Introduction
The marine ecosystem is the largest of Earth’s aquatic ecosystems in terms of biodiversity. It is one of the most abundant sources of bioactive ingredients. The ecosystem offers immense potential for integration into functional foods and food-based technologies, especially in the Marine-Based Food Processing industry. Marine-derived nutrients and bioactive compounds can hit multiple targets in one go from the needs of the health and wellness industry to food security. Further, it has vast potential to usher in an era of circular economy and Sustainable Development.
Marine-Based Food Processing Industry: Promising an Era of Food Security and Sustainability
Within this vast marine ecosystem, a large pool of bioactive compounds such as polysaccharides, lipids, phenolic compounds, vitamins, and minerals abound. These nutrients showcase a diverse array of functionalities. Their activities range from antimicrobial and antioxidant to lipid-lowering. This ability presents promising applications across various stages of food processing, storage, and formulation.
Medicinal Properties
Marine-derived functional foods benefit specific biological functions and reduce the risk of illness and disease. Marine-derived nutrients and bioactive components are increasingly used in medicines due to their physiological effects and potential medicinal properties. These nutrients offer additional health benefits such as anticancer or anti-inflammatory activities.
Food Quality Enhancers
Marine-based ingredients play a pivotal role in improving food quality by serving as valuable technological additives. Marine polysaccharides also stand out for their versatility with their wide-ranging applications. These ingredients serve as emulsifiers, gelling agents, clarifiers, thickeners, stabilizers, and flocculating agents. Similarly, marine-based proteins and peptides have film-forming, gel-forming, and foaming capacities.
Food Security
Marine-derived food has sustainable ingredients that can improve food security and contribute to mitigating environmental pressures. Integrating marine resources and the food industry can diversify its ingredient pool. It reduces the reliance on terrestrial crops and increases resilience against climatic changes. Integrating marine-derived nutrients into food formulations can enrich nutritional profiles and fortify resilience to climate change impacts on food production. The nutrient-rich composition of marine ingredients such as omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, and proteins, can help to address public health challenges.
Promoting Circular Economy
The use of marine resources can also minimize food waste. It can further foster a circular economy approach within the food sector. Extracting valuable compounds from seafood processing by-products, such as fish skins or shells, maximizes resource efficiency and minimizes environmental footprint.
Achieving SDGs
The Marine-Based Food Processing industry can promote sustainable development. It can support marginal coastal communities, fighting climate change, climate-induced migration, and primarily food security. It can be done by integrating advancing functional foods and food-based technologies into the marine food processing industry.
Marine-Based Food Processing Industry: Ushering an Era of Innovative Food Technology
Marine-based food technology has the potential to develop the way food production and consumption will be approached in the future. It includes countering challenges such as climate change, population growth, and diminishing resources. These challenges pose a growing threat to food security for which marine resources’ applications offer innovative responses. When Marine-Based Food Processing Industries integrate marine resources into food value chains, it will contribute to secure and sustainable food systems.
Abundant Bioactive Compounds
Marine resources have a wide range of bioactive compounds. These include carbohydrates, pigments, polyphenols, peptides, proteins, and essential fatty acids having potential health benefits. Marine microorganisms such as fungi, myxomycetes, bacteria, and microalgae are promising sources of bioactive compounds with multiple therapeutic properties. It includes anti-hypertensive, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cardio-protective, anti-cancer, and other medicinal properties.
Peptides
Peptides which are isolated from marine organisms like fish and fish by-products have antimicrobial activity against various pathogens, like E. coli and Listeria Innocua.
Sea Cucumber
The marine by-products derived from sea cucumbers such as their gut materials are a valuable source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and phenolic compounds such as phenolic acids and flavonoids, which exhibit strong antioxidant activity.
Macroalgae
Macroalgae is one of the largest and most widely distributed groups of marine organisms which are a key source of marine bio-actives.
Sargassum
Fucosterol which is extracted from Sargassum species has inhibitory effects on bacteria such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus, V. vulnificus, and Pseudomonas fluorescens. Sargassum muticum and Grateloupia turuturu contain lipid-derived compounds that are associated with reducing freezer burn in fish products. These can be useful when incorporated into active packaging and can improve both shelf-life and quality.
Seaweed-Derived Compounds
Seaweed-derived lipids can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Seaweeds are rich in polyunsaturated and highly unsaturated fatty acids, with omega-3 fatty acids being particularly abundant. Some of the simple phenolic compounds or polyphenols such as flavonoids, phlorotannins, mycosporine-like amino acids (MAAs), bromophenols, and terpenoids are found in seaweeds. These compounds have proven antioxidant activity. It can be used in the food industry to replace synthetic formulations of phenolic compounds such as butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). These compounds are commonly used as food preservatives due to their effective chain-breaking antioxidant properties.
Challenges Faced by Marine-Based Food Processing Industry
There are various challenges which are faced by marine-based compounds Incorporation into food. The extraction and utilization of these compounds pose significant challenges to the industry. These have been discussed as:
Solubility and Stability
The complexity of marine-based matrices containing a diverse array of compounds with varying solubility and stabilities is a major challenge. This complexity results in low yields or loss of bioactivity during extraction.
Presence of Contaminants
The presence of environmental contaminants like heavy metals or pollutants such as organochlorine pesticides in marine organisms like seaweeds poses a significant challenge. It makes the extraction of pure compounds difficult. Hence, these compounds need to go through purification methods to ensure both the safety and efficacy of the final product. For example, major pesticide residues such as hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH), heptachlor, aldrin, endrin, endosulfan, and DDT were found in the Gulf of Mannar.
Complex Extraction Method
The complex extraction methods pose a significant challenge for marine marine-based food industry for large-scale industrial applications. Hence, there is a need to develop efficient and sustainable extraction methods to scale up to meet industrial demand for the commercial viability of marine-based bioactive compounds.
Lack of Product Stability
After extraction, marine bioactive compounds often face challenges related to formulation and product stability. The inherent instability of the raw material due to its high spoilage rates leads to a shorter shelf-life compared to terrestrial organisms. Hence, ensuring the stability and shelf-life of products containing marine bioactive compounds is a prerequisite criterion in product development and formulation. These challenges can be overcome by utilizing tools such as Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Techno-Economic Assessment (TEA).
Regulatory Challenges
There are different regulatory frameworks and compliance standards that are essential for ensuring the safety, quality, and legality of these compounds and products. These mechanisms vary in different regions or countries. Hence, the industry requires a thorough understanding and adherence to local laws and guidelines.
Conclusion
The advent of new technologies that are aimed at extracting bio compounds by using green technology, food ingredients, or technological adjuvants from marine sources is pivotal for the progress of food technology. Further, the integration of marine resources into food systems has the potential to address pressing global issues such as food security, sustainability, and public health. These nascent developments in the marine-based Food Processing Industry can fulfill the challenges outlined by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It will help it to become a pivotal player in promoting economic, environmental, and social sustainability.