OMEGA3MAX

Title: Maximizing marine omega-3 retention in farmed fish: sustainable production of healthy food

Summary: Reduce the fish oil inclusion level in aquaculture feeds while maintaining high levels of marine omega 3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) in fish products to meet consumer expectations is a major problem of modern aquaculture. Both of these conditions reflect the necessity to examine in depth nutritional strategies aimed to maximise EPA and DHA retention on fish tissues. Omega3max aims to optimise dietary fatty acid composition and antioxidant sources and concentration to limit in vivo oxidative stress in fish tissues helping to preserve EPA and DHA.

In addition not only the quantity of EPA+DHA, but also the position of both fatty acids to conform triacyglycerols and phospholipids, is becoming an important aspect in terms of function and bioavailability for human consumers. Therefore, the present project also aims to study the regiospecificity of fatty acids which is a novel issue for fish nutritionist with important implications on the nutritive quality of the fish flesh.

This programme aims to increase the EU aquaculture industry competitiveness being more cost-effective and improving the nutritional value and quality of aquaculture products but also to strengthen the research and educational potential on aquaculture of both sectors industry and academia. The proposed research group in this Consortium comprises four partners, including two national non-commercial organisations namely the Universidad Politecnica de Madrid (UPM-Spain) and the Christian-Albrechts University Kiel (CAU-Germany) as well as two commercial enterprises namely Skretting Aquaculture Research Center (Skretting ARC-Norway) and Lucta (Spain).

Both the academic and industrial partners have a strong track record on research activities and already established successful research collaborations in the recent past. We propose to create a long-lasting consortium of leading researchers with complementary expertise that can synergize innovative research in the fields of fish nutrition and health.

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