More Efficient Utilization of Marine Resources through Multiscale Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Informations

Funding country

Norway

Acronym

-

URL

-

Start date

1/1/2019

End date

12/31/2023

Budget

1,138,857 EUR

Fundings

Abstract

Seafood plays an important role in the Norwegian economy and provides a valuable source of nutrition worldwide. Despite its value, an estimated one-third to one-half of all edible seafood is wasted, either due to spoilage or perceived quality defects. Therefore, creating consistent, high-quality products with a long shelf life is important both economically and environmentally. A challenge in achieving this goal is that the underlying physical properties of a raw material that will lead to a low or high quality final product are often poorly understood. Current evaluation methods are either subjective or limited to a small subsection of a sample. The project will adapt medical multiscale MRI techniques to create new characterisation methods for fish tissue. The adaptation of these techniques for non-medical use combined with machine learning will enable characterization of fish tissue at a combination of length scales and detail level not previously possible. This information will be used to provide descriptions of fish muscle structure that are both extensive and highly detailed for four types of product processing (freezing and thawing, smoke curing, salt drying, and storage) to see how different processing protocols affect product shelf life and quality. The project involves both fundamental materials research as well as the creation of new applied methods for quality control and product development for industrial use. The project will focus on fish, but the developed methods can be applied to other types of marine products.