Bio prospecting the taste of Norway - a preference based search for new marine flavours

The use of marine resources in the flavour industry is still in an The use of marine resources in the flavour industry is still in an initial phase. Firmenich Bjørge Biomarin AS has the ambition to position itself as global actor in the production of mari ne flavours, and are looking for new resources and new markets for these flavours. The occurrence of flavours in different marine resources and co-products is under-investigated, and could become a valuable source for flavour production. Through a coopera tion between Firmenich Bjørge Biomarin AS, Firmenich SA and Møreforsking Marine the goal is to conduct bio-prospecting of different marine resources and co-products from the fish processing industry in search of flavours. As a framework for rational bio-p rospecting the project aims to satisfy the taste preferences of two different existing markets; the Chinese seafood flavoured noodle market and feed for Atlantic salmon. Feed attractants and olfactory stimulants for Atlantic salmon will be reviewed and de scribed. Feeding stimulants are described in literature, but the exact flavours are not characterized. The Chinese market has a different taste preference compared to European market. Preferences of flavours in the Chinese market will be described. Biopro specting of raw material to find certain flavours will be carried out, both on existing raw material and unexploited species of e.g. amphipoda and isopods. Flavours and aroma analysis will be carried out with techniques like GC-SNIF technique to obtain o lfactograms of the raw material. Impact of odorants will be identified by MS Hyphenated to GC/olfactometric system and two dimensional GC hyphenated to a time flight MS. Flavours will be extracted from marine raw material, and synthesis will be attempted . The flavours will then be tested in the two different markets.