The BLUEWAYSE project builds upon previous research demonstrating that fish sidestream biomass—such as heads, backbones, and viscera—can be utilized to develop nutritious ingredients and high-value products for human consumption. The project adopts an integrated multi-actor approach, combining fish processing with microalgae cultivation within a circular economy framework. Its overarching goal is to develop responsible blue food and feed with minimal environmental impact, contributing to the advancement of regenerative fisheries and aquaculture industries.
In BLUEWAYSE, we aim to reduce losses and preserve the nutritional quality of fish by-products through process optimization, with the objective of developing nutrient-rich and functional food products. The project explores the potential of utilizing secondary sidestreams from these processes—such as nitrogen- and mineral-rich water and bone residues—in feed formulations and microalgae cultivation. Additionally, functional compounds will be extracted from microalgae for use in feed, food products (e.g., bread, cookies, pasta), and biomaterials, including applications in cosmetics (e.g., sunscreen).
A key objective is to develop health-promoting dietary supplements derived from fish by-products and microalgae, with a particular focus on improving male fertility.
Laboratory trials have been conducted using enzymatic hydrolysis of salmon heads and cod backbones. The chemical composition and bioactive potential of the resulting hydrolysates have been characterized in cell culture models and serve as the basis for process upscaling. In the scaled-up process, nanofiltration was incorporated into the downstream treatment to investigate how different membranes affect the sensory, chemical, and bioactive properties of the hydrolysates. Nanofiltration significantly reduced salt content and flavor intensity, and preliminary results suggest potential positive health effects, as indicated by studies in obesity and inflammation models.
The validity of the new products will be documented through feeding trials, laboratory testing, sensory analyses, consumer surveys, and clinical studies. The project will also address challenges related to taste, odor, bioactivity, safety, and consumer acceptance to ensure that the products meet high quality standards.
Previous research demonstrates that we can use low-value animal feed ingredients, such as fish heads, backbones, and viscera, to produce healthy food ingredients and high-value products for human consumption. BLUEWAYSE expands using fish processing residues, currently discarded due to their very low dry matter content, to cultivation of marine microalgae, creating opportunities for increased sustainable production of BLUE food and feed, with less adverse environmental impacts. BLUEWAYSE will optimise handling of biomass from aquaculture and fisheries to maintain food-grade quality and reduce losses and processing waste, towards food products. We will create value from the processing residues in feeds and in microalgae cultivation, and biomaterial production , to increase the efficiency, circularity and resilience of the sectors. Exploiting larger parts of marine biomass for human consumption will lead to increased supply of BLUE food, whereas utilising secondary sidestreams to produce value-added products will contribute to the resilience of these coastal industries by the simultaneous production of sustainable marine resources, such as algae. BLUEWAYSE follows a multi-actor innovation approach to develop industrial synergies and technologies that result in low energy consumption to increase the sustainable supply of food and material production. Ee aim to develop high-quality proteins and bioactives from European aquaculture and fisheries sidestreams combined with microalgae systems for applications in nutritional supplements, innovative food, cosmetics, biomaterials, and animal feed, targeting a holistic food-first zero-waste approach. The validity of the new products will be documented through feeding, lab, sensory, consumer and clinical trials. The project will address challenges associated with taste, odour, bioactivity, safety, and consumer acceptance, to ensure that products are of high quality and can be effectively brought to the market.
