Innovation Capabilities & Products

Development of processes for the transformation of discards and seafood by-products into new raw materials (fish mince, fish oil, etc.) with added value for the generation of innovative processed food products (hamburgers, nuggets, etc.), ensuring traceability, nutritional value and safety in new value chains.

Technical assistance in sampling design and sensor selection for the collection of observational data on physical and biogeochemical processes in marine environments, as well as in data processing, modelling and interpretation.

Design and development of seafood products for target consumers (elderly, young, diabetic, allergic to seafood, etc.) that guarantee specific nutritional requirements, safety and sustainability. Development of techniques (i.e. metabolomics, proteomics, genomics, lipidomics, etc.), using animal models and cell cultures, to characterize the response of a patient/consumer to diet and to design personalized nutrition treatments and products (i.e. nutraceutics, hypoallergenic fish products, immunostimulants, functional foods, etc).

Matlab code to perform simulations and optimize packaging design using natural antimicrobials (carvacrol) for hake (Merluccius merluccius). In addition, different polymers are considered as possible active packaging materials.

More information here.

Prospection of new bioactive compounds in marine organisms and food industry by-products, including characterization of their activity and validation of their application in different sectors (health, cosmetics, nutrition, etc.).

DOTcvpSB is a toolbox written in MATLAB that uses the control vector parameterization (CVP) method to handle continuous and mixed integer dynamic optimization problems. DOTcvpSB has been successfully applied to several problems in systems biology and bioprocess engineering.

More information here.

Development of processes that allow extracting useful components of industrial interest from discards and food industry by-products and effluents. Biochemical characterization of useful components present in different kinds of fisheries products and by-products, such as skin collagen, visceral enzymes, chondroitin sulphate present in cartilage, chitin from crustacean shells and cuttlebone or protein hydrolysates obtained from muscle. Evaluation of potential applications of these compounds through the characterization of their biological activities (antioxidants, etc.) and functional properties for their use in different industries, such as biomedical, chemistry, cosmetic, food, etc.

Analysis of water properties, ranging from physical to geochemical characteristics, including carbon system components, nutrient concentration, organic matter characterization, radioisotope concentration, trace and rare earth elements (REE), etc.

Development of new formulations and sustainable diets to be provided to farmed species to enhance their quality as well as their welfare.

This model was developed and applied by members of the EFSA Working Group on the transport/storage of fresh fishery products during the preparatory work on the BIOHAZ Scientific Opinion on the use of "tubs" for transporting and storing fresh fishery products (EFSA-Q-2019-00053). Heat transfer modeling was applied to estimate surface temperature of fish during the temperature-related processes of cooling and subsequently maintaining the chill temperature of the fish (‘cooling’ process) and/or maintaining the chill temperature (‘keeping’ process) for fish kept in ice (in boxes) versus in water and ice (in tubs) under similar transport/storage conditions.

More information here.