Seafood project builds international support
investigate the potential for seafood in reducing chronic disease,
have begun establishing links with Chile, with the aim of improving
the intake of fish in the European diet.
The EU-project, called Seafoodplus, has been charged with promoting safe seafood products to Europeans. Fish is thought to significantly cut the risk of heart disease and associated events and fish fatty acids, omega-3s, are also thought to be responsible for a number of other health benefits, such as reducing the risk of Alzheimer's.
The project is one of the first to gather scientists, consumer surveys, food safety experts and food technology to improve healthy food.
The coordinator of the RTD activity on traceability, Erling Larsen, visited a number of processing industries, aquaculture sites and fishing cooperatives in Chile last month. He also presented the project to more than 100 representatives from the food sector at an international seminar in Santiago during October.
Larsen's team must ensure that the information flow from the primary producer through the whole chain until the consumer is kept intact to ensure a high level of food safety.
The visit is expected to open up means of analysing fish chains from Chile to the European consumers. Major players in the Chilean industry and distribution chains have expressed interest in working with Seafoodplus to introduce traceability on seafood products exported to the European market.
