Agro-Food industry generates high amounts of by-products with an important environmental and economic impacts that remain without an implemented valorizing solution as an integrated proposal is not available at the moment.Thus, this project aims to establish an integrated up-grading of by-products from various food industries rich in proteins and polysaccharides, developing an approach of shared processes, maximizing the value of the fractions obtained among the human and animal nutrition. For this, a promoter, Sorgal, an animal feed producing company associated with industries that expect to valorize their byproducts or solutions already developed in previous projects (UNICER, Central Carnes, Avicasal, Germen, Poveira e Queijo Saloio) through technologies that will be integrated into a prototype developed by the company Vallinox and aligned with the technologies already implemented by Savinor. The processes developed and that lead to high-added products will be, in the case of fractions with applications in food, evaluated through prototypes by Primor, Poveira and Germen and feed by Sorgal. To complete the consortium, two SCT institutions are associated (UM and UCP), which will support the optimization of extraction, obtaining fractions of high value, demonstrating in vitro potential and application in food formulations, an institution (FMUP) that will support the clinical validation of ingredients with potential in human nutrition and one (ICBAS).that will support validation in animal nutrition 
As end products we expect a set of differentiated and validated high-value ingredients for human and animal nutrition, food and feed prototypes incorporating the most promising ingredients and a pilot demonstration unit incorporating the integrated valorisation processes applied to the various by-products.

UPDATE: To promote the project and disclosure the results already obtained to the scientific community, a workshop entitled “Aquacultura em Portugal – Desafios e Oportunidades” was promoted by ICBAS, where 2 posters were presented with the results of the project, as well as a panel with a general description of the project. The directors of CIIMAR and INESC-TEC were present at the meeting, which was closed by the State Secretary of the Sea, Prof. Dr. Manuel Pinto de Abreu. An online catalog about the meeting was prepared and is available online (links available below). 

Scientific Publications

Campos, I, Matos, E, Aragão, C, Pintado, M, Valente, LMP. 2018. Apparent digestibility coefficients of processed agro-food by-products in European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) juveniles. Aquaculture Nutrition 24: 1274-1286. https://doi.org/10.1111/anu.12665

Campos, I, Matos, E, Marques, A, Valente, LMP. 2017. Hydrolyzed feather meal as a partial fishmeal replacement in diets for European seabass (Dicentrarchus labrax) juveniles. Aquaculture 476: 152-159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2017.04.024

Reis, B, Marques, A, Campos, I, Dias, E, Valente, LMP. 2019. Wheat germ as an alternative ingredient to a fair average quality fishmeal in diets for European seabass. Aquaculture Nutrition 25(4): 932-945. https://doi.org/10.1111/anu.12912