Truro, Nova Scotia – October 29, 2019 – Northeast Nutrition Inc., located in the Truro Business Park, hosted an open house for the local business community today in collaboration with the Truro & Colchester Chamber of Commerce.

Northeast Nutrition Inc., was established by Cooke Aquaculture Inc. in 2007 after the former Shur-Gain aquaculture feed mill plant was purchased from Nutreco — a transaction that was just as consistent with Cooke’s growth and vertical integration strategy then as it is today. At that time, Cooke was a $230 million dollar aquaculture company with 1,300 employees. Twelve years later, the New Brunswick based Cooke family of companies now has annual revenues of $2.4 billion and employs nearly 10,000 globally.

The Truro fish feed mill employs 53 people and produces salmon feed for Cooke Aquaculture’s operations in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Maine.

In 2016, Northeast Nutrition started to roll out a five-year, $20.3 million investment plan to support the growth of the aquaculture industry. Several equipment and technology upgrades have been made that will enhance product quality, which will in turn improve fish performance. Some of the key recent upgrades include:

• Replacing all bulk silos to increase available storage to 3400 MT (from 2400 MT).
• A new, larger grinder which increased capacity from 6T per hour to 16T per hour.
• New, high-powered extruder and dryer, which increased the plant’s capacity by 50%.
• Upgraded vacuum coating system to allow for increase capacity.
• New cooler to regulate product temperature prior to packaging.
• New screens and conveyors.

“As a result of these investments, Northeast Nutrition will produce up to 100,000 metric tonnes of fish feed each year from the mills previous production of 65,000,” said Matt Miller, General Manager of Northeast Nutrition Inc. “Our people are doing excellent work and all of our salmon is reared using feeds that are manufactured in compliance with the highest standards for animal feed safety.”

In addition, Cooke Aquaculture is only half-way through it’s 2018-2022 capital investment plan for Nova Scotia which is seeing $112 million be spent by the company on the Northeast Nutrition mill capacity expansion in Truro, a new A.C. Covert seafood distribution and retail centre in Dartmouth, along with hatchery and post-smolt facilities and seawater site and equipment upgrades.

Cooke’s unwavering support for small and medium size businesses is fundamental to the company’s community investment plans. In 2018, Cooke spent $231 million buying goods and services from 1,269 other local companies across Atlantic Canada. In Nova Scotia, 309 companies are in Cooke’s supply chain and they received orders for $51.5 million in 2018.

Cooke’s annual contribution to the Nova Scotia economy is significant – $239.5 million in revenues output, $73.4 million in GDP, and 445 full time equivalent jobs.  All this activity also generates consumer spending of $13.7 million.

Throughout the lifecycle, farmed salmon are on a strictly monitored diet of nutrient-dense, high performance feed, which is formulated in-house at Northeast Nutrition’s research centre, which oversees ongoing research and development and testing to ensure a product of the highest standards.

“Sustainable and healthy approaches to feeding the world’s growing population are more critical now than ever before. As wild fisheries have reached their harvest capacity, aquaculture, or fish farming, is needed so that future generations can enjoy the seafood we do today,” said Joel Richardson, Vice President of Public Relations for Cooke Aquaculture. “Our commitment to sustainably sourced feed ingredients, ongoing improvements to feed formulations and innovations in feed delivery allow us to produce healthy fish for our customers.”

The Northeast Nutrition mill is CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) inspected and approved. It is also approved by the U.S. FDA (U.S. Food & Drug Administration) for U.S. production.  The mill has been HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) Certified since 2001. HACCP certification is an international standard defining the requirements for effective control of food safety and demonstrates to customers your commitment to producing or trading in safe food. The Truro feed manufacturing mill is also BAP (Best Aquaculture Practices) certified. BAP is the only seafood-specific third-party certification program that ensures every step in the aquaculture production chain is done responsibly from egg to plate.

CONTACT:                      

Joel Richardson
Vice President Public Relations
Cooke Aquaculture Inc. / for Northeast Nutrition Inc.
40 Wellington Row, Saint John, NB, Canada  E2L 3H3
+1-506-694-4939 office / +1-506-721-1093 mobile
joel.richardson@cookeaqua.com / www.cookeseafood.com