Partner: BLUPESCA SRL; Itphotonics srl

Abstract:

Fast reliable and cost-effective tools for the evaluation of product quality, authenticity and shelf life are currently a major shortfall in the seafood industry. For freshness and organoleptic evaluation of prepared fishery products, the industry mostly relies on instrumental methods. Most of these techniques (e.g. microbiological evaluation, assessment of total volatile basic nitrogen and other chemical compounds) are destructive methods requiring time consuming sample preparation. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has been successfully employed in several food chains to increase food traceability and authentication. The present project for the first time will apply portable NIR spectrometers to evaluate on-line shelf life and fresh/defrosted status of cuttlefish in a relevant environment. This application represents an important novelty for the seafood sector, constituting the prototype for a class of new analytical procedures potentially comprising all seafood products. This approach revolutionizes the actual chemical/microbiological procedures allowing a simple, cheaper and fast determination of quality and freshness for seafood products. Main NIR advantages are the on-site usability, the rapidness (few second per analysis), the non-destructive sample preparation, the eco-friendly approach (no reagents) and no requirement of dedicated facilities, the need of less training for the operators, altogether accounting for reduced costs of analysis. Moreover, the application of portable NIRS tools for products fingerprinting can provide a wide range of additional information on freshness status and quality of seafood products that could be exploited in authentication and traceability analyses.

The prediction models built on portable NIR instruments developed in the present project will substitute the organoleptic evaluation of freshness and will allowed a real time attestation of authenticity of products. The SeaQual project may raise competitiveness of fisheries business operators by providing cost effective control of marketed products reducing loss and increasing quality.