Across many farming regions, cultivated land is becoming increasingly depleted and degraded, a decline that feeds directly into lower crop yields and poorer produce quality. When the soil loses its structure and its living microbial balance, plants struggle to take up nutrients and hold water, and farmers face rising costs to keep output stable.

Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) approaches this problem by focusing on two levers that are often overlooked: restoring balance to the soil’s microbial community and returning organic nutrients to the ground. The company sees the combination of shrimp protein and indigenous microorganisms as a practical route to rebuilding soil fertility rather than simply adding more chemical inputs.

Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) combines shrimp protein with indigenous microbes in a three-part biological system

At the centre of VNF‘s biological soil improvement solutions are three complementary products. Ecovital EM is a biological preparation containing Bacillus spp. together with 2,000 indigenous microbial strains; these microbes compete with pathogens for nutrients and living space and form a biological gel that makes the soil looser, more porous and better able to retain water.

PeptiBlossom, a hydrolysed shrimp protein, supplies peptides and amino acids that feed these microorganisms, driving stronger microbial activity and improving both soil structure and fertility. ChitoBlossom, based on chitosan and its derivatives, chelates minerals to raise nutrient uptake, increases soil porosity, and forms a protective biofilm around plant roots. Together, the three products of Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) work as a system — feeding the soil, activating its microbes, and protecting the root zone.

Field trials and international research support the approach

Evidence for the approach comes from both local trials and international studies. In a trial at Xuân Lộc, Đồng Nai, combining Ecovital EM with organic matter tripled the density of cellulose-decomposing microorganisms and raised the level of readily available nitrogen by close to two times. An international study conducted between Germany and Iran on dry loam soil found that chitosan markedly improved soil structure, increased usable water retention, and stimulated microbial activity — reinforcing the role of ChitoBlossom within VNF‘s system.

What began as shrimp processing by-products — heads and shells once treated as waste — has been turned by Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) into biological soil improvement solutions that leave soil looser, richer in nutrients, and better able to support healthy crops. The wider significance is a circular-economy model in which a coastal seafood industry’s residues become inputs for more sustainable farming, an example of how Vietnamese companies can add value along the whole agricultural chain through biotechnology.

Pet food formulators face growing demand for palatability, digestive support and health benefits drawn from natural sources rather than synthetic additives. At the same time, shrimp processing generates large volumes of heads, shells and by-products that, if left unused, add cost and environmental pressure. This combination — a need for high-value functional ingredients and a stream of under-used raw material — is the gap that Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) set out to address in the pet nutrition market.

Building on positive results achieved since 2025, VNF returned to Thailand to meet customers and partners and to continue promoting shrimp-based functional ingredients derived from Vietnamese shrimp in the food and pet nutrition industries.

Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) presents shrimp-based functional ingredients at an expanded Pet Workshop

The highlight of the trip was a Pet Workshop that Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) co-organized with strategic partner CF Chem (Cinnamon Group of Company). Following the success of the earlier program, this edition was expanded in scale, drawing more than 40 R&D and technical experts from the pet nutrition industry. Participants discussed market needs, challenges in product development and the potential to apply shrimp-based solutions in Thailand.

At the workshop, VNF introduced three functional ingredients from Vietnamese shrimp. Shrimp Peptide enhances natural palatability and supports digestion. Chitosan helps control phosphate absorption and maintain kidney health. Astaxanthin acts as an antioxidant and supports immunity. In addition, RetriV was presented as a solution that recovers nutrients from production wastewater, helping pet food manufacturers reduce the burden of wastewater treatment while creating additional value from otherwise lost nutrients.

Shrimp-based functional ingredients open new value for regional pet nutrition and the circular economy

As sustainability shapes purchasing across the food and feed industries, ingredients that combine functional performance with responsible sourcing are increasingly in demand. By turning shrimp by-products into Shrimp Peptide, Chitosan, Astaxanthin and recovered nutrients through RetriV, Vietnam Food Joint Stock Company (VNF) offers pet nutrition manufacturers a route to differentiated products and a lower environmental footprint at the same time.

VNF thanked CF Chem and its representatives — Ekachai Laohaphand, Jiraphan Sanongsuk, Duangkamon Thuppaman and Wareerak Paralux — for their partnership in connecting, preparing and hosting the program, and thanked the customers, partners and experts who took part.

Beyond a single event, the workshop reflects a broader shift in which shrimp-based functional ingredients from Vietnam move deeper into regional and global value chains. It shows how a circular-economy approach — recovering value from what was once treated as waste — can support both product innovation and sustainability across the pet nutrition industry.