proteins
At its Rome conference, Assograssi called for the removal of restrictions on the use of PAPs from ruminants in aquaculture and a review of the constraints on their use in animal nutrition related to the BSE crisis over 20 years ago.
By Silvia Cerioli, Press Officer, Assograssi
Assograssi, the Association of Producers of Fats and Proteins of Animal Origin in Italy, held a conference in May named “From Land to Sea: Animal Proteins as a Resource for Efficient and Sustainable Aquaculture.”
Assograssi is an associate member of Assitol, the Italian Olive Oil Industry Association, which is affiliated with Confindustria — the general confederation of Italian businesses and services. It represents about 80% of rendering in Italy — a sector that gives a second life to by-products from meat processing under the “no waste” principle, upcycling them to produce detergents, fertilizers, pet food and feed for farm animals.
Data from 2024 describes a solid rendering sector as companies processed 1.427 million tons of animal by-products, generating over 700 million euros (roughly $821 million) in revenue. The sector could improve in sustainability and profitability, however, if the EU eased bans still in place on the use of processed animal proteins (PAPs) in animal feed, according to Assograssi.
Conference attendees included Assograssi members and representatives from associated and institutional sectors. Speakers emphasized how benefits of expanding the use of PAPs — especially from ruminants — could positively impact Italian aquaculture by lowering production costs, improving nutritional products, increasing sustainability across the entire supply
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chain and reducing dependence on imports. Furthermore, the association supports broadening the application of PAPs to all segments of animal nutrition and finally overcoming bans related to the bovine spongiform encepholapathy (BSE) crisis from over 20 years ago to make production processes more efficient and increase the competitiveness of the entire Italian meat sector.
“Thanks to the experience and know-how of our companies PAPs are of high quality, entirely the result of a well-established circular economy system that provides the market with raw materials for feed under strict controls,” said Assograssi President Paolo Valugani. “Yet, in Europe — where animal proteins are much safer from a health perspective than elsewhere — the restrictions imposed during the BSE crisis are even more stringent than those set by the World Organization for Animal Health.
“[This is] a true paradox, considering that today the risk of BSE in the EU is considered negligible, thanks to the biosafety system built by the rendering sector. The pandemic and subsequent international tensions have highlighted the issue of feed security — the safety of supply chains,” Valugani added.
For this reason, Assograssi has for years been calling to rewrite the rules, removing the feed ban — a set of restrictions that currently allows the use of transformed animal proteins only in certain segments of animal nutrition. In this context,
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