AQUABIOPROFIT

• Side stream use: promote the increased and efficient use of aquaculture, fisheries and agricultural side streams in feeds and nutritional supplement food products aimed at human health and fitness, systematising existing knowledge and technologies on organic nutritional supplements and identifying gaps and opportunities for exploiting major side stream biomasses in Europe.

• Downstream processing: identify cost-efficient downstream processing methods for standardised products and compounds from aquaculture and fisheries side streams, and developed and validated innovative, cost-effective and environmentally friendly methods for processing tunicates and fish and fish oil side streams into targeted nutritional supplements for in vitro, animal and clinical testing with athletes and patient groups.

• Tunicate production: develop bio-filtration of plankton in eutrophic systems and cage farm particles to produce tunicate-based meals and bioactive ingredients, and evaluated the scalability of tunicate biomass production while optimising the yield and cost-effectiveness of processing fish side streams.

• Bioactivity and safety: use state-of-the-art disease models and cell culture analyses to determine the bioactivity and therapeutic and health-promoting properties of new extracts, and assessed the safety and bioavailability of the new ingredients.

• Products and sustainability: develop new, documented nutritional supplements and feed ingredients for fitness, performance and health, assessed the acceptance and bioactivity of the human health and nutrition products, ensured the economic, technical and environmental sustainability of the industrial applications, and addressed the social and regulatory aspects of introducing side stream biomass-based products.

Results

• Marine biomass valorisation: achieved significant progress in the sustainable use and valorisation of marine biomass, focusing on fish side streams and novel marine resources.

• Fish side streams: characterised the nutritional quality and bioactivity of multiple fish side stream ingredients and developed industrial-scale refining processes for marine hydrolysates and collagen with enhanced sensory properties.

• Ciona cultivation: established the first-ever commercial cultivation and production of Ciona intestinalis for food and feed, resulting in innovative Ciona-based products and healthier meat prototypes enriched with marine extracts.

• Training modules: created training modules to foster knowledge transfer and strengthen expertise in marine biotechnology and sustainable processing.

• Sustainable bioeconomy: opened new pathways for a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable bioeconomy, helping to reduce food waste and import dependency, promote entrepreneurship and alleviate biodiversity pressures from conventional food production.

Impacts

• Side stream processing: developed side stream biomass processing technologies that up-concentrated nutrients and functional compounds while maintaining product quality and minimising waste.

• Targeted bioactivity: developed food products targeting improved athlete performance, anti-anxiety and anti-depression remedies, and improvements to body pH balance, skin health and hair growth.

• Aquaculture waste: aimed to reduce cage farming aquaculture waste by 50%.

• Fisheries by-catch: aimed to reduce fisheries by-catch discards by 50%.