January 12, 2026

 

Food Animal Initiative launches Shrimp Hub to support better welfare practices in shrimp production

 

 

Aquaculture welfare research and development company Food Animal Initiative (FAI) has launched a "Shrimp Hub" as a means of assisting shrimp aquaculture companies with establishing better welfare practices.

 

FAI has worked to improve animal welfare in multiple regions around the globe, including through its Tilapia Welfare Egypt Project and through partnerships with companies like Spring Genetics. The company hosts online learning platforms and training courses designed to improve the welfare of animals and said the new shrimp-focused hub will continue its efforts and expand the focus to all shrimp supply chain professionals.

 

FAI said it is witnessing a rise in attention paid toward welfare in the shrimp aquaculture industry, which Rabobank predicts reached nearly six million metric tons (MT) of output in 2025.

 

"More and more major aquaculture certification schemes are now including animal welfare standards, so the Shrimp Hub has an important role in helping shrimp-producing companies prepare for certification and recognition of their commitment to shrimp welfare," FAI E-Learning and Aquaculture Program Manager Sara Barrento said in a release.

 

The company said better shrimp welfare has more than just ethical benefits; it also improves growth and survival rates of the species while creating more cost-effective productivity.

 

Barrento said the new hub will offer users welfare "badges," which mark a level of achievement and progress on learning how to optimise shrimp welfare on farms.

 

"The Shrimp Welfare-trained Badge is given on completion of our newly created "Shrimp Welfare Trained: Foundation Course" for shrimp producer companies, processors, and retailers," Barrento said. "A practical introduction to several aspects of shrimp welfare, it helps companies build essential knowledge and skills to begin measuring and improving their performance."

 

Barrento said the next level of the training is the "Welfare-assessed badge," available to companies that run weekly welfare assessments on at least 10% of their shrimp ponds and collect reliable data.

 

As it expands its shrimp offerings, the company said it is also expanding access to its courses and offering some in Indonesian, meaning it now offers its educational courses in eight different languages.

 

"Southeast Asia is a global leader in shrimp production, so it's vital our courses and welfare assessment tools are accessible to producers across the region," Barrento said. "The Indonesian course sits alongside those in Thai, Vietnamese, and Chinese while also offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Arabic."

 

FAI started as a project to improve tilapia farming in Brazil in 2018 and has since expanded to a multi-national platform to enhance animal welfare on aquaculture operations.

 

In December, the company said enrollment in its welfare courses increased 50% year over year. 

 

- SeafoodSource