Cooke Inc. acquires nutritional product firm

Cooke Inc., the parent of Cooke Aquaculture, which had operated a salmon farm in Washington State’s Puget Sound, has announced its acquisition of Omega Protein Corp., a nutritional product company and leading integrated provider of specialty oils and specialty protein products.

Glenn Cooke, chief executive officer of Cooke Inc., said the acquisition would help further diversify the supply side of its business and support its strategy of responsible growth in seafood production.

“We are bringing together two innovative fishery teams with a passion for delivering superior products, service and value to our customers in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner,” Cooke said.

The announcement also noted that Cooke Aquaculture Inc. “has achieve Best Aquaculture Practices certification for our North and South American salmon aquaculture operations. BAP is the world’s only aquaculture certification program that covers the entire production chain (hatcheries, feed mills, farms and processing plants) and Omega Protein is on track to be approved by the Marine Stewardship Council, Cooke said.

Washington state fisheries officials recently cancelled Cooke Aquaculture Pacific’s salmon farm lease, in the wake of the company’s failure to maintain the salmon farm in safe condition. Last summer over 160,000 adult fish escaped into Puget Sound.

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