Objective
FishFermPlus targets to support the economic viability and resource-efficiency of SMEs in fish/seafood value chains. Under-utilised, high-quality raw materials from capture fishery and aquaculture production (e.g. homogenised fish flesh from fillet production) will be used for a novel fermentation process with higher cost-efficiency and a more simple implementation than previous mere extraction/purification methods. Instead of isolating components, FishFermPlus will generate multifunctional, fish-tailored ingredients, which will deliver in particular antilisterial/antimicrobial activity and flavour enhancing or texturising properties. SMEs will generate income from the by-product valorisation and the marketing of safe, naturally processed high-quality fish and seafood products with prolonged shelf-life, better palatability and thus higher consumer acceptance. They will benefit from an increased process and food safety control – especially against Listeria monocytogenes which constitutes a main microbial risk in ready-to-eat seafood. SMEs in the processing and ingredients branch will increase their business by producing custom-tailored equipment and compounds. This will be achieved by a concerted applied research program involving 2 RTDs and 4 SME companies from 4 European countries who are dedicated (a) to develop a bioprocessing method under optimal fermentation conditions and process control; (b) to tailor adequate downstream processing to stabilise the processed materials and their functionality; (c) to apply the ingredients for a fish product range that achieves additional product-safety (assessed via viable counts, challenge tests, risk modeling), prolonged shelf-life (microbial, sensory) and high consumer acceptance (preference & concept testing); (d) to critically assess and to disseminate the positive impact of the project results and their contribution to the sustainable use of scarce aquatic resources and current waste minimisation strategies.
Fields of science
- agricultural sciencesagriculture, forestry, and fisheriesfisheries
- engineering and technologyother engineering and technologiesfood technologyfood safety
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomicssustainable economy
- engineering and technologyindustrial biotechnologybioprocessing technologiesfermentation
Topic(s)
Call for proposal
FP7-SME-2012
See other projects for this call
Funding Scheme
BSG-SME - Research for SMEsCoordinator
DK-8200 AARHUS
Denmark