Universiteit Gent; Faculteit Bio-ingenieurswetenschappen; Vakgroep Dierwetenschappen en Aquatische Ecologie; Laboratorium voor Aquacultuur en Artemia Reference Center (ARC), more, partner
The strategic objective of the SEAFOODplus Integrated Programme is to reduce health problems and to increase well-being among European consumers by applying the benefits obtained through consumption of health promoting and safe seafood 1 products of high eating quality.
The relevance of seafood in the diet to diminish the increased incidences of e.g. cardiovascular, cancer and inflammatory diseases will be assessed by performing dietary intervention and epidemiological studies. Other focus areas are health of young populations, to prevent osteoporosis and postpartum depression observed for women giving birth.
Seafood's importance for consumer well-being and behavior is assessed to understand determinants of consumers' seafood consumption and to adapt seafood products to consumer demands. The impact of health-related communication strategies on consumer seafood decision-making needs assessment.
The objectives of the seafood safety component are to make seafood safe for the consumer, by identifying risk factors, avoiding risks caused by viral and bacterial contamination, biogenic amines in seafood and to undertake risk-benefit analysis.
The total value chain is addressed by developing consumer driven tailor-made, functional seafood products to improve health and to ensure nutritional quality and safety by full utilisation of raw materials from aquaculture and from traditional fisheries.
The aquaculture component will study the effects of dietary modulation, husbandry, fish physiology, genetics and pre-slaughter conditions. The challenge is to find a compromise between the trends towards intensive rearing and consumer demand for healthy, high quality seafood being ethically acceptable, having low impact on the environment.
Validated traceability systems will be assessed within SEAFOODplus to make it possible to apply a total chain approach from the live fish to the consumer product, and to trace back any feature from fork-to-farm.
[1] The term ‘seafood’ used here encompasses wild and farmed fish and shellfish, both of marine and freshwater origin.
