Natural antioxidants (mixed tocopherols, rosemary extract, other plant polyphenols) instead of ethoxyquin in fishmeal, fish oil and aquafeeds
Ethoxyquin (E324) as a feed antioxidant (also BHT/BHA partly)
Suppliers 0
Route into Russia / EAEU FEED
- Regulator
- Rosselkhoznadzor (expertise by VGNKI)
- Typical time
- state registration within 45 working days after acceptance of documents (plus dossier and tests)
- Legal basis
- Law 4979-1 'On Veterinary Medicine' (Art. 11.1-11.7); Minselkhoz Order No. 316 (07.05.2025)
Information, not legal advice — confirm the procedure for your product.
Proof 5 claims
Use of ethoxyquin as an antioxidant in fishmeal and fish feed.
Natural antioxidants (e.g., tocopherols, rosemary extract) and other synthetic alternatives (e.g., propyl gallate, BHT).
- Displaced at scale?
- no
- Caveats
- While the EU has banned ethoxyquin, it remains widely used and accepted in other major markets like China, Japan, and the USA, and there is no evidence of a global displacement of ethoxyquin by bio-based alternatives at scale.
- Hand review
- D1 No displacement figure: world ethoxyquin use ~20,000 t/yr (FEFAC); the EU suspension's effect not quantified.
- Market
- Alternative: ; Incumbent: ; Status: gap;
- checked
- 2026-10-06
| The European Union suspended the authorization of ethoxyquin as a feed additive in 2017, leading to its ban in the EU market. “In June 2017, the EU commission suspended the authorisation of ethoxyquin (See Figure 1) for all animal species and categories.” European Union · 2017 · | weak (company, news, market research, other) www.aquafeed.com |
| Synthetic ethoxyquin maintains a 30-50% cost advantage over natural alternatives like tocopherols and rosemary extract. “Animal feed ethoxyquin maintains a 30-50% cost advantage over natural alternatives like tocopherols and rosemary extract.” · 2025 · | weak (company, news, market research, other) ✓ www.mordorintelligence.com |
| Ethoxyquin remains the preferred and accepted antioxidant for feed-grade marine meals in major markets including China, Japan, and the USA. “It remains accepted in several countries as a safe way to protect feed-grade marine-origin meals and oils in China, Japan, and the USA.” China, Japan, USA · 2025 · not applicable | weak (company, news, market research, other) www.aquafeed.com |
| The European Union officially denied the authorization of ethoxyquin as a feed additive in 2022, following a suspension that began in 2017. “The authorisation of ethoxyquin (E 324) as an additive in animal nutrition belonging to the additive category ‘technological additives’ and to the functional group ‘antioxidants’, is denied.” EU · 2022 · not applicable | government or intergovernmental eur-lex.europa.eu |
| The worldwide use of ethoxyquin is estimated at approximately 20,000 tonnes per year. “The worldwide use of EQ is estimated at about 20,000 tonnes per year.” global · 2022 · not applicable | industry association ✓ fefac.eu |
References 4
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/962 — suspension of the authorisation of ethoxyquin as a feed additive. NOT CHECKED — regulation …
- EFSA FEEDAP Panel (2015). Scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of ethoxyquin (6-ethoxy-1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline) for all animal species. *E NOT CHECKED — regulation …
- Shahidi F, Zhong Y (2010). Lipid oxidation and improving the oxidative stability. *Chemical Society Reviews* 39: 4067–4079. VERIFIED DOI
- Bohne VJB, Lundebye AK, Hamre K (2008). Accumulation and depuration of the synthetic antioxidant ethoxyquin in the muscle of Atlantic salmon (*Salmo salar* L.). VERIFIED DOI · cited by 49
Details
Replaces: ethoxyquin in marine ingredients and aquafeeds · Species: all farmed aquatic animals · Evidence: high
The chemical problem#
Fishmeal and fish oil are rich in polyunsaturated omega-3 fats, which oxidize quickly. Fishmeal can even self-heat and catch fire during shipping. Ethoxyquin, a synthetic quinoline antioxidant (originally a rubber chemical and pesticide), was used for decades and was historically required for bulk fishmeal transport. Ethoxyquin carries over into farmed fish fillets. EFSA could not confirm its safety (data gaps, and the impurity p-phenetidine, a possible mutagen). The EU suspended ethoxyquin as a feed additive in 2017 (Regulation (EU) 2017/962), with transition periods. Ethoxyquin is not authorized as a food additive in the EU.
Product overview#
Natural antioxidant systems now protect fishmeal, fish oil and feeds:
- Mixed tocopherols (vitamin E forms, from vegetable-oil refining byproducts).
- Rosemary extract (carnosic acid and carnosol).
- Other plant polyphenols (green tea catechins, citrus flavonoids), ascorbyl palmitate, and synergistic blends with chelators (citric acid).
- Process measures: fresh raw material, fast processing, nitrogen blanketing and cool storage.
Active ingredient / Composition#
Tocopherols (natural source), rosemary extract (standardized carnosic acid), and citric acid or other synergists, in liquid or powder carriers.
