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Seafood Safety and Processing

Principal Investigator:
Maria Leonor Nunes

Researchers of this group have complementary knowledge and experience in different scientific areas, including biology, biochemistry, veterinary, food quality/safety and food engineering, to develop interdisciplinary studies aiming to:

  • Qualify the quality and ensure the chemical, physical and biological safety of fishery, aquaculture and algae-based products.
  • Develop sustainable, appealing, safe and healthy food products based on eco-innovative technological strategies.
  • Contribute to the sustainable production of bivalve molluscs.

The expertise of the team has been updated through the involvement in national and European R&D projects, as well as collaborations with different stakeholders. Aspects covered include: (i) assessing the different dimensions of quality and safety of fish and algae-based foods, taking into account the requirements of the circular economy, sustainability, as well as the impacts of climate change; (ii) contributing to the reliability and traceability of fishery, aquaculture and algae value chains; (iii) develop strategies to assess different environmental indicators (energy efficiency, carbon and water footprints, etc.) and reduce seafood waste based on life cycle analysis (LCA) tools; (iv) take advantage of new technological and eco-innovative developments in preservation, processing and packaging processes to propose new strategies for valorisation of available aquatic resources; (v) formulating and testing healthy and appealing products, as well new ingredients to meet the growing nutritional requirements and demand from different segments of the population and markets; (vi) assessing risks/benefits associated with the consumption of new seafood species fish and algae-based products to facilitate responsible and informed choices and (vii) contributing to strengthen the competitiveness of mollusc farming, on a sustainable basis, to better manage production and meet demand.

 

Seafood Safety and Processing Co-PI: António Marques

Publications Highlights

Almeida, C., Laso, J., de Sousa, D.B., Cooney, R., Quinteiro, P., Rowan, N., Dias, A.C., Clifford, E., Rodrigo, G., Reboredo, R.G., Margallo, M., Nunes, M.L., Marques, A. (2023). Seafood consumers engagement in reducing environmental impacts from packaging. Science of The Total Environment. 863: 160846.  

Camacho, C., Correia, T., Teixeira, B., Mendes, R., Valente, L.M., Pessoa, M.F., Gonçalves, A. (2023). Nucleotides and free amino acids in sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus gonads: Contributions for freshness and overall taste. Food Chemistry, 404, 134505.   

Joaquim, S., Matias, A.M., Moura, P., Trindade, B., Gaspar, M.B., Baptista, T., Matias, D. (2023). Dynamics of the reproductive cycle of two Cerastoderma edule populations (Óbidos and Ria Formosa lagoons) along with their nutrient storage and utilization strategy. Fishes 8(7):353.  

Rybicka, A., Silva, M., Gonçalves, A., Oliveira, O., Lourenço, H., Marques, A., Fraqueza, M.J., Serrano, C., Nunes, M.L. (2023). Development and quality assessment of smoked rainbow trout with reduced sodium content. International Journal of Food Science and Technology. 58(7).   

Barbosa, V., Camacho, C., Oliveira, H., Anacleto, P., Maulvault, A.L., Delgado, I., Ventura, V., Dias, D., Ribeiro, L., Pousão-Ferreira, P., Eljasik, P., Panicz, R., Sobczak, M., Tsampa, K., Karydas, A., Nunes, M.L., Carvalho, M.L., Martins, M., Marques, A. (2022). Physicochemical properties of iodine and selenium biofortified Sparus aurata and Cyprinus carpio during frozen storage. Food Chemistry. 397: 133780.   

Rato, A.., Joaquim, S., Matias, A.M., Roque, C., Marques, A., Matias, D. (2022). The impact of climate change on bivalve farming: combined effect of temperature and salinity on survival and feeding behavior of clams Ruditapes decussatus. Frontiers in Marine Science 9, 932310.   

Ramos, P. (2020). Parasites in fishery products-Laboratorial and educational strategies to control. Experimental parasitology, 211, 107865.    

Projects