Innovative valorization pathways for future products from small pelagic fish (Pelagic 2.0)

Research Project, 2023 – 2026

Today, only 8% of the Swedish pelagic fish catches end up as food; comprising also the rest raw materials created during fillet production. This means that >100 000 tons of Swedish fish go to feed production, which is far below the global average (63% to food/37% to feed). There are many underlying reasons behind the current scenario, one of the central ones being the lack of value chains for the very small pelagic fish (<55g), which today dominates the catches. This raw material is not compatible with classic filleting machines, and only very few niche food products exist (e.g. “ansjovis”), which explains why the Swedish market is still limited.

Today, there are however very strong incentives to create a change of system which secures that the Swedish fisheries resources primarily go to food. Our food security needs to be improved based on e.g. the recent pandemic and war i Europe; but also, both consumers and the public meal sector seek new climate smart and nutritious protein sources. Herring and sprat were recently classified as the two animal sources with the combined lowest climate impact and highest nutrient density. 

The project Pelagic 2.0 aims at developing innovative processes and formulations that render herring, sprat and sand eel future every-day proteins in Sweden to raise food security and to meet the ongoing dietary protein shift. High-quality minces and protein ingredients will be recovered, and further, new routes to remove dioxin, PCB och PFAS will be evaluated in cases the raw material is contaminated. 

Pelagic 2.0 ties together fisheries, (sea)food industries, authorities and academy to jointly meet the goals of the Swedish food strategy, the strategy for fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF). This is done via stimulation of jobs in rural/coastal areas, increased revenues from value adding, national competence raise, increased food security as well as more circular and shorter food value chains. Hereby, Pelagic 2.0 will support economic, social and environmental sustainability within the fisheries industry.