Key facts#
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Class | Natural (plant-derived) antioxidants |
| Dose | Per product and regulation (typically several hundred to 1,000+ ppm for fishmeal stabilization, product-specific) |
| Transport | The IMO (IMSBC code) historically required ethoxyquin for fishmeal. Check the current IMSBC rules for approved alternative antioxidants and stabilization tests |
| Residues | Naturally occurring compounds; tocopherols are also nutrients |
Advantages#
- Removes a synthetic antioxidant with unresolved safety concerns from the fish-food chain.
- Tocopherols add vitamin E value to the fish and improve fillet quality.
- Supports “clean-label” farmed-fish marketing.
Mode of action#
Phenolic antioxidants donate hydrogen to lipid radicals and break the chain reaction of lipid peroxidation. Chelators bind pro-oxidant metals (Fe, Cu).
Application#
| Product | Measure | Specifics |
|---|---|---|
| Fishmeal production | Tocopherol/rosemary blend at the drier outlet | Validate the self-heating test for shipping |
| Fish oil | Tocopherols + rosemary + citric acid; nitrogen storage | Monitor peroxide and anisidine values |
| Aquafeed | Natural antioxidant in the oil coating | Cool, dark storage |
Limitations#
- Higher cost per tonne than ethoxyquin; doses must be higher for the same stability in some cases.
- Transport regulations must be followed; not all natural blends pass self-heating tests at all doses.
Evidence of displacement — D1: works, adoption not proven#
Assessment (hand-reviewed): No displacement figure: world ethoxyquin use ~20,000 t/yr (FEFAC); the EU suspension’s effect not quantified.
Verified figures (the number is in the quoted sentence and the sentence is on the source page):
- driver — The worldwide use of ethoxyquin is estimated at approximately 20,000 tonnes per year. (global, 2022; industry association: fefac.eu)
- economics — Synthetic ethoxyquin maintains a 30-50% cost advantage over natural alternatives like tocopherols and rosemary extract. (—, 2025; weak: mordorintelligence.com)
Industry pioneers — companies that commercialised this substitution#
| Company | What the source says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Kemin Industries | Kemin’s antioxidants are found in 60% of all pet food around the world. | company-reported: kemin.com |
Suppliers — real products and services (from the vendor index)#
Honest finding: the vendor index has no natural fishmeal-antioxidant supplier. This is recorded as a supplier gap.
Government funding signals#
Public grants for a specific technology are a leading indicator: governments fund what regulators want to replace and what is close to practical adoption. Searched on 2026-09-27 in: EU CORDIS (FP7, Horizon 2020, Horizon Europe), US federal awards (USAspending: USDA NIFA/ARS/APHIS/Forest Service, EPA, DOE, NOAA, USAID; plus NSF and NIH), UK UKRI Gateway to Research, Australian Research Council. Each grant below was reviewed by hand for relevance. China, Brazil and India are covered in the subsection below (publication-acknowledged grants). Not covered: Russia (RSF, FASIE — not reachable from the research environment) and national agencies outside these databases. Amounts are the funder’s contribution as recorded (US NIH/UKRI: per award or fiscal year).
Signal: Weak. No dedicated public research or innovation grant for this specific technology was found in the searched databases. Development is mostly carried by companies, older programmes or national funders outside this search. Treat it as a funding gap (and a possible opportunity for Russian programmes).
China, Brazil, India — national research grants acknowledged in publications#
Chinese, Brazilian and Indian funders have no open grant databases reachable here, so this measures scientific papers published since 2015 that acknowledge national government grants, taken from the grant numbers publishers deposit with Crossref. Only papers whose title contains this article’s key terms are counted (a conservative lower bound; “100+” = search window full). It shows research-funding intensity, not budgets. Funders: China — NSFC, National Key R&D Program, China Agriculture Research System; Brazil — CNPq, CAPES, FAPESP, Embrapa, FAPEMIG; India — DBT, DST, ICAR, SERB, CSIR, BIRAC. Rating per country: Strong ≥50 papers · Moderate 10–49 · Weak 1–9.
| Country | Papers funded (2015–2026) | Signal | Main funders (grant acknowledgements) | Example grant → funded paper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| China | 4 | Weak | NSFC (4), National Key R&D Program (3), China Agriculture Research System (1) | National Key R&D Program 2021YFD1300404 → Comparative Study of an Antioxidant Compound and Ethoxyquin on Feed Oxidative Stability and on… (2024) doi |
| Brazil | 0 | None | – | – |
| India | 0 | None | – | – |
Scientific evidence#
- Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/962 — suspension of the authorisation of ethoxyquin as a feed additive.
- EFSA FEEDAP Panel (2015). Scientific opinion on the safety and efficacy of ethoxyquin (6-ethoxy-1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline) for all animal species. EFSA Journal.
- Shahidi F, Zhong Y (2010). Lipid oxidation and improving the oxidative stability. Chemical Society Reviews 39: 4067–4079.
- Bohne VJB, Lundebye AK, Hamre K (2008). Accumulation and depuration of the synthetic antioxidant ethoxyquin in the muscle of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Food and Chemical Toxicology 46: 1834–1843.
Bioeconomy value#
Byproducts of vegetable-oil refining (tocopherols) and plant extraction (rosemary) replace a petrochemical antioxidant: a biorefinery value chain for the blue food sector.