Extrusion technology has been the key tool for Vietnamese feedmillers to manufacture quality pellet feed for the country’s aquafeed market. This technology helps solve the problems of uneven size pellets; sinking vs. floating feed; extruder screw configuration; and calculating the die opening area, which are major concerns for feedmill staff. USSEC Vietnam conducted a tailor-made seminar with questionnaires sent to participants one month prior to the seminar date. Following the feedmill’s response, the seminar content was set up to give a solution to specific questions raised.
USSEC consultant and director of Texas A & M University’s Food Protein R&D Center Mian Riaz was invited to be the key speaker and to interact with feedmill participants for two in-house seminars in Binh Duong and Dong Thap provinces, and one public seminar in Saigon.

At the in-house seminars, participants felt free to express their technical issues. At the public seminar, where the production and formulation staffs came from different companies, it was assumed that the ambiance would be sensitive; the interaction was truly open, however, since feedmill staff could get a chance to share experiences from each other regardless of the competitive situation on the aquafeed market.
Plant protein, especially from soy, was concluded to be a good replacement to fishmeal to contribute to the stability of the pellet, thanks to its good functional protein properties.
Furthermore, participants were impressed by U.S. Soy production’s approach through the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) certification and reacted positively to U.S. Soy’s video “This is Harvest.”