Research and innovation challenges: 1) For mesopelagic fish, the high level of autolytic activity and variable raw material quality causes increased energy consumption and reduced product quality. 2) For Calanus and krill, processing methods must be improved in terms of energy use, sustainability and total utilization. 3) Diversification of product portfolio and maximum value creation from harvested biomass. 4) In the development of new products from new species or through new processes, data on the nutritional quality, toxicological and microbial safety of novel food and feed products are needed.
The commercial fishing of mesopelagic species is still in its infancy and the biomass is unexplored as a food or feed source. Recently, minor mesopelagic catches have been processed to fishmeal and oil based on conventional technology, but other options must be developed. Some of this development has recently been started in the EU H2020 MEESO project and the developments being done will be taken into account in SFI Harvest.
Development of more cost-effective process technology and novel product applications are required in order to obtain maximal value creation and total utilization of the biomass.
RA-leader: Dr. Ragnhild Whitaker (Nofima)