AquaBioTech Group, a Malta-based company specialised in aquaculture, fisheries, and marine environment, is a key partner of the PRIMA-funded, international research project CIPROMED (Circular and Inclusive utilisation of alternative PROteins in the MEDiterranean value chains) and attended the kick-off meeting that took place at University of Thessaly, in Volos (Greece).

The ambitious project will see seventeen partners from eleven countries cooperating to increase the stability and resilience of Mediterranean agri-food production systems.

Current European agricultural production systems are heavily dependent on protein imports to cover the nutritional needs of aquaculture and livestock production, but also for human consumption. This situation is especially serious for the Mediterranean region, where drought and environmental problems of different nature are worsening the self-sufficiency of traditional protein supply chains. There is an urgent need to develop capacity for local production of alternative sources of protein and Mediterranean countries will have to switch to farming systems with more efficient use of natural resources.

CIPROMED aims at reducing the dependence of Mediterranean countries on imported protein sources and will help the participating countries to rely more on locally produced nutrient sources. The aim of the project is to focus on the exploitation of traditional crops (legumes), microalgae, insects, as well as on the valorisation of proteins generated from local agri-industrial side-streams (e.g., brewer’s spent grain, oilseed press cakes).

The joint effort of the partners is finalized at the development of a production system where insects and microalgae are grown using agri-industrial residues as substrates, applying innovative rearing and cultivation techniques to attain higher protein yields. The insect frass can then be used as soil fertilizer for legumes. High-quality protein ingredients will be extracted for food and feed applications via economically and environmentally sustainable extraction processes. The residues generated by these processes will be integrated in diets formulated for insect rearing and heterotrophic microalgae cultivation. The novel protein-rich ingredients will be used to formulate new food for human consumption and new feed for poultry and farmed fish. The new products will target metabolic and immune systems and will promote human and animals’ health.

In contrast to conventional agriculture, the production of the most common commercially reared insect and heterotrophic microalgae species on by-product feeds is characterized by considerably low greenhouse gas emissions (30-50% lower), having, therefore, a lower environmental impact on global warming.

The role of AquaBioTech Group in the project will be to test the new aquafeeds developed on seabass and rainbow trout. Scientists will test the effects of the inclusion of the new protein sources in the feeds on the growth and health of fish.

CIPROMED also aims to adjust novel protein production to the unique Mediterranean conditions, creating a new, socio-economically feasible and environmentally sustainable alternative protein value chain and production system. Consumer’s perceptions/preferences around the new types of foods and feeds, as well as religious and cultural characteristics, will be taken into consideration.

The kick-off meeting, held in Greece the 5th and 6th of June, was a great opportunity for all the partners to meet and start coordinating the tasks. During the two-days event, work for the next months was planned, constituting the first step to achieve the goals of the project.

This project has received funding from PRIMA (Partnership for Research and innovation in the Mediterranean area) programme, supported under Horizon 2020 under Grant Agreement No 2231.

Official project brochure can be downloaded from the below link.

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