KrillSOFT-ONBOARD SMART MANUFACTURING OF ANTARCTIC KRILL PROTEIN FOR TARGETED HUMAN APPLICATION

Antarctic krill is a source of nutritious proteins that are today mostly used as a feed ingredient for the aquaculture industry in Norway and internationally. The proteins have the potential to become a new food source for humans since they contain a high concentration of essential amino acids. Thus, they can become a new important protein source for a rapidly growing world population. In this project, we have carried out an LCA and shown that the carbon footprint of krill proteins is far lower than animal proteins such as from pig, chicken and cattle. This is an important discovery and shows that krill protein can be part of the solution to cutting CO2 emissions in the world. In order for such proteins to be consumed by humans, the nutritional quality must be good, the price acceptable and the product safe to consume. In this project, we have further developed enzymatic hydrolysis with a view to obtaining a high yield of the proteins from the krill. We have come up with a product that has a high nutritional value with very good water solubility. The proteins are broken down into short peptides and free amino acids, some of which provide high bioavailability, good biological effects and a low level of allergens. Potentially, this could be used as an ingredient in drinks in a few years, for example as sports nutrition. The market will demand that such products maintain a repeatedly high quality, therefore this project has also adopted advanced statistical methods such as Bayesian optimization and machine learning to reduce product variations.

The project has documented that protein hydrolysates from Antarctic krill has a very low carbon foot print. If these proteins can replace proteins in food from pigs, chicken and/or cattle it can be an important contributor to reach UN's Sustainability Goals. The project has systematically tested new enzymes and enzyme combinations in order to find the best production method with respect to protein yield, cost of production and repeated quality. Optimization of the process has been tested with the use of Baysian optimization and the potential for machine learning has been explored. The level of the allergen Tropomyosin can also be reduced. This is important in order to bring this type of products to the consumer markets.

Antarctic krill is a nearly ideal nutritious raw material due to its high content of health-promoting omega-3 phospholipids (PLs) and proteins that can be converted into a wide range of human consumption products. Its high-quality protein includes all essential amino acids and thus the proteinaceous part of krill processing should be fully used for human consumption. As a major player in the krill fishery, contributes to both a sustainable management and development of knowledge that ensures 100 % utilization of the catch concomitant with an economically vital business model. Rimfrost AS is currently developing new process concepts for eco-friendly and optimum raw material utilization that will be an integral part of a planned state-of-art trawler. In response to the strategic necessities to reduce food waste generated in the EU and to provide novel sustainable protein sources and high value, bioactive products to the market, KrillSOFT will design a novel krill hydrolysis process to be implanted on-board. Through novel software services by machine learning and AI approaches, the process will be continuously analyzed and adjusted to increase overall efficiency and to provide three improved krill products, namely pure krill phospholipid oil, clean shells for further chitin production and a new high-value krill peptide product. The krill peptides will further be tested for bioactivities on metabolic pathways, such as triglyceride levels, energy metabolism, glucose handling and inflammation in vitro and in vivo. By such effects, the krill peptides might be able to interfere with the concerning increase in life-style diseases due to dietary habits and physical inactivity in modern societies. Overall, KrillSOFT will increase the sustainable and efficient use of krill raw material to obtain a safe, high added value food product for human consumption.