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High scientific output expected from RTD 4 pillar 'Seafood from source to consumer product'

In last week of January and first week of February the four kick off meetings of RTD 4 pillar were held. The research teams expect to submit approx. 25 publications in the first period of 18 months. Popular article about texture softening of muscle and an overview paper about by products from seafood in Europe can be expected as a first output within a couple of months.

The meeting of project 4.1 'High-added value functional seafood products for human health from seafood by- products by innovative mild processing' (PROPEPHEALTH) was held in Muséum National d'Historie Naturelle (MNHN), Concarneau in France from 3-4 February. Yves Legal was host. All project 10 partners including 3 SMEs send 1-3 coworkers to attend the meeting.

The main objectives of the project are:

(1) To screen, map and recover 'new' (health) beneficial compounds from seafood by-products by advanced mild refining processes.

(2) To develop 'new' bioactive (functional) seafood ingredients

(3) To use these novel ingredients either directly by the food industry or in project 4.4 for the development of new functional seafood products, accepted by the target consumers.

The partners expect to submit minimal 6 publications in the first 18 months. An overview about the by products from seafood in Europe is expected to be available for publication in a seafood magazine beginning of April.

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IFREMER (Nantes, France) was the host institute for the kick off meeting of project 4.2 Hurdle technology (including minimal processing) to ensure quality and safety of convenience seafood (HURDLETECH) on 1-2 February.

All six partners were represented by 1-3 co-workers. Taran Skjerdal (Veritas, Norway) attended the meeting as external expert for Norwegian Institute of Fisheries and Aquaculture Research. In this project a total chain approach is chosen in order to ensure safety and quality of convenience seafood.

This involves

(1) to identify major origins for contamination during processing,

(2) to minimise the survival of pathogens and spoilage bacteria during processing, (i.e after process hurdles like salting, drying, smoking, acid-ripening, freezing etc, and novel technological hurdle like pulsed light), and

(3) prevent growth in the product (combination of different hurdles, including protective culture and active packaging with anti-microbial compounds).

The partners expect to submit 7-8 publications in the first 18 months.

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Charlotte Jacobsen (DIFRES) project leader welcomed the partners from project 4.3 Preventing seafood lipid oxidation and texture softening to maintain healthy components and quality of seafood (LIPIDTEXT) at Technical University in Lyngby (Denmark) on 29 January .

This project team has met each other already a few times during the writing of the project. The project aims at understanding the mechanisms and kinetics of the processes leading to rancidity and texture changes, and to develop new technologies to maintain quality. Collaborations will be established with other projects in pillar 4 to investigate the antioxidant properties of functional ingredients present in fish products and if possible with pillar 2 to map consumers' acceptance of rancid taste and with pillar 1 to maintain key nutritionally important molecules that they identify. Richard Taylor (INRA) is aiming to deliver within 1-2 months a short article about softening of texture of muscle for publication in a popular seafood magazine.

The total number of expected submitted scientific publications from the project in the first 18 months is 4-6.

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Project 4.4 Consumer driven development of innovative tailor-made seafood products (with functional components from plant or marine origin) to improve health of consumers (CONSUMERPRODUCTS) can be considered as SEAFOODplus in a nutshell. Consumer science, nutritional aspects, technological product development, aquaculture and quality issues are involved in this project. Mercedes Careche (Insituto del Frio, CSIC) project leader was the host for the 15 participants of this meeting on 28-29 January in Madrid.

The main objective of the project is to develop innovative functional seafood products from both capture (under-utilised) and farmed fish, containing health-promoting compounds aimed at improving intestinal health, lipid metabolism, as well as the potential prevention of cancer. In the first 18 months the research team expects to submit 9-11 publications.

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