Mai Chung
APAC Regional Manager for Aquaculture Feed Additives
ADM Animal Nutrition
Vietnam
Mai Chung has 17 years of experience in aquaculture. Between 2010 and 2015, he actively worked on voluntary sustainable aquaculture certifications, such as ASC and GlobalGAP. He was involved in developing the first audit manual for ASC standards related to pangasius and shrimp. Additionally, Mai led the implementation of several projects by organisations like FAO, DANIDA, and WWF to promote better management practices in aquaculture.
Subsequently, Mai worked for companies to promote new technologies, particularly feed additives. From 2021 to 2023, he was in charge of business development at Benchmark Genetics Shrimp, where he brought Specific Pathogen-Free (SPF) and Specific Pathogen-Resistant (SPR) vannamei broodstock from Benchmark’s advanced breeding program to the APAC region.
Mai holds a Master’s degree in Animal Science from Francois Rabelais de Tours University, an engineering degree in aquaculture from Nha Trang University, and has completed a certified feed processing technology course from Kansas State University.
Risk and Health Management with Functional Feeds
Abstract
The rapid intensification of Asian aquaculture has heightened animal vulnerability to environmental fluctuations, climate anomalies, and pathogenic pressures. Traditional commercial diets frequently fail to mitigate these dynamic regional stressors, making functional aquafeeds critical to the future of the industry.
Formulations enriched with specialized additives—such as probiotics, prebiotics, and immunostimulants—actively enhance gut integrity, maximize nutrient absorption, and boost immunological defenses in target species. To address these localized challenges, robust internal research and development (R&D) capabilities are vital. Global operators including ADM Animal Nutrition leverage extensive R&D networks to engineer precisely tailored nutritional solutions, allowing for rapid field-testing and geographical customization.
A distinct competitive advantage is unlocked through the strategic synergy between the Feed Additives & Ingredients (FA&I) business and core aquafeed production. This integration facilitates the direct transfer of cutting-edge bioprocessing technologies—such as the Pichia guilliermondii yeast platform into commercial lines aquafeed, a legacy from Ocialis.
The empirical value of this model is validated through global field trials on different species: milkfish in the Philippines, barramundi and sturgeon in Vietnam through collaborative trials with key account customers to demonstrate how functional diets mitigate climate and seasonal stress for high value finfish. Concurrently, trials in Brazil evaluate specialized pre-vaccination feeds for tilapia, validating enhanced recovery and maximized vaccine efficacy under intensive production frameworks. By bridging advanced ingredient science with scalable manufacturing and real-world field validation, this corporate framework optimizes zootechnical performance, reduces environmental footprints, and secures long-term profitability across Asia.
In this presentation, we focus on the impact of functional feeds with field trials in Philippines and Vietnam, and in Brazil with pre-vaccination feed for the tilapia.
*Joint presentation with Marc Campert
© TARS 2026 – The Aquaculture Roundtable Series®