An integrated approach to analyzing the effect of biofloc and probiotic technologies on sustainability and food safety in shrimp farming systems

Aquaculture is essential to meet the demand for seafood due to the decrease in fish stocks caused by predatory fishing. Even though aquaculture is a sustainable seafood option, shrimp farming is often associated with eutrophication, mangrove destruction, disease propagation, and biodiversity reduction in coastal regions. These environmental problems generate financial losses, and to minimize the impacts on shrimp farms, producers use bioflocs technology and commercial probiotics to improve water quality and be more productive. This study uses emergy and microbiology analyses to estimate the improvement of microorganisms on the sustainability and food safety indicators of three commercial farms that use probiotic and bioflocs technology to produce shrimp. The first farm had 385 ha, a conventional system, stocked 10 shrimp/m² and used probiotics. It had the best transformity (Tr = 10.6) and emergy yield ratio (EYR = 1.94) but the worst food safety indices for water and shrimp. The second farm also had a conventional system and used probiotics, but its area was 1.9 ha and with a stocking density of 56 shrimps/m². It had the highest environmental load ratio (ELR = 28.17), but shrimp and water had better food safety indices than other farms. These two farms would have worse sustainability and food safety indices without the benefit of microorganisms. The third farm had 0.3 ha, a system with biofloc technology, and produced 400 shrimp/m². It had the best renewability (R% = 14.79), environmental load ratio (ELR = 5.76), and emergy sustainability index (ESI = 0.20). Water and shrimp were within acceptable limits of microorganisms, and the type of biotechnology used contributed to different qualities of the final product. The microorganisms from biofloc technology and probiotics improve the sustainability and food safety indicators on aquaculture, but the absence of other sustainable practices limits these benefits.